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From: Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.repair
Subject: Re: Favourite Test Equipment
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2024 09:50:50 +0100
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On Sat, 06 Apr 2024 14:48:38 -0700, John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com>
wrote:

>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.

I think the passage of time has mellowed your recollections, John.
Shortly after he died, you called him a crabby old man! There was
something about you he clearly didn't much like. No idea why, since
you've never come across as anything but well-mannered and helpful as
far as I can tell.
Jim gave me a hell of a rough time when I first arrived here back in
'96. He didn't suffer fools gladly and boy did he let me know when he
believed I was one. But that did me a huge favour. He did have a point
inasmuch as my fundamental electronics knowledge needed a lot of
remedial attention. So he forced me to sit down and go back through
all the stuff I should have known before I came here and I became much
better for it. And when I finally did, he praised me for it. Praise
from Jim was praise indeed! He was a GIANT of this group and I miss
him terribly, too.