Path: Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!nntp.supernews.com!news.supernews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2024 21:50:19 +0000
From: John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.repair
Subject: Re: Favourite Test Equipment
Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2024 14:48:38 -0700
Organization: Highland Tech
Reply-To: xx@yy.com
Message-ID: <g7g31j192tp107iv3vicddol4vlknkdem7@4ax.com>
References: <9k7j0jlnbhs8qfg5m17pium0835meean83@4ax.com> <uudm4h$23si2$1@solani.org> <uultes$iq0n$1@dont-email.me> <uum4h6$kmdl$1@dont-email.me> <uuoaea$61ca$1@solani.org> <7r901j139ac3124qmpu7gcthadb9ura30g@4ax.com> <pac01jlchhfugbpdohv5eb7l8ju3ov2g6i@4ax.com> <ghe31jlu8iqpt1glhmc0svdbcn08e76rp7@4ax.com>
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 3.1/32.783
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Lines: 149
X-Trace: sv3-Cm6nHdLCRIC9POTdofk40i1/k5+KhXQ6OxZjuEdDjWKYpJwswaDFzaol0NyggEmM3X8w2GTkKIey4J0!UwSl65FmKSdIXfpDqjB/IfneMeq9HEfqnmcNRuRizlWnCRwWdz8T8t44oFvXpzm7I/9zXCsl+CSt!EX4bNw==
X-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/abuse.html
X-DMCA-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/dmca.html
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly
X-Postfilter: 1.3.40
Bytes: 8502

On Sat, 06 Apr 2024 22:21:45 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:

>On Fri, 05 Apr 2024 10:15:43 -0700, john larkin <jl@650pot.com> wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 05 Apr 2024 17:33:12 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:49:30 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>>On a sunny day (Thu, 4 Apr 2024 11:56:23 -0000 (UTC)) it happened Phil Hobbs
>>>><pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote in
>>>><uum4h6$kmdl$1@dont-email.me>:
>>>>
>>>>>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 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.
>>
>>He talked constantly about wine. That can kill your pancreas.
>>
>>There are people who drink bottles per day.
>
>Oh yes, he loved his wine alright. As I recall, you sent him several
>cases of the stuff over the years.  But no amount of peace offerings
>could placate Jim if he felt you'd disrespected him. Anyway, all
>credit to you for at least trying to heal the rift, even if it came to
>naught.

I think I sent him two bottles of Frog's Tooth, not cases.

I get the Frog's Tooth free. The vintner is also our sales rep for
pick+place gear, and he throws in a bottle or a case with every big
order.

JT was a little touchy at times (never me!) but we didn't actually
have a rift. I think that serious electronics designers always get
along pretty well. Circuit design is a sport that we play.

I miss JT. He was fun. I often drive on Thompkins Street and it
reminds me of him.