Test Equipment Anonymous

Thanks, guys. And yes, Gilmore was a very happy cat, curious and always into everything. Knew he was a handsome boy and a great poser for pictures as well. And absolutely, they always leave us too soon.

-Pat

The kittens are of course growing like weeds as kittens are inclined to, and tearing around the house like the little furry menaces they are. https://photos.smugmug.com/Animals/2502-16-Felines/i-q6ST4pB/0/K89v2v3TH6PL6ZCGGvPHPvWQnjWTPBMzxGmsk2N85/X2/25_09-04%20Schottky%2003-X2.jpg https://photos.smu...

The cat distribution system works in mysterious ways, though - a few weeks before Gilmore's final diagnosis, my friend's wife (who had facilitated the arrival of Gilmore and his sisters back in 2015 when one of her coworker's friend's mothers (or mother's friend - there were several degrees of separ...

I've seen that tower climbing video many times, and it never fails to make my ankles feel rubbery. Nope, nope, nope. It's remotely possible I *might* be able to climb UP there, but there's no way in hell I'd get down without a helicopter picking me up or perhaps a parachute - I'd imagine I'd be froz...

Bummer.

-Pat

I will tolerate one tube/valve in a piece of test equipment. 1500? Not a chance! My limit thus far has been something over 70 with the HP 524 series counters. It's almost time to break one out and start wowrking on it again - it's getting colder in these parts... https://photos.smugmug.com/Electron...

Dammit, now I have another thing on my Evil Bay watch list!!

-Pat

Wow, Pat... thanks for the infodump. And the one after that. :lol: I've worked on a few 100-disc CD carousels which were obviously descended from this very engineering. Good thing I didn't ask "How much... :P " and make a fool of myself... ;-) mnem "It is better to hold your tongue a...

Output tubes are 6973s in push-pull configuration. https://www.radiomuseum.org/tubes/tube_6973.html I did actually take a video of the mechanism, but it was a handheld iPad and the audio is terrible and it's rather dark. https://pmanning.smugmug.com/VRCMCT-Photos/n-gqhbgG/Jukeboxes/i-WmgvFPR/A (can'...

That's the song selector - note that the two arms are configured on their ends to press either the inner or outer ring of pins. Inner pins coincide with one side of the record; outer with the other. When a customer made a selection, that arm assembly would rotate until the appropriate end was over t...

I actually considered several times aboot asking how much on the jukebox... then I decided I'd better not; "I might just have enough..." :? Probably at least $3,000. Also they are quite big. The big Wurlitzer ones with bubbles go for a lot more. Pinball machines are another thing like tha...

You're much braver than I am, probably because you are familiar with them. Analyzer stuff is all voodoo to me and I'd never buy one of those plug-in's unless I got it for free. :D I was looking at the 7L12 pictures and all the calibration points most likely requiring massive amounts of highly expen...

That's a very good website for those even slightly drawn to time nuttery. I find for now that my ebay Chinese GPSDO is bags. If you look through it, some of the links to other sites are also interesting. eg: For those of us who think we have Test Equipment Acquirement Syndrome, we really don't. htt...

Yeah, took some time for one with those features to appear on eBuy back a few years ago when I got it.

-Pat

Just heard that Chuck Mangione has also passed, at the age of 84.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertai ... 358976007/

-Pat

Someone replaced the VFD of a Keithley 2000 with an OLED display. Technical details can be found here: https://github.com/RM-Engineering/Keithley-2000-replacing-the-VFD-with-a-5.5-inch-OLED- After seeing this and also stumbling on a Zenwizard video on replacing the piss poor display in the HP 8904A...

Very nicely done! Looks OEM!

-Pat

Yes, P-11 phosphor is definitely novel and beautiful. https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/Tektronix-485-Oscilloscope-/i-NWZvcLb/0/NjXmSbVNrn8N5PTzDCShxGrBwmvZrn3Xbf52PTkc6/X2/24C03A97-E62C-4B9B-A491-97F3C6ECC439-X2.jpg my fortress of solitude has been purged of all tek equipment. your dalliance w...

Zenith's second picture of his 8600 shows the same mains socket insulation made of perforated paper. So clearly it was an aberrant line rather than a specific meter :( That's fish paper - it's a vulcanized fiber material that's lightweight, tough and tolerant of temperature extremes, and has been u...

They have a savage grandeur which many find fascinating. Valve scopes are probably now a bit too savage for most. Give me savage or give me death. :lol: Agreed - savage FTW! https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/Tektronix-547-Oscilloscope/i-hQRGKng/0/MBtPGfttPvBvHVF4fNg2bKnLhfp54cJNn6LktRW7L/XL/Te...

Look closely at the ones near the end with the red and black wires - they're solid on the male edge connector - you'll need to slice the fingers/pads lengthwise to separate them. Those pads are siamesed on both sides on mine. https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/Misc-test-equipment/i-BRZKvZS/0/LH6...

As long as you split the siamesed pads, why do you think the JAMMA cable would need extensive rework? As long as all the connections are 1:1, it should effectively be invisible to the plug in. And why remove the unused cables? If they're no connects, they won't hurt anything, and the TM-500 equipmen...

Nixies? What are those? IMG_20250514_174741361.jpg Contemporaries/successors of these: ;) https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/Non-Linear-Systems-Model-64-DVM/i-cFWRX39/0/LLtNW9gMp4WSKN4GdrZdmzvXrDDS9zwV8LDp5KfRv/XL/NLS%2064%20display%20working%20-XL.jpg I have a timer lurking about here somewher...