Test Equipment Anonymous

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 1:08 am

tggzzz wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2026 8:40 am

EC8010 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2026 7:01 am For the moment, I'm going to enjoy the novelty of being able to move around without stubbing my toes.

When you walk in the country, you see barely marked paths on the grass or leaf litter, caused by wild animals repeatedly following the same path on their perambulations. My house is like that; consequently I rarely stub my toes on the accumulations elsewhere.

Hoarding? Wozzat?

mnem
Hoard-Anon meets Wednesdays at 20:00.

Blondie sez my lab is a hoard.

Are HP YIG oscillators valuable as spare parts? The 8620s I (and Zenith, remotely) picked up on Tuesday probably contain one or more.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:26 pm Blondie sez my lab is a hoard.

Mike, show her this picture of my living room, taken literally a few minutes ago. I bet she'll change her tune. Lack of a SWMBO can be a mixed blessing - my floor joists certainly don't like it!



-Pat

Gee Pat, you need....ahem....more space.

Thank you for that. I shall show SWMBO that things could be so much worse. But at least you have a cat in there, queen of all she surveys. Which is a lot. My bench has a shelf above it, stacked five high with DMMs, SMUs, etc, etc. An ex-colleague came round a week or two ago and was visibly taken aback when he looked up at the shelf. And it's all (20 instruments) plumbed up with GPIB firehose and power, ready to be switched on and told to run an experiment. That's over the GPIB limit, but I haven't had any problems. But it's a small fraction of your collection.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:29 pm Are HP YIG oscillators valuable as spare parts? The 8620s I (and Zenith, remotely) picked up on Tuesday probably contain one or more.

Depends on the frequency range and exact type. The oscillators are of course in the plug-ins not the mainframe. Some plug-ins contain more than one. Note the some of the wide range and multi-band plug-ins use one oscillator and a multiplier.
The 8620 is fairly small and can be phase locked externally so could be used as a microwave signal generator with a modern PLL chip. Lack of modulation can be an issue though.

Robert.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:26 pm Blondie sez my lab is a hoard.

Tell her she's never seen a hoard.

From the photos you have a modest and well-ordered collection.

I've seen a three story house with the cellar and each floor packed with communication receivers. I bought a couple of them. There was a huge Marconi diversity receiver array plus many, many boatanchors.

I went to an estate sale of around 400 lots which were the collection of a well-known enthusiast. "Collection" is a loose term here. There were a lot of complete boatanchors including 25 R1155s*, but the remains of many others, plus boxes of panel meters, transformers, tuning caps etc and a lot of valves. I knew someone who bought a pallet of NOS AR88 spares from there. It was a complete pallet neatly loaded to a height of about 3' 6". That was where I found myself in a bidding contest and bought a box of 50 NOS 6SG7s for £16. I did come away with a few more sensible lots.

*https://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/r1155.html

In the summer a regular seller at a swapmeet was selling an RA17.
https://www.rigpix.com/racal/ra17.htm
He said that at one time he'd accumulated 27, but he'd gradually sold them off so he now only had 8.

The recent estate sale EC8010 and tggzzz visited had over 200 items of TE, with many big old HP units from the 70s and 80s.

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 8:12 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:26 pm Blondie sez my lab is a hoard.

Mike, show her this picture of my living room, taken literally a few minutes ago. I bet she'll change her tune. Lack of a SWMBO can be a mixed blessing - my floor joists certainly don't like it!

Picture sent to daughter, in the vain hope it will stop her whining.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 9:22 am No picture to be seen?

mnem
fixed?

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:26 pm

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 1:08 am (SNIP)
Hoard-Anon meets Wednesdays at 20:00.

Blondie sez my lab is a hoard.

mnem
guilty as charged.

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 9:47 am

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:26 pm Blondie sez my lab is a hoard.

Tell her she's never seen a hoard.

From the photos you have a modest and well-ordered collection.

I've seen a three story house with the cellar and each floor packed with communication receivers. I bought a couple of them. There was a huge Marconi diversity receiver array plus many, many boatanchors.

I went to an estate sale of around 400 lots which were the collection of a well-known enthusiast. "Collection" is a loose term here. There were a lot of complete boatanchors including 25 R1155s*, but the remains of many others, plus boxes of panel meters, transformers, tuning caps etc and a lot of valves. I knew someone who bought a pallet of NOS AR88 spares from there. It was a complete pallet neatly loaded to a height of about 3' 6". That was where I found myself in a bidding contest and bought a box of 50 NOS 6SG7s for £16. I did come away with a few more sensible lots.

*https://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/r1155.html

In the summer a regular seller at a swapmeet was selling an RA17.
https://www.rigpix.com/racal/ra17.htm
He said that at one time he'd accumulated 27, but he'd gradually sold them off so he now only had 8.

The recent estate sale EC8010 and tggzzz visited had over 200 items of TE, with many big old HP units from the 70s and 80s.

She knows what a true hoard is. She watches those hoarding shows, both the UK version as well as the US/Canada version. She just likes to bust my balls.

Not quite the same as gaining approval for range and depth* in test gear, but I think I have secured planning permission for new loudspeakers.

On average, I make new loudspeakers every fifteen years. It takes me that long to forget how much effort and dust was involved. Naturally, each generation has to be better than the previous. The present loudspeakers are very clean, but lack bass, and SWMBO has noted this. Unfortunately, clean bass means big loudspeakers. We (temporarily) have some loudspeakers 675 x 425 x 251 that SWMBO spotted on Freecycle a few weeks ago. Sat on 600mm stands, they are... ...imposing. But with 12" drivers, they have better bass. But although SWMBO appreciates this, she notes that they still lack bass (they're now open baffles, you see). The proposed new loudspeakers will be floor-standing open baffles and 1000 high, making them 275mm shorter than the Freecycle Freaks (this shortness will be emphasised), but need to be 520 wide to accommodate the 18" bass driver (the extra width will be glossed over). The 18" driver is intended for professional use, so it's both sensitive and robust. Which it will need to be because it will need a shed-load of equalisation (10dB, maybe more) to get real bass out of an open baffle that's smaller than a door. Today, I found that I have all the wood I need to make prototypes. Let sawdust commence...

* That's "lots" for the uninitiated

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 9:29 pm Gee Pat, you need....ahem....more space.

Yes, I do!!

-Pat

EC8010 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 9:34 pm Thank you for that. I shall show SWMBO that things could be so much worse. But at least you have a cat in there, queen of all she surveys. Which is a lot. My bench has a shelf above it, stacked five high with DMMs, SMUs, etc, etc. An ex-colleague came round a week or two ago and was visibly taken aback when he looked up at the shelf. And it's all (20 instruments) plumbed up with GPIB firehose and power, ready to be switched on and told to run an experiment. That's over the GPIB limit, but I haven't had any problems. But it's a small fraction of your collection.

Oh, yeah - seems I collect those, too - my friendly neighborhood cat dealer recently hooked my up with a pair of kittens, so I'm up to 11 now. Firmly into crazy cat guy territory! The tux in the picture is Widlar, he joined the clowder in July of last year. Crazy that at that point he could about curl up in my hand - now he's a big lanky thing! I haven't gotten any pictures of the noobs uploaded yet, but they're both boys - a tux with more white in his belly than Widlar (his name is Maxwell), and a brown/gray tabby (Bernoulli) similar to Schottky (who joined last year shortly after Widlar) who in this case differs by NOT having a white belly like Schottky but instead being all tabby patterned.

Yeah, I know - I'm N-V-T-S nuts!

-Pat

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 9:47 am [<BIG SNIP>

The recent estate sale EC8010 and tggzzz visited had over 200 items of TE, with many big old HP units from the 70s and 80s.

Was that near Southampton? may have been the same one...

Robert wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 6:13 pm

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 9:47 am [<BIG SNIP>

The recent estate sale EC8010 and tggzzz visited had over 200 items of TE, with many big old HP units from the 70s and 80s.

Was that near Southampton? may have been the same one...

Yes, Crowdhill.

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 5:24 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 9:29 pm Gee Pat, you need....ahem....more space.

Yes, I do!!

More space => spend more money. Full house => can't buy until something has been sold, which saves money.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 4:47 pm Not quite the same as gaining approval for range and depth* in test gear, but I think I have secured planning permission for new loudspeakers.

Reminds me, I ought to flog my Rogers Studio 1. No use to me anymore

tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 7:41 pm Reminds me, I ought to flog my Rogers Studio 1. No use to me any more

Are you sure? But if you are, sell them now because they are deteriorating all the time.

@cubdriver: That's certainly a lot of cats. Not that I disapprove, but I once had four cats and that was tricky. Senior cat didn't approve of invasion of three kittens and deliberately chased one into the road to be run over. (Actually, he didn't really approve of wife, either; he was a one-man cat.) And then there were three. Senior cat was immediately found out and he decamped next door. And then there were two. The sisters got on reasonably well, but one was run over before she was one. And then there was one. She survived to twelve before being run over. Now, our nearest road is very quiet and last cats died of old age. All my cats have been rescues, so they had a better life than they would have had. We avoid visiting cat rescue places because we know we'd just come back with them, and present senior cat would not approve.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 2:59 pm She knows what a true hoard is. She watches those hoarding shows, both the UK version as well as the US/Canada version. She just likes to bust my balls.

She thinks she knows what a true hoard is. She has theoretical notions about hoarding. i doubt she's had to live with one. You have constructive, but controlled interests in junk. She should be grateful you have a constructive interest in something.

I come from a family of hoarders.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 7:36 pm

Robert wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 6:13 pm

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 9:47 am [<BIG SNIP>

The recent estate sale EC8010 and tggzzz visited had over 200 items of TE, with many big old HP units from the 70s and 80s.

Was that near Southampton? may have been the same one...

Yes, Crowdhill.

Ah you missed the good stuff...
There was still a fair bit left after I'd filled the back of the car. With price of fuel it would not have been worth my driving there but I had to go within 10 miles for work for a couple of days so not so bad. Might have to go back to the work location next week. Not sure if I can resist a second visit....

That's the main stack. There were also some smalls. A couple of HP FET probes, N type power splitter (2 resistor) current tracer, printer for the HP 41CV and a commercial discone antenna. Not checked much yet. I'll check the probes this weekend.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 7:49 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 7:41 pm Reminds me, I ought to flog my Rogers Studio 1. No use to me any more

Are you sure? But if you are, sell them now because they are deteriorating all the time.

i suppose that's true of all loudspeakers. I have KEF C95s I've had for 35 years. They suit me. The unobtainium ferrofluid tweeters haven't died. I never really push them apart from the rare occasions when I'm certain the neighbours are on holiday, when Led Zeppelin can be enjoyed properly at volumes beyond the threshold of pain.

Robert wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 8:29 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 7:36 pm

Robert wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 6:13 pm

Was that near Southampton? may have been the same one...

Yes, Crowdhill.

Ah you missed the good stuff...
There was still a fair bit left after I'd filled the back of the car. With price of fuel it would not have been worth my driving there but I had to go within 10 miles for work for a couple of days so not so bad. Might have to go back to the work location next week. Not sure if I can resist a second visit....
TEA-sept26.jpg

That's the main stack. There were also some smalls. A couple of HP FET probes, N type power splitter (2 resistor) current tracer, printer for the HP 41CV and a commercial discone antenna. Not checked much yet. I'll check the probes this weekend.

I wish I'd gone there to see it at least. It's a two hour tedious journey from here and the prospects were uncertain. tggzz told me he was going down for another auction in the area and would drop in. I toyed with the idea of going down with him but when it came down to it, it was a 5:45am start to be confident of getting to his place in good time but at 5:15am I found the spirit was fairly willing but the flesh was weak. I had given him a list of things I was interested in, nothing esoteric, and he bagged them for an acceptable price. I'll settle up with him on Sunday, but if each were parts mules I'd be happy.

I wonder if the Rainbow Lady visited that one. Since she's been at almost every rally I've been to in the last 25 years, I'd be surprised if she hadn't.

Robert wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 8:29 pm
There was still a fair bit left after I'd filled the back of the car. With price of fuel it would not have been worth my driving there but I had to go within 10 miles for work for a couple of days so not so bad. Might have to go back to the work location next week.

That's the main stack. There were also some smalls.

Blimus! You bought all that? I am humbled.

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2026 8:38 pm I have KEF C95s I've had for 35 years. They suit me.

If they suit you then don't scratch that tickle; it will only turn into an itch.