Test Equipment Anonymous

I bought the SDS1102CML+ pre-Covid, maybe 2018. It's small and neat and it's the one I've reached for. There a few things it doesn't do, such as serial decoding, and the channel 2 trace is a dark blue, which made it hard to see, so I've just bought a better one. I never had to use the FFT facility f...

It is rare[1] that newer equipment is worse than existing equipment, of course. It was poor judgement to say the least. Such highly visible poor judgement can colour marketplace perceptions for a long time ("bad then, why should I expect it to be good now" or "I'm not going to risk m...

The SDS1000 DL, CML and CML+, must have been introduced a long time ago. 15 years back or so. They were introductory models. You can certainly argue that it was poor judgement to include an FFT feature that was basically useless. The recently introduced SDS800X HD series look like the oscilloscope b...

There are all sorts of features it's easy to add to a DSO, such as voltage readings of various sorts. They are useful because you are often interested in voltage levels on a scope and they save you squinting at the display and fiddling about to refer to the scales. They are not as accurate as a chea...

Then you could go to a FFT exclusive display and examine the menu for axis scaling and markers to place on peaks although I'm not sure if the DL models provided them. So modern Siglent equipment is like 1960s SAs and significantly more primitive than 1970s SAs? Disappointing. Not at all. These fair...

So it's basically just eye candy? :roll: My crusty old eyeballs are better TE. Something they felt they could bung in, and would add to the attraction, and they could mention on the data sheets. Certainly not a well-developed feature. I don't think many reviewers caned the scopes for not having an ...

No scales?! Seriously? April 1st is long gone. :D That's prehistoric, or at least early 1960s. Even my 1970s and 1980s analogue spectrum analysers (Tek492, DP8562) have comprehensive readout of all the settings! It reminds me of those little scopes that came out in the 50s, where there wasn't much ...

From fiddling with mine, I came to the conclusion that it's a feature with window functions which produces a trace that looks a bit like an FFT display. There's not much to control it, and working out what the horizontal and vertical axes represent would be hard work or guesswork. It doesn't have th...

I've got a Siglent SDS1102CML+, about the same vintage as your SDS1052DL. It's better spec'd and may be a bit later. I played with the FFT function and was never very impressed or saw it as particularly useful. I may not have discovered how to drive it properly, but it seems to be a bit limited. Sor...

We've been trying to persuade him that he can't expect to get anywhere with his totally inadequate TE or his crusty old eyeballs. He thinks we are pulling his leg or maliciously leading him down rabbit holes. Perish the thought. I'm sure as an experienced Siglent salesman and self-confessed TE enabl...

You guys kill me. Suggesting I go down all sorts of rabbit holes. My Siglent SDS1052DL does have some basic FFT functions but I trust my crusty old eyeballs. :P :P :D I'm shocked that you so readily believe that your e-friends are trying to mislead you. These are not rabbit holes and it's nothing l...

Calibration was a bit fiddly but finally fell into place. Will burn-in for at least 2 hours then this project is complete. Oh no it isn't! Not until the spectral purity of that sine wave is checked out on a spectrum analyzer! No gots a spectrum analyzer. My tired old eyeballs are good enough. :D Yo...

Finally got some time to change out the remaining capacitors. It was a real chore to get to them on the range switch but I was ultimately successful. Changed out C6, C7, C8, C12, C13, C14. So this was nothing to do with silver mica capacitors. It was other capacitors setting the ranges. Were they p...

Interesting. I don't recall seeing the Tek portable scopes on my travels.

It looks as if some of the push buttons have been in the wars.

I'm sure you'll get it working. If it proves hopeless there has to be more than £10 worth of usable parts in it.

I assume you are not in a rush. I'm off on holiday for a fortnight on Thursday. I'll contemplate it.

It would really have to be picked up and seen working. I have the impression you live around Cambridge, or at least roughly in the East Anglia area.

It depends what you mean by cheap. Cheap and HP 8920 don't usually fit easily in the same sentence, in my experience.

Mass replace the capacitors on the range switch including the disc capacitors on the board except for the micas on the range switch. Have you priced mica capacitors lately? Holy shit. :shock: No fix? Is the problem the same on all ranges? If so it would be possible all those capacitors have conspir...

A splendid haul.

I've been tempted by the odd Marconi 2955, but I've never bitten.

A Youtube video 21:45 minutes long on the origins and end of Heathkit. I'm sure we've all built, or acquired at some stage, Heathkit gear.

10:30 to 16:40 is a quiz type presentation, which I found I could do without.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-F_Fz2G7BI

HP gear from that era was beautifully made. They didn't skimp anything.

The only real exception I've come across is the damned plastic gears on the 8640A/B. They've almost always cracked and they could have used brass for very little more, considering what the instrument cost when it was new.

C17 and C18 are not by any chance the infamous Black Beauties are they? If so, change them.

They are to be compared with Red Hunts and Hunts MoldSeal, which I assume was so called because the mold was sealed in.

I shall continue to follow with interest.

It looks like an astable. I assume the trigger forces it to start at a particular point in the square wave and it free runs until the next trigger. The manual might clear that up.

What are V6 and V7? Presumably the output. What happens if you remove them and see what is happening with a scope?

I was looking over things today and noticed something. R29 does not look very healthy. Burnt I'd say. It's a 1.5K, 1W, 1%. I don't see any obvious reason why it would burn unless V5 is drawing excessive cathode current. When I get a chance I'll replace R29 and see what happens. It just so happens t...

I've got a load of those turret tag boards and odd tag strips and tag boards, and also some 28 pin DIL fibre glass boards - could be useful for dealing with a 28 pin DIL package with damaged pins. I've scooped them up whenever I've seen them going cheap at swapmeets. I wasn't aware they were still m...

A nice use of tag strips. At one time they were a mainstay of the electronics industry. Last time I looked there was a very limited selection and they were dear. I've snapped them up when I've seen them going cheap. No doubt they are still available, at a price, for the vintage hifi crowd. You have ...