Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

[synx508]

I did say the Wavetek was working when last used some time ago and that it had a habit of giving an output error message that I never got to go wrong on the bench. Now you've fixed it I'd be happy to give you your £20 back

Robert.

Ah! No need for a refund, it's a thoroughly enjoyable little generator, even if it's a bit beepy.The manual is brilliant, very impressive, loads of great descriptions of the circuit blocks.
It mostly fixed itself. It wouldn't start at all or started then immediately restarted then hung but after I took the lid off and wiggled some of the interconnects it behaved more as I'd expect it to. The output protect message with all the beeping made me jump, by the way, guessing this is the message as it seemed to pop up at random a few times? It didn't appear to be protecting anything, not entirely sure what its telling me but I've only skimmed the operating side of the manual.
I am still not sure if it was just some capacitors settling back into the idea of being capacitors or the wire wiggling that brought it back.

Did you find a buyer for the amazing yellow capacitance computer?

[synx508]

If you need any bits for the 1742 drop me a PM, somewhere in my lab I have a load of boards etc for the 1740 series of scopes, I might be able to help you with.

Thanks. I think I've got everything I needed from either my parts donor 1740A or the 1725A that is potentially a parts donor for my 1715A. The 1725A is complete and works but the intensity is too low to be useful and I've a feeling it's a very tired tube. It has donated an attenuator "cal" knob, which came from the 1740A in the first place.

[Robert]

I did say the Wavetek was working when last used some time ago and that it had a habit of giving an output error message that I never got to go wrong on the bench. Now you've fixed it I'd be happy to give you your £20 back

Robert.

Ah! No need for a refund, it's a thoroughly enjoyable little generator, even if it's a bit beepy.The manual is brilliant, very impressive, loads of great descriptions of the circuit blocks.
It mostly fixed itself. It wouldn't start at all or started then immediately restarted then hung but after I took the lid off and wiggled some of the interconnects it behaved more as I'd expect it to. The output protect message with all the beeping made me jump, by the way, guessing this is the message as it seemed to pop up at random a few times? It didn't appear to be protecting anything, not entirely sure what its telling me but I've only skimmed the operating side of the manual.
I am still not sure if it was just some capacitors settling back into the idea of being capacitors or the wire wiggling that brought it back.

Did you find a buyer for the amazing yellow capacitance computer?

Yes that was the message I was seeing. Selling at St Neots was a last miniute decision so I didn't check everything.
No, the fuel quantity test set didn't sell. Din't really expect it to but it was in the way when getting other stuff out of the garage so put it in the car... If anyone wants a computercontrolled high accuracy capacitance meter with two capacitance decades built in let me now.

[synx508]

I did say the Wavetek was working when last used some time ago and that it had a habit of giving an output error message that I never got to go wrong on the bench. Now you've fixed it I'd be happy to give you your £20 back

Robert.

Ah! No need for a refund, it's a thoroughly enjoyable little generator, even if it's a bit beepy.The manual is brilliant, very impressive, loads of great descriptions of the circuit blocks.
It mostly fixed itself. It wouldn't start at all or started then immediately restarted then hung but after I took the lid off and wiggled some of the interconnects it behaved more as I'd expect it to. The output protect message with all the beeping made me jump, by the way, guessing this is the message as it seemed to pop up at random a few times? It didn't appear to be protecting anything, not entirely sure what its telling me but I've only skimmed the operating side of the manual.
I am still not sure if it was just some capacitors settling back into the idea of being capacitors or the wire wiggling that brought it back.

Did you find a buyer for the amazing yellow capacitance computer?

Yes that was the message I was seeing. Selling at St Neots was a last miniute decision so I didn't check everything.
No, the fuel quantity test set didn't sell. Din't really expect it to but it was in the way when getting other stuff out of the garage so put it in the car... If anyone wants a computercontrolled high accuracy capacitance meter with two capacitance decades built in let me now.

It's a good idea to take something very interesting even if it doesn't sell, I reckon. I took a Fluke GPIB controller to Rugby and had loads of conversations as a result, many ended with people walking away with something else. The Fluke has a widescreen touch CRT and contains a super fun computer system that's like a turbocharged TI 99/4A with loads of RAM and a floppy drive. Sadly doesn't work, but maybe it's the right project for someone. No more rallies for me this year so I expect it'll turn up at Stockwood Park next year.

[synx508]

Sad that MKARS was crap. That's usually a good one and I tend to come out with a reasonably large amount of tat

It wasn't completely crap but it was disappointing, the sellers formerly known as MA components were giving stuff away and selling other parts more cheaply because they are downsizing. One regular seller had a Marconi 2022, HP 8656B or similar and an 8903A, think they went to the usual regular buyer!

[bd139]

Sad that MKARS was crap. That's usually a good one and I tend to come out with a reasonably large amount of tat

It wasn't completely crap but it was disappointing, the sellers formerly known as MA components were giving stuff away and selling other parts more cheaply because they are downsizing. One regular seller had a Marconi 2022, HP 8656B or similar and an 8903A, think they went to the usual regular buyer!

Oh was that Mr Mercedes Estate? (again)

[tggzzz]

Don't forget you will, if you want to keep the 3.5ns risetime, have to show the 1740 that you love it by fondling and squeezing it occasionally. The sensitive bit is, of course, the internal delay line.

I wondered where this was going, but it's presumably something to do with the effects of age… of the delay line cable.

The other unpleasantness I've had is that the timebase rotary switch's outer edge pressed too hard against the PCB and abraded the PCB track. Solvable by soldering a thin wire across the gap, being careful not to get solder onto the gold plated switch track/ contacts.

This 1979 model has only two clamps on the timebase control shaft, my parts donor from a few years earlier has three (as specified in the manual), but three seems like too many. I'm going to check that I've not positioned them in a way that is likely to wear down the PCB.

If you can demonstrate that they work, I expect the Tek HV transformers can be used to demonstrate to your wife that this is better than a cost-neutral hobby

I don't think it'll be necessary to use The Apparatus at this time.

The delay cable is a Well Known Problem, which seems to be unique to the 1740 and/or 174* range.

I can't remember the exact details of my timebase, but IIRC I described it at The Other Place.

[synx508]

Oh was that Mr Mercedes Estate? (again)

It was. I got there 15 minutes before the official opening time and he was carrying boxes of parts from the hall to his car, which was in a pitch that suggested he was the first pseudo-trader to arrive. I asked him if he'd bought everything already and he replied "Pretty much, yes".

[bd139]

Oh was that Mr Mercedes Estate? (again)

It was. I got there 15 minutes before the official opening time and he was carrying boxes of parts from the hall to his car, which was in a pitch that suggested he was the first pseudo-trader to arrive. I asked him if he'd bought everything already and he replied "Pretty much, yes".

Yeah that's the one. I was considering following him home after the Newbury one last year and writing his address down. Then on the next hamfest, depart early and feed his car some bananas for breakfast.

[Specmaster]

Oh was that Mr Mercedes Estate? (again)

It was. I got there 15 minutes before the official opening time and he was carrying boxes of parts from the hall to his car, which was in a pitch that suggested he was the first pseudo-trader to arrive. I asked him if he'd bought everything already and he replied "Pretty much, yes".

Yeah that's the one. I was considering following him home after the Newbury one last year and writing his address down. Then on the next hamfest, depart early and feed his car some bananas for breakfast.

A good old-fashioned potato up the exhaust ought to do it OK

[bd139]

It was. I got there 15 minutes before the official opening time and he was carrying boxes of parts from the hall to his car, which was in a pitch that suggested he was the first pseudo-trader to arrive. I asked him if he'd bought everything already and he replied "Pretty much, yes".

Yeah that's the one. I was considering following him home after the Newbury one last year and writing his address down. Then on the next hamfest, depart early and feed his car some bananas for breakfast.

A good old-fashioned potato up the exhaust ought to do it OK

Bananas smell worse when they're hot!

[25 CPS]

Oh was that Mr Mercedes Estate? (again)

It was. I got there 15 minutes before the official opening time and he was carrying boxes of parts from the hall to his car, which was in a pitch that suggested he was the first pseudo-trader to arrive. I asked him if he'd bought everything already and he replied "Pretty much, yes".

One of the guys at work is into vintage Commodore computers and there's a local Commodore show every year at some hotel by the airport. One of the organizers, we nicknamed him "The Guy With The Beard" when he was telling me about his first visit to this show, has early access to the vendors during the setup and does exactly this ever year. "The Guy With The Beard" clears out everything before the doors open to the public and one year apparently wheeled a cart full of stuff out the door to his car past the lineup of people waiting for the doors to open for the show to begin. I asked the guy at work if he said anything or asked if The Guy With The Beard if he left anything for anyone else but he kept his mouth shut.

[mnementh]

Yeah, well... you can't blame the guy who volunteers for the assache of making it happen for taking some liberties... If you wanna cherry-pick, you can always volunteer for the misery yourself.

I usedta do the same thing when I worked the flea in Floriduh... Set up early with the big/hard-to-pocket stuff, make the rounds of the Garage-Sale sectors for stock to fix/sell before the gates open.

mnem
"I'm not WalMart; I don't have enough overhead to warranty against buyer's remorse." ~true story

[25 CPS]

Yeah, well... you can't blame the guy who volunteers for the assache of making it happen for taking some liberties... If you wanna cherry-pick, you can always volunteer for the misery yourself.

I usedta do the same thing when I worked the flea in Floriduh... Set up early with the big/hard-to-pocket stuff, make the rounds of the Garage-Sale sectors for stock to fix/sell before the gates open.

mnem
"I'm not WalMart; I don't have enough overhead to warranty against buyer's remorse." ~true story

There's a difference between cherry picking and cleaning the whole place out.

[Specmaster]

Yeah that's the one. I was considering following him home after the Newbury one last year and writing his address down. Then on the next hamfest, depart early and feed his car some bananas for breakfast.

A good old-fashioned potato up the exhaust ought to do it OK

Bananas smell worse when they're hot!

This is not your first rodeo then

[bd139]

A good old-fashioned potato up the exhaust ought to do it OK

Bananas smell worse when they're hot!

This is not your first rodeo then

That would be correct. My mathematics teacher of the time was a bit of an asshat. I did not follow the instructions set out on how to solve a problem. I can't even remember what the problem now but it was one of those things where they teach you a completely retarded way of doing it which actually makes it harder to deal with, so I solved it my way. Told me to stop trying to be clever, made an example of me in front of the class and then made me sit at the front for the rest of the year. One fine afternoon I heard him talking to another colleague about how he had a date that evening. I was unsurprisingly fed up with the unimaginative "banana a day" regime my mother inflicted upon me so there was an unloved one in the lunch box. This was shoved up the arse pipe of his shitty blue Fiesta. Now not a lot of people know it but it won't stop the car starting but if you push it up into the silencer it'll thump around in it and make a horrible noise and smell, which is exactly what it did. I like to think of him pulling up at his date with a car smelling like rancid cooked banana and making thumping noises.

[Specmaster]

Bananas smell worse when they're hot!

This is not your first rodeo then

That would be correct. My mathematics teacher of the time was a bit of an asshat. I did not follow the instructions set out on how to solve a problem. I can't even remember what the problem now but it was one of those things where they teach you a completely retarded way of doing it which actually makes it harder to deal with, so I solved it my way. Told me to stop trying to be clever, made an example of me in front of the class and then made me sit at the front for the rest of the year. One fine afternoon I heard him talking to another colleague about how he had a date that evening. I was unsurprisingly fed up with the unimaginative "banana a day" regime my mother inflicted upon me so there was an unloved one in the lunch box. This was shoved up the arse pipe of his shitty blue Fiesta. Now not a lot of people know it but it won't stop the car starting but if you push it up into the silencer it'll thump around in it and make a horrible noise and smell, which is exactly what it did. I like to think of him pulling up at his date with a car smelling like rancid cooked banana and making thumping noises.

That is quite odd really because I love to stick them on a BBQ as a sweet because I discovered that bananas BBQ'd in their skins are really delicious, what could be nicer than a nice hot freshly BBQ's banana (skinned of course) with a big dollop of ice cream I've always thought that they smelled lovely while cooking so maybe its something to do with cars exhaust then.

[bd139]

This is not your first rodeo then

That would be correct. My mathematics teacher of the time was a bit of an asshat. I did not follow the instructions set out on how to solve a problem. I can't even remember what the problem now but it was one of those things where they teach you a completely retarded way of doing it which actually makes it harder to deal with, so I solved it my way. Told me to stop trying to be clever, made an example of me in front of the class and then made me sit at the front for the rest of the year. One fine afternoon I heard him talking to another colleague about how he had a date that evening. I was unsurprisingly fed up with the unimaginative "banana a day" regime my mother inflicted upon me so there was an unloved one in the lunch box. This was shoved up the arse pipe of his shitty blue Fiesta. Now not a lot of people know it but it won't stop the car starting but if you push it up into the silencer it'll thump around in it and make a horrible noise and smell, which is exactly what it did. I like to think of him pulling up at his date with a car smelling like rancid cooked banana and making thumping noises.

That is quite odd really because I love to stick them on a BBQ as a sweet because I discovered that bananas BBQ'd in their skins are really delicious, what could be nicer than a nice hot freshly BBQ's banana (skinned of course) with a big dollop of ice cream I've always thought that they smelled lovely while cooking so maybe its something to do with cars exhaust then.

Oh yes they're fine like that. However carbonated banana with a side of exhaust fumes really does you in

[mnementh]

Yeah, well... you can't blame the guy who volunteers for the assache of making it happen for taking some liberties... If you wanna cherry-pick, you can always volunteer for the misery yourself.

I usedta do the same thing when I worked the flea in Floriduh... Set up early with the big/hard-to-pocket stuff, make the rounds of the Garage-Sale sectors for stock to fix/sell before the gates open.

mnem
"I'm not WalMart; I don't have enough overhead to warranty against buyer's remorse." ~true story

There's a difference between cherry picking and cleaning the whole place out.

*glances around furtively*

Yeaaahhh... That sounds good; lets go widdit.

mnem
"all's fair in love and flea-marketeering..."

[Specmaster]

UK drivers be on the lookout when driving under bridges or over a bridge that has a road going under it, the rise of sick feckwits has started up again with masonry and chunks of concrete being thrown/dropped onto vehicles being driven beneath them. When driving over bridges, see if there are any signs of suspicious behaviour going on, it might just save someone's life.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n ... source=nba

[bd139]

UK drivers be on the lookout when driving under bridges or over a bridge that has a road going under it, the rise of sick feckwits has started up again with masonry and chunks of concrete being thrown/dropped onto vehicles being driven beneath them. When driving over bridges, see if there are any signs of suspicious behaviour going on, it might just save someone's life.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n ... source=nba

That has been happening in Essex since the dark ages of the 90s. I figured the best option is stay away from Essex.

[tggzzz]

UK drivers be on the lookout when driving under bridges or over a bridge that has a road going under it, the rise of sick feckwits has started up again with masonry and chunks of concrete being thrown/dropped onto vehicles being driven beneath them. When driving over bridges, see if there are any signs of suspicious behaviour going on, it might just save someone's life.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n ... source=nba

That has been happening in Essex since the dark ages of the 90s. I figured the best option is stay away from Essex.

Round here you have to be careful about tipper trucks driving into motorway bridges when the tipper is up, masonry falling off motorway bridges, and bridges falling into water.

[Specmaster]

UK drivers be on the lookout when driving under bridges or over a bridge that has a road going under it, the rise of sick feckwits has started up again with masonry and chunks of concrete being thrown/dropped onto vehicles being driven beneath them. When driving over bridges, see if there are any signs of suspicious behaviour going on, it might just save someone's life.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n ... source=nba

That has been happening in Essex since the dark ages of the 90s. I figured the best option is stay away from Essex.

Yeah, I had thought that it had died a death since you moved away , but it is a wee bit more sinister than your banana prank

[bd139]

UK drivers be on the lookout when driving under bridges or over a bridge that has a road going under it, the rise of sick feckwits has started up again with masonry and chunks of concrete being thrown/dropped onto vehicles being driven beneath them. When driving over bridges, see if there are any signs of suspicious behaviour going on, it might just save someone's life.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n ... source=nba

That has been happening in Essex since the dark ages of the 90s. I figured the best option is stay away from Essex.

Yeah, I had thought that it had died a death since you moved away , but it is a wee bit more sinister than your banana prank

At no point did I chuck a brick off a bridge at anyone. As horrible I got was water bombing a police car then hiding in a cemetery.

[Cerebus]

At no point did I chuck a brick off a bridge at anyone. As horrible I got was water bombing a police car then hiding in a cemetery.

You need to wash your ears out. I told you to mortar bomb it, not water bomb it.