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From: Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.repair
Subject: Re: Favourite Test Equipment
Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2024 22:21:45 +0100
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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.