Test Equipment Anonymous

The counter to that would be Anne, and Edward+Sophie, who seems to do a reasonable low-key job. Wish Anne would keep her cows in her own fields; I've had to play cowboy to get a herd off the runway. Mind you, at least they could be chased away. Two miles away on Minchinhampton Common, the damn thing...

tggzzz wrote: ↑Tue Nov 25, 2025 4:26 pm Quite a few of mine are like that, some with the date barely legible. Nobody cared; they were just used.

To finish the topic, here are two pictures of coins I found in my pocket...
Two queens, old any young
Two ages
1d and ¹/₂d
1863 * 3
1901
1966
One too warn to tell, but an early Victoria

Anybody got any idea about how I could spend or change paper Euros? Visit EU? France is fast reached via the Eurostar. You probably (but no guarantees) can pay in Euros already in the bistro car en route. Given the ticket price it would be a hideous exchange rate, of course. That's he obvious defau...

Back in 1984 you could buy a lifesize cartoon cardboard cutout of Margaret Thatcher, as a form of guy on Nov 5th[1]. I put mine in the passenger seat of my Land Rover

[1] https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collect ... tradition/

Looks like I also have several £5 commemorative coins several £2 commemorative coins many florins; yes they were called that only one half-crown, which is surprising since they were common tanners (half-bob), shillings (bob) , ha'pennies, thrupenny bits but no farthings (out of circulation in 1947, ...

As a kid I used to look all the time, partly through boredom, and partly because old coins were still in circulation, even though grossly eroded. I have many Edwardian and Victorian coins, the oldest being 1863. I seem to recall having had a small booklet listing prices of each coin/date. A lot of ...

Apparently Charles III coins have been issued for general circulation for two years or more. I can't say I've noticed any, but I don't particularly look. As a kid I used to look all the time, partly through boredom, and partly because old coins were still in circulation, even though grossly eroded....

hmmmmm.......coins with a queen on them. just out of curiosity........have coins been issued yet with an image of the king? (not trying to stir up anything.......just wondering). Interesting question; can't think how it would stir anything up! King Charles notes have been in circulation since June ...

Never use electronics tools for bicycles! I wrecked a pair of perfectly good cable cutters that way on a brake cable. I now have a seriously robust cutter for that job. https://www.parktool.com/en-int/product/professional-cable-and-housing-cutter-cn-10?category=Derailleurs+%26+Shifting Impecunious ...

Silent key stalls often have bargains. I bought a TF2700 for £15 for a friend at the beginning of the year. Bargain! That's what I tried to tell tggzzz after I pointed a TF2700 to him, and he bought it at the W-s-M rally a year back, for the same modest amount. It's been a sore topic ever since. Hi...

That's an interesting perspective, definitely worth keeping in mind.

Sometimes it will be a little tricky to distinguish between the two categories.

Having said that, to my surprise and annoyance, I picked up a nice HP 3GHz VNA boat anchor at a local small hamfest And at the same rally the year before, you picked up that excellent Marconi TF2700 LCR bridge, also to your surprise and annoyance. Rallies have advantages in that the prices are bett...

"It is always the electrolytics" is equally valid at hamfests. There doesn't seem to be too much decent TE at hamfests; it is a crapshoot. Fleabay seems to have replaced hamfests for TE. It is easier to see stuff working (or not) on fleabay, with shipping competence being the main issue. H...

Back in 1990 even top end digitizing scopes were unpleasant to use. I know, I was using
HP54100d: 6 bit, 1GHz, 40MS/s. Knew the bloke who designed the digitiser; nice guy.

The advances in ADC and DAC technology has been stunning.

It is easy if you use HTML, and let the viewing device decide ow to show the content.

It is difficult if you use CSS and/or multiple layers of frameworks

His pdf version of his special offers lists a Pendulum CNT90 Timer Counter Analyser 20Ghz £750. I'm sure the odd error and inconsistency creeps in when he compiles his lists. Ah! There are two versions of Special Offers, the pdf version where the Pendulum CNT 90 appears to have been listed correctl...

I can never convince myself what Stewart of Reading actually has in stock, nor what the price might be. "For any equipment listed without a price, please enquire, as prices are currently under review" => I can't be bothered. His "Best viewed in IE6" type website is also a severe ...

Hmmm. I've had mixed experiences with second-hand kit. I used a second-hand Marconi TF2700 LCR bridge for twenty years before passing it on to a friend. Likewise an Advance 10MHz oscilloscope. But a Tek 485 costing £800 in 1998 only lasted two years before its EHT died. Just before it died, I bough...

Then I thought, who could possibly justify using what must have been a ludicrously expensive valve like this? Tek! In the early 60s their scopes must have cost as much as a modest house. Other rules of thumb... In the 90s, the computer you wanted cost £1500. In the 80s, a reasonable spectrum analys...

Then I thought, who could possibly justify using what must have been a ludicrously expensive valve like this? Tek! In the early 60s their scopes must have cost as much as a modest house. Other rules of thumb... In the 90s, the computer you wanted cost £1500. In the 80s, a reasonable spectrum analys...

Anyway, are you going to tell us what these curious devices were used for, or keep us guessing? AIUI, they were part of the switching fabric for speech signals in telephone exchanges. Thus they were a replacement for electro-mechanical relays of one sort (Strowager) or another (PO3000). I don't und...

Much closer

Mechanical relays aren't exactly wonderfully reliable. Coto relays in voltmeters do have to be replaced.

Incandescent lights can be very surprisingly reliable, particularly if inrush currents and and voltages are kept low.

LDRs, yes, otherwise nice ideas but... These were packed in tight, with little else on the PCB. At least 40, maybe 64 of them. I don't think these were ever deployed en masse. At most a pilot installation. EDIT: there were four LDRs surrounding each lamp, not the one necessary for AGC or companding....

There was a lot of experimentation in the 60s and early 70s. While working for Plessey, my brother gave me lots of hookup wire from West Drayton air traffic control centre, and later gave me a 19" rack insert full of 1" hollow metal cubes. Inside each cube there was four of these surroundi...

Valve rectifiers are also in heavy demand.. There was one of these valve rectifiers powering the projector in my university's Student Union. Under a fire escape open staircase, protected by a mesh screen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-arc_valve Apart from that, it strikes me that audiophool...