Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

EDIT : as can be seen on the pic, the 4th and last part of the plug assembly, the butt / cap of it, I was able to fit onto the cable... but I had to force it. So there is some amount of strain relief there, I guess... but not enough, one can still pull the cable out. In desperation, maybe I could add a few drops of super glue inside the cap then when I slide it onto the cable and screw it to the metal body, the glue would "seal and hold " the cable to the bottom of the cap ?  Of course if the plug ever needs changing again, one would have to cut the plug/cable, but no big deal I guess, as one would lose only an inch worth of cable, and the cable is many many meters long so no harm.

I am not going to spend XXXXXX Euros to buy every plug on earth until I find one that fits this fat cable, as I am sure you can understand....

I will see if Neutrik has a datasheet and see if it specifies the maximum diameter of the cable it's designed for.
If it does, I hope it says it can't fit 6.5mm cables otherwise it means I can't even trust datasheets so can't even use that to search for a suitable plug.

I can't quite believe the manufacturer of that cable would have made a cable that does not fit standard plugs, or else they would not sell much of that cable would they.... so I just don't know what to think, nor what to do either... 

[factory]

Almost looks like two core USA mains cord. 

Edit: this one claims it fits 4 to 7mm O.D. cable; https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/np2x

Edit 2: Assembly instructions state to remove a part for cables above 5.5mm O.D. it would be nice if they pictured it with the piece broken off; https://www.neutrik.com/media/8041/download/professional-phone-plugs-np_x.pdf?v=1

I've no idea if that is the plug you bought.

David

[Vince]

 

Yes now you mention it.....

It's top quality power cable though... so flexible/supple and rubbery like I dream every power cord ought to be but never is  !

Well the power cable in my '60s HP ratio-meters was like that, granted....

Anyway, need to find a plug that I am sure will be able to fit that fat cable 

[Vince]

Thanks for that Factory !

Glad I scrolled back... I saw you edited your message with juicy bits indeed !

Yes that is the exact plug I bought, thanks for the instructions, it fits now ! 

I see I was mistaken as well : the conical part of the strain relief is not supposed to fit into the cap of the plug... no. Instead the tapered edge seats onto the edge of the cap and that's how it grips onto the cable.

OK just need to strip the wires as per the schematic they supply, solder that, and I should be in business ! 

[Vince]

OK I am just done solderign the wires, plug assembled, all fine.... or not.

Again, my soldering iron is under powered. Its 50 Watts about managed the center pin, but the ground/outer one, muvch more thermal mass.... it simply doesn't cut it.
Had to stay forever on the thing to get a half decent joint... need more power... mooooore POWER ! 

Then I tested the cable, buzzed it with the DMM. I did have continuity, good, but the pins are swapped ?! I soldered the black wire of the cable to the oter/ground pin of the plug... bad move, on the other end of the cable this wire is connected to the TIP of the jack not the main body !  I can do it all over again now ! 

[m k]

Again, my soldering iron is under powered. Its 50 Watts about managed the center pin, but the ground/outer one, muvch more thermal mass.... it simply doesn't cut it.
Had to stay forever on the thing to get a half decent joint... need more power... mooooore POWER ! 

Get your self a Portasol clone with a torch.

[Vince]

OK I redid the job.... but ran into another problem, geez.... the insulation of the ground lead is quite thick. it sticks out of the allowed "envelope" so to speak... which means the strain relief part does into fit 100% right, it's slightly crooked, which means once you screw  / fit the metal body onto it to complete the plug assembly.... the jack is not perfectly coaxial with the body.... it doe snot hurt the mechanical strength or reliability etc, but i sucks nonetheless. Not much I can do about it... oh wait yes there is.... I could get rid of the insulation altogether and mimic what it would look like if it were a shield/braid that it normally should be, rather than an insulated wire that it is.

Why does this cable not use a braid for the ground connection ?! 

Not sure I will bother re-re-re-redoing this job yet again.... if just because the more I heat up that plug the more I run the risk of damaging the plastic part of the jack and I would have to buy another plug....   I think it's best to stop messing with that plug, and leave it alone. Sometime seeking perfection is counter productive and does more harm than good...

Let's leave it at that and call it a learning experience. Next jack I get to replace will be better and benefit from this first go.

No ?

Also, grabbing that round jack with my mini vice is far from ideal... so I would need to make some adapter to grab round things more reliably and without marking the work piece.

Anyway, audio cable repair complete, job done, back to its owner... thanks to all who helped.

[Robert763]

The software lacks any form of GPIB card config settings as it just assumes you will use the Tek supplied or recommended GPIB card.

Do you have a list?

I found an old CEC ISA card with external ROM, so it can be emulated.

Yeah, here's the list of all supported GPIB cards as per the Tek TDS Scope service manuals:

- National Instruments GPIB-PCII/IIA ISA GPIB card



That's it....   

I think I have another one of those, somewhere...

Robert.

Yes you do ! Or... you DID.... you sold it to me a few months ago! Sorry Terra ! 

Well... unless Robert has a whole collection of them...like his current clamps...

No this is another one. Just checked and it's a NI AT GPIB TNT so 16 bit. Not sure it will work. I might have anther one but it is well buried in bin 14 at the back of the storage unit......

Robert

Sorry to quote myself, but I picked up a couple of GPIB cards a the weekend.
One is a brand new in box, still sealed antistatic bag 8 bit ISA GPIB PCIIA, NI-488.2 dated 1998.......

Manuals and DOS/Windows software is all there and sealed.
Anyone want this museum piece before I put it on ebay?

[Vince]

Wow how cool.... thanks for offering it. I sure would be tempted if I had not become half reasonable over the years (stop laughing please...)... I have already two of these (one of them thanks to you already...), so I need to be reasonable and refuse this fantastic offer....but maybe Terra will be interested ! He still needs to fix his, so a NOS one probably works fine and could be useful....

As for me it's a NI PCI one I need to find, so that I can use 32 bit drivers under Windows 2000 on my vintage Pentium machine, if you remember.... by design W2K refused to work with old ISA cards, security blah blah blah.... 
... this way I could get the 32 bit utility that Terra wants me to use, that will let me extract the firmware from my TDS 544A scope and send it to him...

[Robert763]

Oh,
I forgot to say. I got a PCI one too.....
And a Pultra precison lathe, High speed bench PCB drill, and a few other bits.
The PCI  NI GPIB card is used but in good condition in the original box with CD-ROM.

Robert.

[Vince]

Wow cool, keep it in a place where you know you will find it ... I have other priorities at the moment but will likely get back to you in a few months. Well if you have nto sold it by then of course...

BTW on another note but while you're here...You didn't answer me the other day about your 30 15 pound Metrix MX57EX DMM... have you sold it or do you still l have it ?

[diskcopy]

I suppose I should introduce myself here since I've been lurking on the TEA thread for so long. I'm a high school student (just finished my junior year), and I enjoy repairing vintage test equipment, along with other tube gear. Most of the stuff is pretty cheap around here, so it is great to learn on. I just finished some repairs on a Tek 585A 'scope, and some of my other projects include a HP 410A VTVM that still needs repairs on the AC scale and a Fluke 8502A voltmeter that I need to get calibrated.

I've attached a picture of my workbench/test equipment collection. I think it is the start of an illness.

[xrunner]

Impressive skills you are developing at your age. 

Do you actually use the rotary phone?

[diskcopy]

Impressive skills you are developing at your age. 

Do you actually use the rotary phone?

Yes, it is attached to a bluetooth adapter which I can connect my Android phone to.

[tggzzz]

Impressive skills you are developing at your age. 

Do you actually use the rotary phone?

Yes, it is attached to a bluetooth adapter which I can connect my Android phone to.

Ah, someone that has a visceral understanding of why you "dial a number". They are very tactile, aren't they.

Anyway, welcome - but don't forget to have some projects that use the equipment for their intended purpose.

TEA is just one of many ratholes in life, and you are at the age where you can taste many of them before deciding which ones really suit you. We are lucky to have so many choices.

Have fun, safely

[TERRA Operative]

Sorry to quote myself, but I picked up a couple of GPIB cards a the weekend.
One is a brand new in box, still sealed antistatic bag 8 bit ISA GPIB PCIIA, NI-488.2 dated 1998.......

Manuals and DOS/Windows software is all there and sealed.
Anyone want this museum piece before I put it on ebay?

Vince was correct. I am interested. How much you want for it?

[TERRA Operative]

... this way I could get the 32 bit utility that Terra wants me to use, that will let me extract the firmware from my TDS 544A scope and send it to him...

Using the DOS utility found somewhere else on this forum, you can use any GPIB adapter. I use my ebay sourced Keysight USB-GPIB adapter and it works perfectly.

[Robert763]

Wow cool, keep it in a place where you know you will find it ... I have other priorities at the moment but will likely get back to you in a few months. Well if you have nto sold it by then of course...

BTW on another note but while you're here...You didn't answer me the other day about your 30 15 pound Metrix MX57EX DMM... have you sold it or do you still l have it ?

Sorry sold it.

[Robert763]

Sorry to quote myself, but I picked up a couple of GPIB cards a the weekend.
One is a brand new in box, still sealed antistatic bag 8 bit ISA GPIB PCIIA, NI-488.2 dated 1998.......

Manuals and DOS/Windows software is all there and sealed.
Anyone want this museum piece before I put it on ebay?

Vince was correct. I am interested. How much you want for it?

I'll weigh it and get a postage quote.....

[Vince]

... this way I could get the 32 bit utility that Terra wants me to use, that will let me extract the firmware from my TDS 544A scope and send it to him...

Using the DOS utility found somewhere else on this forum, you can use any GPIB adapter. I use my ebay sourced Keysight USB-GPIB adapter and it works perfectly.

I don't understand... last time we did everything we could with the S/W and it just would not work because the guy who programmed it made it rely on a version of a DLL that was only to be found on W2K as far the oldest Win version that would run on my vintage PC, and W2K can't use the drivers of the old ISA card because the drivers bypass the OS and W2K by design does not allow this, as part of its fundamental security model.
In shirt either I used MS-DOS / W95 which would get the card to work but not the F/W S/W, or the other way around, I install W2K to get the S/W to work but then it's the card that can't work because the O/S refuses to use its drivers. I just can't win.

So unless you are referring to a different S/W you have not told me since the last time we tried... I don't understand.

That's why I wanted to try a more modern PCI card, as I assume it uses windows drivers not DOS drivers, hence W2K might be happy to get it to work, just maybe.

[TERRA Operative]

I use this one with the Agilent 82357B USB-GPIB adapter with the latest version of the Keysight IOLibSuite running on Win10.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/unified-tektool-released-!-(firmware-flash-tools-for-old-tds-series)/msg3758918/#msg3758918

You can stop at step 9 if you aren't upgrading firmware.

[Neepa]

So fellas...I kinda need your therapeutic advice.

I've just received my vacation extra pay this month an I am currently considering buying a VNA/SNA. I intend to use it as my entry into RF as the "must have factor" is killing me. Initially I only wanted a lab grade LCR meter like an HP4284A or similar but on closer inspection its calibration requirements for stone age software killed that. I don't want to get into supporting an early DOS/Windows PC to run the calibration procedures.

Yeah I wanna shoot cannonballs at birdies by using, or rather missusing, a VNA/SNA as a LCR meter to do nice threedimensional Impedance/Frequency/Amplitude graphs.
I'm an aircraft engine mechanic btw.

Currently available options  are:

HP89441 goes to 2.4 GHz. An even bigger boat anchor than my 4145A. But seemingly a quite "modern" model it might even have LAN already!

W&G SNA62 two units for nearly half the price of the HP. One sporting a local oscillator fail. Comes with Manual. Takes both 50 and 75 as it has ports for both. A whole generation older than the HP though. A lot more archaic than the 89441. Spec sheets are nonexistent so the low frequency resolution/accuracy is unknown too. While the 89410 LF part is right at home there. However looking at the preceeding and following models the SNA62 should be plenty capable at any point in its spectrum.

So read your horoscopes/stones/coffee grinds and just tell me what to buy already!



//Not a shitpost. I really wanna have one. I need a new toy. And no I'm not endangering my financials with this buy.

[TERRA Operative]

How about a Siglent SA hacked to a VNA?

(But I am happy with mine...)

[tautech]

How about a Siglent SA hacked to a VNA?

And although native 50 Ohm instruments they can be configured to operate as a 75 Ohm instrument with menu corrections.

[Neepa]

Eh the 9khz are the dealbreaker. Both of the options go to either DC or 100Hz.
Also not buying Made in China honestly.