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On 4/4/2024 7:56 AM, Phil Hobbs wrote:
> Klaus Vestergaard Kragelund <klauskvik@hotmail.com> 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
>>> <cd@notformail.com> 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 channal 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> And it’s a lot easier finding gigahertz oscillations if you aren’t limited
> to a 10-MHz
> scope with scale marks in cuneiform.
> 
> Good boat anchors make capability like that very affordable. My lab is full
> of top-of-the-line gear (over $2M at list price), for which I’ve paid about
> 2-3 cents on the dollar. (Not counting a few very helpful donations early
> on.)  Of course I have some good newer stuff, such as a two-channel arb, a
> NanoVNA2, and a logic analyzer with protocol decoding.
> 
> It’s a bit old-school-looking, so it doesn’t impress visitors unless they
> actually know something, and that suits me perfectly well.
> 
> But by all means don’t buy any, so it’ll keep being cheap for me. ;)
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Phil Hobbs
> 

My most useful old machine dollar for dollar is my 8012B pulse generator!

<https://imgur.com/a/2GaSZVq>

$50 "not working." It was just a burned-out pilot lamp and dirty controls.