Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Cursitor Doom Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.repair Subject: Re: Favourite Test Equipment Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2024 17:33:12 +0100 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 115 Message-ID: <7r901j139ac3124qmpu7gcthadb9ura30g@4ax.com> References: <9k7j0jlnbhs8qfg5m17pium0835meean83@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2024 16:33:14 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="4ecad30f3fe58b8bab64825548a78d20"; logging-data="1569722"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18oCTq6ooXDsO/ZE8fgiEAocMCnP80dbJ8=" User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272 Cancel-Lock: sha1:itYyJ+MT+1S45rnHRICv36mAsqI= Bytes: 6720 On Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:49:30 GMT, Jan Panteltje wrote: >On a sunny day (Thu, 4 Apr 2024 11:56:23 -0000 (UTC)) it happened Phil Hobbs > wrote in >: > >>Klaus Vestergaard Kragelund wrote: >>> On 01-04-2024 09:01, Jan Panteltje wrote: >>>> On a sunny day (Sun, 31 Mar 2024 18:41:18 +0100) it happened Cursitor Doom >>>> wrote in <9k7j0jlnbhs8qfg5m17pium0835meean83@4ax.com>: >>>> >>>>> Hi all, >>>>> >>>>> I'm starting to get a bit fed up with having my test equipment blow up >>>>> just when it's needed. This is the drawback with vintage gear; if it's >>>>> not used frequently then it can go *bang* the next time you switch it >>>>> on. It makes for good practice in repairing stuff, but wastes a lot of >>>>> time which could be better spent doing other things. >>>>> I think it's time I modernised my test gear. I was just wondering if >>>>> anyone has any recommendations they can share. Is there a particular >>>>> piece of test equipment you couldn't live without? Something you're >>>>> particularly impressed with? I'd be interested to know so I can >>>>> perhaps acquire said item and thereby reduce the number of explosions >>>>> I experience. >>>>> >>>>> Thanks, >>>>> >>>>> CD. >>>> >>>> My 10 MHz Trio dual trace analog scope is from 1979 or there about, I >>>> blew up a channel once myself in the first week >>>> when I accidently touched a booster diode in a TV I was repairing with >>>> it, fixed it locating the problem with the other channel. >>>> Later I cracked the graticule when a soldering station fell on it from >>>> the table (scope stands on the ground) >>>> Made a new graticule. >>>> So, and still working perfectly, OK for all things I build with micros. >>>> For RF to about 1.6 GHz I use RTL_SDR USB sticks and the spectrum analyzer I wrote. >>>> and for AC DC measurements I have some made in China digital meters and an analog one. >>>> also a Voltcraft clamp-on meter for current when you do not - or cannot >>>> interrupt things with the meter impedance. >>>> Also have a Voltcraft soldering station. >>>> Blew up one of my digital meters a while back (volts on the resistance >>>> scale) but fixed it again (replaced resistor). >>>> Many other test equipment I designed and build, like amplifiers LF and >>>> RF, SWR meter, radiation meters, gamma spectrometer, >>>> GHz stuff for satelite, transmitters low and very high power, what not, >>>> a frequency converter to use the RTL-SDR sticks and so the spectrum >>>> analyzer on higher and lower frequencies. >>>> Have a SARK100 SWR analyzer too. >>>> Things last forever here... >>>> Scope used on a regular basis.. >>>> RTL-SDR stick 24/7. >>>> Digital meters used every day. >>>> Use my self designed lab power supply every day.. >>>> What more do you need? >>>> Learn to use the stuff, understand what's important, and that is it >>>> When I started in electronics as a kid I did not even _have_ a meter, still stuff worked. >>>> Build my own scope at some point back then when I somehow got the parts >>>> Not much pocket mony as a kid. >>>> UNDERSTAND your systems, what electrons do. >>>> Showing of with boat anchors may impress people, especially the clueless... >>>> But it does not help you one bit. >>>> Anything with an accuracy better than 1 percent in most cases is just >>>> like apes screaming load trying to impress other apes. >>>> >>> >>> Very true about specifically the 1% statement. Sidebar, at an earlier >>> employment, we needed to equip a new lab. Guys wanted GHz scopes. When >>> asked if the ever looked at edges faster than 1ns, no one did. >>> >>> >> >>It’s true that there are a lot of relatively undemanding jobs in >>electronics. You can get on fine with a 200-MHz scope if all you’re doing >>is PIC and Pi and ham radio and analog TV. > >Bull, >I have been using my Trio 10 MHz dual channel for digital TV too >see > https://panteltje.nl/panteltje/raspberry_pi_dvb-s_transmitter/ >GHz output.. > >Its is about UNDERSTANDING the systems >You cannot repair a TV set in a short time if you do not UNDERSTAND every part of the circuit and its function, the whole system >neither with a 10 MHz or with a 10 GHz scope. >Fault finding had been my job most of the time, sometimes with 'the show must go on' >or rocket must launch or whatever. > >In an environment a million times more complex than your back-room with boat anchors. >And always delivered.. unlike some that dropped out or broke down. >It is indeed about what is between the ears as you mentioned. > > > > >>It’s also true that you can often make do with what you have—the most >>important test instrument is the one between your ears. >> >>In the before times, doctors were much better with stethoscopes than they >>are now. >> >>But I’d sure prefer a cardiologist who could use tomography and ultrasound >>over the best stethoscope guy. > >Only useful if you can read the screens, these days they train AI to find cancer in the scans..... >Yes I worked in an Uni hospital too. >How many people die each year because of medical errors? > https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html >Remember Jim Thompson stating 'they are giving me ... but I had a warning I was not supposed to get that' >Few days later he was dead. Jim had pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously tricky to diagnose due to the misleading symptoms it gives rise to.