Test Equipment Anonymous

I went to the local radio rally yesterday. Really just a carboot sale for the local repeater group. I was selling. Mostly big stuff with low value like a scope mobile and instrument mobile. As I on my own there wasn't much opportunity to look around and buy. I did however pick up one item of TE. A R...

Apprenticeships: These are still offered by my employer and have been for over 100 years. The current chief engineer is an ex apprentice and has been with the company for 40 years.... Scaffold towers. Renting these also means that they have an up to date inspection tag which removes another administ...

The granualar material in high rupture current fuses isn't so much for arc quenching (stopping conduction) as energy absortion to stop the fuse physically exploding. It presents a large surface area to the hot expanding gases cooling them and reducing internal pressures.

It was actually a well thought out con. Freezer level temperature does affect the crystaline structure of some alloys. For example in aviation after annealling rivets they work harden at room temperature. This can be slowed by keeping them in a freezer. The treated fuse that blew quickly was obvious...

tggzzz wrote: ↑Tue Apr 01, 2025 8:46 pm

Robert wrote: ↑Tue Apr 01, 2025 8:09 pm And the date is.....

March 31st
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevb ... msg5866735

Not in OZ. They are first for the new year too...

The eevblog video posted yesterday ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TYtdpbFWuA ) about fuse characteristics being permanently changed by exposure to low temperature was interesting. He was showing fuses in the context of current shunt overcurrent protection in multimeters. Dave didn't mention any...

OK lets get this back on test equipment. I bumped into a retired work colleague in a supermarket car park last week and he asked me if I would try to repair an instrument for him. Later that day he turned up with a 1980's Roland Juno 60 synthesizer. That is a musical keyboard not a a RF signal gener...

RG-58, a crimp BNC and a BNC to N adaptor at 10GHz?
Your test set-up is not optimal

FRARS used to be my local rally but I haven't attended for many years. To far to go.

I'll be at Dunstable Downs (again). It's come around quickly. Haven't decided if I'm going to sell or not. Good place for transfers though if anyone wants heavy stuff. I've got VNAs (HP 8753B & 8754s) Collins 618T, maybe a 8920A, R&S PSM, Odetics GPSDO etc.

Robert.

I've also seen some plastics react badly to even normally "safe" solvents. One notable one was the insulation on some expensive screw loxkin high pin count DIN connectors. Solvent was "plastic safe" non-CFC spray cleaner. We ere using that on sensitive plastics like ABS and polys...

I've a Fluke VT04 on ebay UK at the moment. Item no. 267185881457 Lower resolution but merged with visual image. great for fault finding. Only selling it because I picked up a Flir E6 for silly money. If anyone in the UK makes an offer over £100 and puts "for TEA" in the message I'll proba...

Hands up anyone in the Trumpdom who is waiting for PCB's or parts from the far east......

I was going to college in Bristol in '82. First week of January saw me flying in on a Dan-Air aka Dan Dare HS748 (G-ARAY, the second prototype) into Lulsgate. The pilot must have been on a promise because unlike all the other aircraft he wasn't going to divert to Cardiff. On the third go-around I sp...

Fancy pickup trucks had a surge in popularity in the UK starting several years ago. However I can say with certanty that it will have died off this year. It's all about income tax. Pickups were never that popular in the UK due to the weather. Farmers would have the option on Landrovers and some util...

Yeah I think the 8060A was aimed more at electronics guys, the rubber baby buggy bumper brigade are more a sparky thing. @Robert, identifying the connector on this seems the sort of thing you excel at: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdHZahEGn_8&lc=UgxrhKRMEO2H3zxcjyF4AaABAg.ADIDWCryxW...

On the Fluke 80xx handhelds with side "key" switches I've never had or heard any complaints.
For a manual ranging meter a button per range is great. You can go straight to the range you want.
The side keys allow single handed selection of function and range. Unless you have tiny hands...

Yeah I think the 8060A was aimed more at electronics guys, the rubber baby buggy bumper brigade are more a sparky thing. @Robert, identifying the connector on this seems the sort of thing you excel at: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdHZahEGn_8&lc=UgxrhKRMEO2H3zxcjyF4AaABAg.ADIDWCryxW...

For moment I thought you were in LA.
Glad you are not.

New arrival, the - hp - 8640B! It's been on the wish list basically since I was bit with the TEA bug. And now I own one. A colleague, who already owns one, tipped me off on one that was offered at a low -- for Sweden -- starting price of about 150USD. And it was very local, and pickup only, the lat...

Frequency is between 1 and 2.5kHz. Loaded with 50pF 2500V +- 200V (presume this is with an electrostatic meter or similar) output should drop to 1900V +- 400V when loaded with 50pF and 25 megohm. input is nominally 6.75V maximum but has a variable supply to control gain.

Robert G8RPI

No, the Tek PSU has a North American plug (NEMA 5-15P). Technically this makes it illegal to use in the UK.

According to the TekWiki, it's a power supply for a type 131 model 4 current probe amplifier, 230V variant. Part number 015-028. Also trying to identify this little bastard: Has what looks like a NSN but probably isn't, 6130-99-117-8700 f84f6be4-1f7b-4117-a1fc-6ba87fba5635.jpg That is a high voltag...

I visited the big surplus store in Albuquerque NM yesterday It's "Surplus City". Part old style industrial / military surplus part modern foreign made new stuff. Lots of boat anchor TE in a big warehouse including several 6' high 19" racks full of varible power supplies. HP, LAmbda et...

I mentioned Johns Radio a few days ago. Purely by coincidence I was looking at an archive disk today and came across the catalog for the "closing down" sale in 2002. John was not happy with the result and claimed that the buyers had conspired to keep prices low. No such thing happened. The...