Test Equipment Anonymous

I shall look out for Dunstable Downs and Mendips; you are correct about the RSGB list. Dunstable Downs == Luton; Stockwood Park to be exact. I'm not sure I would suggest anyone came a long way just to go to the Mendip rally. OTOH, the Stanton Drew stone circles[1] are nearby; bring some sandwiches ...

My calendar says we're approaching the time of UK radio rallies. But it seems the first is the Newbury one on 5th July. Are there any others within about 60 miles of Newbury before then that I haven't spotted? After all, there might be a something or another there that I dearly need... I've put my ...

EC8010 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 8:10 am Tin came from Sainsbury's.

Nice, and so are the plots

Until I read the text, I wondered why you posted a weird LLM generated image

Metrology time... My best instrument is also one of the oldest: a JRL VDR106/7 KVD. There's incrementally more information about them at: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/teardownjulie_reasearch_labs_vdr1067_vdr307_kelvin_varley_voltage_divider/msg6234951/#msg6234951 Example: each one took 4 ...

Supercaps have a 2.7V rating, so you would need a couple in series. I believe such things can be purchased. I don't know how they balance the voltages; maybe there are ALD MOSFETs internally. Don't forget that as a cell discharges, the voltage stays "constant" until it is exhausted. Contra...

Not always: take the Tek1502, which uses a PUJT to stuff pulses into the 9-cell NiCd battery. Mean current might be OK, but the crest factor is ridiculous. Even Tek had to issue a note saying "don't charge continuously for more than 16 hours" (and recharge once/month, because even when swi...

IIRC NiMH trickle charging current is much lower than NiCd. For batteries, I wonder if any of the Advanced Linear Devices EPAD MOSFETs might be useful; they certainly are for balancing supercaps. Basic principle: they electrically adjust the Vth in 0.1mV increments, so it is easy to have matched pai...

In my limited experience, NiMH has a less tolerant charging regime than NiCd. It might be worth checking the charging regime and comparing that to the NiMH's spec.

I see that EEVBlog post speculates about current limiting being done in software rather than hardware. I've wondered the same, particularly in light of my PSU having OVP and OCP in firmware. It's not speculation, the manual hints at it, and the tech support that they spoke to explicitly stated it t...

I've looked at 7 PSUs recently. All but one had a front panel banana and/or spade earth connector.

I see that EEVBlog post speculates about current limiting being done in software rather than hardware. I've wondered the same, particularly in light of my PSU having OVP and OCP in firmware. And I see your earlier quote suggests that the overcurrent and overvoltage typically takes 0.5s to act; that...

Oh, it's newer than I thought. At least it's not one of their switchers: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/lab-power-supply-turn-on-and-off-characteristics/msg6101225/#msg6101225 I've seen such ugly behaviour in other PSUs, as illustrated in https://teanonymous.com/f1/viewtopic.php?p=12663#p12...

Yes, that's a good picture illustrating all the bells and whistles except for the programmability over USB/LAN/GPIB/RS232. GPIB is optional, and mine doesn't have it. The only thing I've spotted that isn't visible on the front panel is over-voltage and over-current protection: OVP (over-voltage prot...

It has a few nice bells and whistles, and I haven't spotted any showstopper vices.

The untorqued nut and those plastic rivets are disappointingly less than HPAK etc quality. Still better than one of their ancestors, Sinclair - but that isn't much of a challenge!

I previously noted that I bought a modern AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P power supply pleasingly cheaply. It promptly replaced my previous PSU on the shelf above the workbench. I then went on to test several PSU's current limit response , and it performed well. I had found that occasionally one of the outputs w...

Back to the paper tape and card punch sub-thread... This video is of minor interest, but it does contain a demo of someone operating a card punch (at about 7:10). It might be useful to show youngsters about the good old days why they've "never had it so good"[1]. Video seems to be from sho...

I assume by that you're not referring to the largest Wetherspoons in the world? Daughter's first job was behind the bar at a local Wetherspoons. It financed her "Dad I've just bought a plane ticket to Australia for 6 months" trip, and she learned a lot, e.g. how to "control" soz...

Quietly impressed. May have pulled a few strings in her mind. And that is a prime indicator of a good establishment (of whatever kind). The lack is also why I vociferously dislike "my auntie had one but she gave it away" and "I wonder what that is" type places. Contrariwise, if ...

What's so special about MUSA connectors? Could you replace those connectors with BNC bulkheads?

Did you visit Aunby or use a company to pack and send?

Edit: add a couple for tggzzz Ooh, you tease, you. I keep trying to buy a Curta, but my offers are rejected. An Otis King is on farcebook. I said I'd buy it at the asking price, but no response. I believe that is par for the course on farcebook. I haven't found a reasonably priced one yet. I suspec...

Secondly, my middle one actually had a college trip to TNMoC on Wednesday. She absolutely loved it. Was there anything in particular (an exhibit, general atmosphere/attitude, ...) that she liked? Upcoming stuff we're doing of interest perhaps: TNMoC, This Museum Is Not Obsolete, Kelvedon Hatch Secr...

https://translate.kagi.com/?from=en&to=linkedin&text=Test+Equipment+Anonymous+Forum+has+more+interesting+discussions+than+EEVBlog+Forum.+Discuss. You'll need to tick the CloudFlare "I am human" box. Wow, who posted that? BTW....it took me right to the discussion, I didn't have to ...

https://translate.kagi.com/?from=en&to= ... m.+Discuss.

You'll need to tick the CloudFlare "I am human" box.

Odd facts... Logica made early 80s dedicated standalone word processors with a portrait screen. Saw one, but didn't see it being used. Don't know the output device(s). Since it was sold to large companies, probably dot matrix and photo typeset. ~1985 I used a Mac to "typeset" a letter to a...

It was all horrible and a PITA. I don't feel the slightest bit of nostalgia for the days of cards, big spools of mag tape and computers, which had to sit in air conditioned rooms with a Halon drop in case there was a fire. 5 channel 5/10cps teleprinters were the PITS; figure-shift letter-shift were...