Test Equipment Anonymous

I have a 1727A - it's a looooooooooong scope! (2'/61 cm from feet to face of cover)

-Pat

There are several Youtube videos extolling the inventive engineering excellence of the UK mains plug. If you tread on one, pins upward, in the middle of the night when you are on the way to the bathroom, thoughts of engineering excellence are lost in a torrent of foul, filthy and indeed, profane la...

I saw a few of these over the years on the Bay of Evil, but never bought one. Decided the next one I saw I would go for; it arrived last week. It's nothing more than a metered variac in a Clement cabinet, but is a nice unit just the same. The Variac (a Superior Electric device) is rated for up to 9 ...

Nice score on the test oscillators, and congrats on getting the Ham ticket! The guys at the radio museum were on me forever to get mine; finally took the tests back pre-pandemic and got the Technician and General knocked off. In hindsight, I wish I'd gone for the hat trick, but eventually will go fo...

Not far from the truth. I was sitting in the chair and he jumped up on the arm and looked at me as if to say "why are you sitting in my chair?" Then proceeded to force me to move aside so he could lay directly on the seat cushion. But he was not totally happy with that as indicated by som...

If you ask nicely, he *MIGHT* let you use it, but only to preheat it for him, and he'll expect you to move when he wants it again.

-Pat

Thanks for that. I'll look into it. I was aware someone had brass gears made a few years back, and for a time sold them on ebay. They were $200 as I recall. When the HP 8640A began to play up because of the disintegrating gears, I bought a Marconi 2019 from Stewart of Reading and I like the push bu...

I decided that rather than reverse engineering and dinking around with the charging circuit that I'd just get some 1/3 AAA NiCd cells and make up a replacement battery assembly. Ordered them on the 15th; hoping they get here some time this week. Dismantled battery compared to AAA cell: https://photo...

You lucky thing. Looks like a very nice piece of kit, if rather large. My E4420B (2GHz) generator is a little bit smaller, being only 3U high, but makes up for it by being very deep. Thanks! Yeah, it's definitely a big honker - about 81 lbs/37 kg and 24"/610 mm deep. I felt bad for the poor UP...

Yeah, I need to open it up and dig further into the charging circuitry - the original battery was a NiCd, and I searched on the part number (N-50SB3), and that's the one that came up from Battery Mart as a replacement. https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/HP-8664A-Synthesized-Signal-Generator/i-tm...

Took a chance on a pig-in-a-poke on the Bay of Evil and snagged an 8664A 0.1~3000 MHz signal generator about two weeks ago. Incoming inspection is of course a requirement: https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/HP-8664A-Synthesized-Signal-Generator/i-KKGw4QK/0/NDJbNQ5SdPmqxM8Zfq9Fs2Hbd6NzSDSmXXzW7kp...

Huh. Pretty much every one of my HP supplies , single or dual, has an earth terminal (though as you might guess, the newest one is likely still at least 30 years old...)

-Pat

Schottky:

It's sleeting here now.

-Pat

:lol: Time to add an extension or two? https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F4b%2F6e%2F92%2F4b6e92a90b3f831b3987a9941a201712.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=810596a0623b47699a514b8b78b432efa2609dd937f9ec58505d13a9fc641350 I think putting ANY vintage test g...

:lol: :lol: :lol: He's definitely got a crazy set of whiskers! https://photos.smugmug.com/Animals/2601-18-Felines/i-fg83PtP/0/KwcbvMz5CsBcvx3JV7hQ7XMkt2mM3Nx3V49DqCD7j/X2/26_02-09%20Marconi%2002-X2.jpg https://photos.smugmug.com/Animals/2601-18-Felines/i-3wzZ5KS/0/KV8t4mbckGzTD53NtFXsmKvSpS8wFjC8sbz...

Marconi: https://photos.smugmug.com/Animals/2601-18-Felines/i-b8QG6S7/0/LG68Q5r5dKJqrt3Tm66BZJXbWPFhVbDQH6h3PH66t/X2/26_01-15%20Marconi%2020-X2.jpg https://photos.smugmug.com/Animals/2601-18-Felines/i-fSRwwSR/0/LBr4x6jkhDQJt3Sn38cfznqZt95mS7H824hWhdL3G/X2/26_01-15%20Marconi%2022-X2.jpg https://photo...

<snip> I have lots of Q-Max punches, but did I have a 62.5mm punch? No. I clamped the 1/8" additional top plate to lathe face plate and bored it to 62.5mm for the meter. Fits nicely. Sounds like you need N+1 Q-max punches, specifically one in 62.5mm Ø... ;) :twisted: :twisted: -Pat

There are so many sketchy channels these days. I open them in a new window, and look at comments to see if anyone has immediately called them out; if not watch for a while to see how sketchy it actually is. More often than not, I find myself downvoting it, then going back to the original window and ...

Yeah, I'm keeping an eye out for such things. The zig-zag effect reminds me of this style of staircase. Nice looking design, so hip the designer's bum fell off - and your's probably will if you try to descend. https://cdn.trendir.com/wp-content/uploads/old/archives/2015/10/11/unusual-stairs-floatin...

HP used analog meters in the LSDs of the 524B (still in the repair queue): https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/HP-524B-Electronic-Counter/i-4dcnSZK/0/KVmG6VmqkhtpdNJsK9Rdh9PWSkXRwrdX73NnGrjKK/X2/HP%20524B%20Counter%20front-X2.jpg And the 5210A Frequency Meter was totally analog. (This one doesn't...

And how about the vertical decimal displays (I've heard them referred to as 'pinball' displays)?
The LSD's decoder has some issues - you can see a few of the neons lighting simultaneously as it counts up...

-Pat

I have a Numitron timer (only pic I could readily find of it), but have thus far not come across Minitrons.



-Pat

Ahh, but do you have any stacked lucite plate displays?
-Pat