Test Equipment Anonymous

bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 2:15 pm Early trip report.

Ramsgate is a fucking dump.

(According to Wikipedia, )
The Official Illustrated Guide to South-Eastern and North and Mid-Kent Railways (June 1863) by George Measom describes Ramsgate thus:

'It is impossible to speak too favourably of this first-rate town, its glorious sands, its bathing, its hotels, libraries, churches, etc. etc. not forgetting its bracing climate...The streets of Ramsgate are well paved or macadamed and brilliantly lighted with gas.'

I suppose something happened. And tggzzz probably described it.

Anyway, photo gallery for the place:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0tG0ehgLITSaHl

Video of a Dekatron included for tggzzz

I'd guess Ramsgate thrived from the mid 19th century because of seaside holidays and day trips made possible by the railways. That fizzled out rapidly around the late 60s with cheap jet travel making overseas holidays affordable. Some seaside resort towns survived better than others, by having other industries or being dormitory towns for large cities. They all had a reputation for being dismal during the winter months, with lots of shops and restaurants closed.

I don't think it was the cheap jet travel that killed it. Cars did. That and the general increase in wealth and luxury in the population. Heading to Ramsgate wasn't much of a proposition with maximal freedom. The problem was there were a load of people stuck there that kept reproducing.

Interesting pictures with a lot of familiar objects.

What did you make of it as a museum? Was it well organised and explained, with the odd demonstration to play with, so that people who didn't know what the exhibits were could get something from it, or was it just a load of stuff?

Zenith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 9:07 am Interesting pictures with a lot of familiar objects.

What did you make of it as a museum? Was it well organised and explained, with the odd demonstration to play with, so that people who didn't know what the exhibits were could get something from it, or was it just a load of stuff?

Well it was not even slightly organised and the explanations were in the middle of the trifecta of non existent, too concise and completely wrong. There were a lot of things to play with, usually producing awful noises of some sort. You could play the big organ (I did), the Furbies, a Theremin, all the computers and lots of other stuff. The telephone exchange was working including text terminals you could slap the handsets on acoustic couplers and play with. That was excellent. There were a few broken things of course. But it was mostly a "load of stuff" as you put it and you'd need to know about before you turned up. Curation was poor.

As for other clientele there were two older blokes talking about nixie tubes and tek scopes and we had a little chat. Two younger modular synth nuts playing on the instruments. MIddle aged woman looking single playing with the telephone exchange - was going to talk to her until I smelled the nicotine. And an extremely tall dude who hadn't washed for a month who overpowered the nicotine. There were two "techs" on for the day, both looking pretty fed up and explaining that it's usually much more busy than that at weekends.

Everyone looked pretty happy with the experience. It wasn't that expensive to get in (£6). But it's done in under an hour.

bd139 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 8:55 am Anyway, photo gallery for the place:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0tG0ehgLITSaHl

Video of a Dekatron included for tggzzz

It has been on my radar for a while, but I haven't been in the area recently. I'd like to ride on the RH&DR, just for old time's sake.

OK, I've got:

• 468
• Solartron 4120, hopefully only for the next week
• several Tinsley standard resistors
• PO3000 relays
• a similar electronic kits for kids, but mine (Philips EE20) had a very well thought-through manual. I learned a lot, and - more importantly - how much I wanted to learn (a decade later)
• core store
• pictures of those Burr Brown thin-film hybrids
• spare CRTs, but which of us hasn't
• fat Mac; christ Smalltalk is glacially slow. I'm amazed I had sufficient patience to learn it sufficiently to realise that it was the way forward
• working dekatrons, nixies and more

OK, I would buy:

• Racal SA520 for its imaginative display
• the edge lit display and driver, even though some people are still making those at home
• numitrons, since I don't have any and petrol forecourts are now LCD based
• the IEE display, since they are pretty and were seen in all sorts of control panels

And I note

• Philips scope of same style and vintage as my PM3400
• the construction method of the Plubee; much better than solderless breadboards

bd139 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 9:18 am Well it was not even slightly organised and the explanations were in the middle of the trifecta of non existent, too concise
...
But it was mostly a "load of stuff" as you put it and you'd need to know about before you turned up. Curation was poor.

That's just like one of the local museums. Lots of interesting exhibits, no labels, and you have to move away(!) and search to find what an exhibit is and why it is on display. Nothing to touch, so the only thing it encourages sightseers to do is go "coo-eee, isn't that pretty" and "my auntie had one of those but she gave it away"[1]

It was so effin' trendy when it opened that it won awards, FFS.

It is so poor I've moaned to one of the trustees, and he agreed with my points.

[1] was the name of an antiques shop in Cambridge. Don't know how they answered the telephone

Apart from the musical stuff I have or have had most of that kit.
Maybe I should open a Museum. That would save me storage costs......

Robert wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 7:47 am Aprat from the musical stuff I have or have had most of that kit.
Maybe I should open a Museum. That would save me storage costs......

Make it a registered charity and there are excellent tax dodges.

Fuck's sake... dad's been home a day and that hip came apart again. This time he was sitting in his EZ-lift chair and leaned over to put some mail up. He had to lean over this damned brace they put on his leg in the ER, and that he's been putting up with ever since because nobody followed through to review with him, to tell us when it should come off, or even make an order for the damned thing in the place.

It's a zoo here in the hospital; I passed 20 beds in the hallways on the way to dad's bed in the hallway. I did my son-ly duty; hunted down a nurse to get him the pain meds he was promised a while ago. They've just taken him to X-ray.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 5:33 am

bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 2:15 pm Early trip report.

Ramsgate is a fucking dump.

(According to Wikipedia, )
The Official Illustrated Guide to South-Eastern and North and Mid-Kent Railways (June 1863) by George Measom describes Ramsgate thus:

'It is impossible to speak too favourably of this first-rate town, its glorious sands, its bathing, its hotels, libraries, churches, etc. etc. not forgetting its bracing climate...The streets of Ramsgate are well paved or macadamed and brilliantly lighted with gas.'

I suppose something happened. And tggzzz probably described it.

Too many Australian visitors pointing at the "glorious sands" & going into gales of laughter?

They've got dad back after the procedure, and trying to get him into a room in observation now. He's feeling better and got pain meds. I'm going home now.

mnem

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 12:37 am Fuck's sake... dad's been home a day and that hip came apart again. This time he was sitting in his EZ-lift chair and leaned over to put some mail up. He had to lean over this damned brace they put on his leg in the ER, and that he's been putting up with ever since because nobody followed through to review with him, to tell us when it should come off, or even make an order for the damned thing in the place.

It's a zoo here in the hospital; I passed 20 beds in the hallways on the way to dad's bed in the hallway. I did my son-ly duty; hunted down a nurse to get him the pain meds he was promised a while ago. They've just taken him to X-ray.

Good grief, I hope his spirits are still good. All the time he was in hospital and its OK, the minute you get him home and it goes, geez. Lets hope they sort him out properly this time.

No, they shuffle him in and out of the hospital absolutely as fast as they can, with zero follow-through and no workable safe discharge plan. After that, he's shipped off to the rehab facility, where they do all they can do in that vacuum of having no fucking discharge plan.

Poor man has had a gawddamn first-aid-kit universal leg splint on him for weeks just because they put it on him in the ER, and no doctor ever even wrote fucking orders for it.

This whole thing has been a 3-ring circus, with different monkeys fucking a football (my dad) in every ring.

And no, his spirits are not high... after a month of this bullshit, his condition has steadily degraded.

mnem
*zombie mode after being up til 2AM waiting for them to get him out of the hallway into an actual room*

Finally moved him out of the hallway into a room in the ER DMZ again. I'm passing out from exhaustion waiting for my wife to get home... and I was aspoda go visit again.

mnem
*cringe*

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:28 pm Finally moved him out of the hallway into a room in the ER DMZ again. I'm passing out from exhaustion waiting for my wife to get home... and I was aspoda go visit again.

mnem
*cringe*

So I bought another Tek 465B

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:13 pm So I bought another Tek 465B

How many times have you said "no more Teks".

BU508A wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 7:12 am

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:28 pm Finally moved him out of the hallway into a room in the ER DMZ again. I'm passing out from exhaustion waiting for my wife to get home... and I was aspoda go visit again.

mnem
*cringe*

.

Thanks, Mounty; I'm feeling a bit better after a decent night's sleep. They're moving him back to the rehab ward today; waiting to pick up kids then we're gonna go visit.

mnem
*snurches sad dwagon pics for personal gallery with extreme prejudice*

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:44 pm

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:13 pm So I bought another Tek 465B

How many times have you said "no more Teks".

I'm like a crack addict. Can't help it clearly!

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:13 pm So I bought another Tek 465B

... and not mine. Mine now has a functional sweep and trigger: a 3W resistor in the sweep generator had doubled in value or gone open circuit. Only remaining imperfection is that ch1 attenuation fingers need cleaning.

Alternatively you could have had a 465B with added digitiser (i.e. a 468) in superb condition.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:44 pm

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:13 pm So I bought another Tek 465B

How many times have you said "no more Teks".

If he had a dollar (or maybe more precisely, £) for each time he said it, he could afford at least three or four more of them!

-Pat

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:35 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:44 pm

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:13 pm So I bought another Tek 465B

How many times have you said "no more Teks".

If he had a dollar (or maybe more precisely, £) for each time he said it, he could afford at least three or four more of them!

Sometimes I think bd is single-handedly keeping the used TE market ticking over

Just flogged another TDR, for a pleasingly high price.