Test Equipment Anonymous

With Summer winding down I finally got the opportunity to work on this 485. First item is to free up the jammed vertical input switch. Yes indeed. In places I see the trees already turning colour. I have several proper jobs to do before the cold weather sets in. Then, although it hasn't been an out...

I always thought EICO was a lesser manufacturer of TE, not a kit company. We don't see EICO much this side of the pond. Heathkit/Daystrom was well established here and they had a factory in Gloucester. Heathkit turns up regularly at swapmeets here. I have a few units; a VTVM, a distortion meter and ...

I've got two AWGs (three including the one built in to the scope). One is an el-cheapo FeelTech FY6900, which I used for a few years. These had a number of problems, gone into in a very lengthy thread at the other place. Feelech weren't quick to pick up on these. The software they supplied with them...

Having said that, I've never found a USP for generic pulse generators. Back in my first job one of the early things I did was to make a weird specialised pulse generator for a specific piece of equipment I was building. I've repeated that concept many times since. Back in the day I had to investiga...

Some modern scopes, including a few Siglent models, have a built-in AWG as an option. They are not the last word in AWGs, but they are good enough for most things and save bench room.

tautech wrote: ↑Tue Aug 26, 2025 9:39 pm These days most of the SDG models can do as much and lots more.

You wicked salesman you. These things have a savage grandeur entire unto itself. Well sort of. But for £15, it's a bit of fun.

I recall discussing this just after you bought it. I couldn't quite see what this thing could do that a modern DDS function generator couldn't do better. Maybe not with GPIB, but USB is now the scene. This has neither. On mature reflection, it was a blow beneath the belt and unworthy. People who liv...

The slippery slopes of LCR nuttery.

The TF2700 is a bit clunky but they do work. I haven't used mine in 20 years.

I'm sure when they came out the ads claimed they could measure the inductance of a paper clip.

Tunnel diodes were interestingly fast compared with contemporary Ge transistors :) They certainly were and I've read there were some high current ones. But silicon planar transistors came in a little later and improved rapidly. By around 1970 there was ECL that could operate at 3GHz and TTL and CMO...

On top of that due to the physical properties of the equipment it's likely to be very difficult to commercialise on any scale anyway. It's another graphene: even if we succeed, it doesn't mean it's going to change the world much once real-world practicalities are evident. AFAIK, quantum computing d...

I'm inclined to think quantum computing is the technology of the future, and always will be. Rather like fusion reactors, which are 50 years away from being practical, and have been since the 1950s. Occasionally a "breakthrough" is announced, but it never seems to amount to much. Now I'm n...

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. http...

Sale day at The National Museum of Computing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6XxyaTr7sI&ab_channel=MoreFunFixingIt Apparently it took place on 19th July. Bargains galore (for those into 80s home computers, PETs, etc). It drags on 43 minutes, but it's worth skimming through. I though it worth m...

A bit sad, but he was 97, which is a good run.

I recall many of his songs with fondness:

Poisoning Pigeons in The Park.
The Old Dope Peddler.
Lobachevsky.
The Vatican Rag.

and many others.

The original display may not have been great to begin with and modern ones are better, and it may have degraded with age. However, some of those LCD character displays have a pot to adjust the contrast, and you may only need to tweak that. I was playing with an unused one a few days back and with ev...

what would compel you to replace it with that "thing"? I'd guess it caught his eye as a bit of junk to play with, as a diversion from the other things that crowd his hours. I get that. am guilty myself of spending months in search of a fault. then when restored to its original function yo...

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 1:02 am what would compel you to replace it with that "thing"?

I'd guess it caught his eye as a bit of junk to play with, as a diversion from the other things that crowd his hours.

I have an additional lodger at the moment that the eldest brought home after getting rid of the lasta one. He seems to mostly consume cheese, which is getting quite expensive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_Problem A most unfortunate associate for honourable daughter. Try Rodine, if you ca...

Trolling through Aliexpress, there's a large selection of various kinds of display. It can be a matter of finding one with the right form factor. It may be possible to use a larger one than the original, if there's room. There are libraries in C and Python for most of the chips the displays use. It'...

Displays in vintage equipment can be an enormous problem. Very often they are specialised VFDs or LCDs and the original is expensive or unobtainable. The design can be quite elaborate. Sometimes analogue meters can also be very hard to replace. There's a huge market for small modern computer display...

I feel your pain. That 465 I bought for a tenner appears to work. It was only a lazy attempt to put it through its paces, but a proper probe on the calibrator produces a passable square wave in both channels. I haven't checked the delay sweep. It seems a shame to use it as a parts mule. The Wavetek ...

I haven't had a problem with the Petolta connectors, mainly because they are open frame so you can see whether the solid core is entering the inner socket correctly. If that wasn't the case then it would be easy to push a bit too hard and terminally (ho ho) bend the solid core. Peltola, definitely ...

On balance I'm glad I didn't spot that one. I did come away with a Tek 465 which is still in the car. I've been investigating a Wavetek function generator which came from there. I always feel a sense of relief when those Peltola connectors fit back successfully. They look very easy to damage. I have...

Cat's melting - impossible.

Friends had two black cats who liked to get under the log burning stove when it was fired up. After a time, the heat got too much even for them, and they'd dart out with their fur smoking.