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From: Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.repair
Subject: Re: Favourite Test Equipment
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2024 09:38:42 -0000 (UTC)
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Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com> wrote:
> 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.
> 
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