Driver to drive?

[JosephKK]

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:10:59 +0100, "Cwatters"
<colin.wattersNOSPAM@TurnersOakNOSPAM.plus.com> wrote:

There seems to be at least three versions of the "suppressed" report on the
web...

http://www.carlineconomics.com/archives/1

"On June 26 I was given permission by EPA management to post the report on
my personal website but not on the EPA website. Instead of posting the
earlier draft released by CEI on June 25 I instead posted the last version
prepared before the deadline for internal comments modified only to correct
a few of the non-substantive problems. On August 5, EPA posted the last
version of my Comments prepared prior to the end of the internal EPA comment
period on March 16. This does not include the modifications to correct a few
of the non-substantive problems. Thus there are now three different versions
on the Web to my knowledge:"

Do they differ materially in terms of technical content, or is it

things like spelling and grammar corrections, alternatively some other
changes that marginally impact the technical content?

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:50:54 -0700 (PDT)) it happened
osr@uakron.edu wrote in
<4630805d-0746-46cd-b971-56acd9059212@w36g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>:

I've had fun with two hobbyist concepts:

The Lambda Diode:

http://users.tpg.com.au/users/ldbutler/NegResDipMeter.htm

Nice!

 

[Nico Coesel]

Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Nico Coesel wrote:
John Larkin <jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:29:03 GMT, nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel)
wrote:

John Larkin <jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:53:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:


There are some little USB samplers, but they're very expensive.
What amount do you consider expensive?
$12K is expensive.

Expensive indeed. Any idea what makes these buggers so expensive?


The usual. High NRE costs, low sales volume, combined with the desire to
make a living.

Yup, but if you have some sort of standard platform you could design a
high bandwidth sampling front-end for it without much additional
costs. That's how I setup my USB DSO project.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
"If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer!"
--------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Richard the Dreaded Liber]

Gleaned from USENET and modified appropriately:
================================================
A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at
the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him..

He asked, 'What are all those clocks?'

St. Peter answered, 'Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a
Lie-Clock.

Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move.'

'Oh,' said the man, 'whose clock is that?'

'That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that
she never told a lie.'

'Incredible,' said the man. 'And whose clock is that one?'
St. Peter responded, 'That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have
moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire
life.'

'Where's President Bush's clock?' asked the man.

Bush's clock is in Jesus' office.

He's using it as a ceiling fan.
================================================

So, you see, it works both ways. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Charlie E.]

On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:20:52 -0700, Richard the Dreaded Libertarian
<freedom_guy@example.net> wrote:

Gleaned from USENET and modified appropriately:
================================================
A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at
the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him..

He asked, 'What are all those clocks?'

St. Peter answered, 'Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a
Lie-Clock.

Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move.'

'Oh,' said the man, 'whose clock is that?'

'That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that
she never told a lie.'

'Incredible,' said the man. 'And whose clock is that one?'
St. Peter responded, 'That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have
moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire
life.'

'Where's President Bush's clock?' asked the man.

Bush's clock is in Jesus' office.

He's using it as a ceiling fan.
================================================

So, you see, it works both ways. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

Actually, the first time I read this, it was Clinton's clock in the
office, but these things hang around for a while... ;-)

charlie

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

On Sep 25, 4:58 pm, Too_Many_Tools <too_many_to...@yahoo.com> wrote:

If you were going to equipt a home test bench today for both analog
and digital work, what test equipment would you choose and why?
TMT

Two 4'x8' sheets of descent plywood with a chair on rollers, 16'
operational length, then a comfy chesterfield and a coffee table
for rest and drinks for consultants and friends, indoor-out carpet.
Me, I go 8' for digital and 8' right for analog, and 8' for the dump,
for flexability. I currently have 24' set in a U shape, 8x8x8, but
not all 4' wide, and includes my office and notes.
The technical instruments depend on the task and your level of
competence.
Ken

 

[JeffM]

(alt.binaries.schematics.electronic removed from To: line.)

John Larkin wrote:

I dropped Supernews a few months back and went to Forte.
I'm back to Supernews now. The difference is huge.

It should be noted that GigaNews bought up SuperNews.

This guy has a relevant page that he keeps updated:
http://google.com/search?q=cache:utG1lEAU5gUJ:ngprovider.com+Unlimited+Longest-*-retention+GigaNews+Last.Updated+metered+Forteinc+PowerUsenet+average+*-*-*-*-*-Anonymously-*-*-*-*-*+providers+*-*-*-SuperNews&strip=1
http://tinyurl.com/ComparisonOfNNTP-Providers
http://ngprovider.com

 

[Joerg]

JosephKK wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:27:53 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:53:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:34:14 -0400, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:25:15 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:43:22 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:05:23 -0400, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

John Fields wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:25:05 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:58:27 -0700, Archimedes' Lever
OneBigLever@InfiniteSeries.Org> wrote:

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:52:40 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:28:50 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
There's the slideback technique: drive a comparator with RF on one
side, DC feedback on the other. Tease the DC appropriately.

I once made a slideback sampling oscilloscope, using tunnel diodes, as
my EE senior project. I won an award and had to attend a dreadful IEEE
chapter banquet and repeat it to a bunch of old-fart power engineers
who didn't understand a word I said. I described the slideback
sampling scope in this ng some years back and a certain party loved
the idea so much he later decided that he'd invented it himself.
http://store.americanmicrosemiconductor.com/diodes-tunnel-diodes.html
TDs are insanely expensive nowadays, ballpark $100. I used to get them
for a couple bucks from Allied. The fabrication process is insane, and
nobody ever modernized it.

There are some more modern planar germanium back diodes, essentially
low Ip tunnel diodes, but they're RF detectors, useless for switching.
Pity, I used to like tunnel diodes.

http://aeroflex.com/AMS/Metelics/pdfiles/MBD_Series_Planar_Back_Tunnel_Diodes.pdf

John
Try PiN diodes then.
For what? Certainly not switching, amplifying, oscillating, detection,
or mixing.
---
Re. switching, From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIN_diode

"Under zero or reverse bias, a PIN diode has a low capacitance. The low
capacitance will not pass much of an RF signal. Under a forward bias of
1 mA, a typical PIN diode will have an RF resistance of about 1 ohm,
making it a good RF conductor. Consequently, the PIN diode makes a good
RF switch."
---
Good, but not fast. PIN diodes specialize in having a lot of stored
charge, so that the signal current can be quite a bit larger than the DC
current without causing excessive distortion.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
PINs stop behaving like PINs at low frequencies, too. So they don't
make useful wideband switches.

Got to watch the carrier lifetime. The lower the bottom of your spectrum
and the higher the RF current, the longer its carrier lifetime must be.
I found PIN diodes to be great and most of all cheap variable
attenuators as well as switched. Designed in tons of them.


But I meant active switching when I was referring to a TD. A TD would
*generate* a fast step from an arbitrarily slow drive.

I've drooled over SRDs all my life and every time I wanted to buy one I
either couldn't have one or it was outlandishly expensive. Guess
avalanching is the only game in town and if you want avalanche-rated
then a bone-simple BJT can easily shoot up to twenty bucks.
SRDs aren't hard to get. MA/Com has distributor parts, under a buck.
M-Pulse and Metelics are good about samples. If you want a few, send
me a SASE.

Oh, here it is...

229-1769 DIO SRD 30V SOT23 150PS MA44769 1PF

MA44769-287 PENSTOCK

Price 58 cents in small quantities.

They also have MA44767-287, 600 ps risetime, a little easier to drive
because it stores more charge.

These make nice edge generators and frequency multipliers. I have a
rubidium clock that generates the 6.3846826128 GHz frequency from a 10
MHz rock with an absurdly small number of cheap parts.

Thanks, John! That's a decent price. And thanks for the SASE offer, but
maybe I'll combine that with a beer at Zeitgeist when I get down there
Well, drop in. We have a zillion exotic parts in stock. And the
quality of Z's burgers has improved radically lately. Only biker bar I
know of with Chimay on tap.

As a kid I grew up in Europe and back then such exotic parts were very
hard to find over there, even at hamfests.
We were lucky. Tons of exotic surplus gear, lots of old teevees,
Allied and Lafayette and Fair Radio Sales mail-order available to
anyone, local distributors for over-the-counter transistors and
10-turn pots and such... the counter guys gave me more parts than I
ever paid for. I made a deal with my parents to dump my allowance in
favor of a revolving credit account with Allied, so I could just order
stuff. I made spending money fixing radios and TVs.

John

Still not as good as now. I just bought an excellent-condition HP 8568B
spectrum analyzer for $900. About 2 cents on the dollar. So far this
year I've bought test equipment that would have cost way over $100000
new, for probably $4k altogether. Amazing.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
And I'm looking at, theoretically, a quarter million dollars worth of
sampling heads over there on my shelf. This is an amazing time to
start a niche business, or even an exotic hobby.

Is there anything available at reasonable cost that does zippy sampling
without needing a Goliath of a scope attached to it?
Not really. The 5000 and 7000 series scopes had sampling plugins - I
have a bunch, and they're dirt cheap now - but they were pretty bad
compared to the superb 11801-series stuff.

There is an 11802 on Ebay right now for $1k but untested, "powers up".
Thing is, I haven't gotten much more space here. A sampler for the 7704
over here would be nice. What is so bad with S-4 and 7S11? Ok, the
25psec risetime doesn't quite rival your gear but for most stuff that
should do.
That stuff works, but it's not as quantitative as the later gear. And
TDR is a fabulous thing to have, and the TDR on the 7-series stuff is
really mediocre.

Isn't this beautiful?

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/Z250A.jpg
ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/Z250_TDR.jpg

(TDR of the test trace, J28 to J29)


There are some little USB samplers, but they're very expensive.

Probably not much of a market anymore and the TDR guys in the field
dont' need a precision under a foot to figure where they have to drop
the bucket of their Kubota.
Too much cheap surplus stuff on ebay, too. I'd love to do a cheapish
USB TDR, but there's probably no good market.

John

John L, Jeorg:

I am in the market for (in no particular order) a fast analog scope
maybe a TEK 2465B. I could use an 11801/11802 with a few heads good
to say 6 GHz, and some probes. A decent freq/interval counter. A
5-1/2 digit multimeter (with 4 terminal ohms, and true rms ac
measurements up to 100 KHz). And an AM/FM modulatable function/sweep
generator up to 20 MHz. Except for the good scopes, this is high
hobbyist to low end or mid-range lab stuff.

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.

Unfortunately EBay has monopolized the market for 2nd hand, they are
almost like Walmart. So they call the shots, and thus also the fee levels.

The 2465 is a very good choice, this is the scope I always recommend to
clients whom I feel are in dire need of a "real" scope. Can't go wrong.
But remember that those things can be very tired.

For the generator check out modulateable DDS eval boards.

If you really don't want EBay your only options are 2nd hand re-sellers
(expensive, usually), company auctions (very good deals, got some of my
stuff that way) and another very good source are hamfests.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[George]

On Sep 26, 7:47 pm, George <quinton.l...@gmail.com> wrote:

I measured some 1206 SMD COG caps, 1nF 50V, over temperature, Very
stable -40 to +90C, well within spec of 5%, I got about 1%. The caps
were slodered to thin flying leads.

Next test was on a board, things are a lot worse, most made expansion
the spec but only just. The problem we had already identified as board
expansion stressing the caps.

My question is how to use caps on real boards, who knows how many
other tiny smd parts are experiencing the same problems?

Thinner boards
Strategically drilled holes,
Raisinig the caps slightly to reduce leverage

Any known to work methods?

G

Are you sure it was stress? FR4 has capacitance of its own, and the
TC
is ghastly... I measured 900 PPM/K on one sample, positive as I seem
to recall.

Can't say it was stress, seemed the most likely culprit though. The
caps are quite large valued and the FR4 effect is relatively small

================================================================ It's pretty hard for change in the PCB strays to effect a 5% change
in
such a large (1000pF) capacitor.

Is this being measured with a proper R-L-C bridge that would indicate
any possible significant leakage on the PCB surface? Who is the cap
mfr? How many samples were tested?

It is measured with a HP impedance analyser and all measurements use
the same equipment. I also measured 5 samples every time.

Of interest is that on the first cycle the results are different to
subsequent cycles. After being temperature cycled once the C vs T
curve is repeatable. The first cycle is slightly different. The change
from forst to subsequent cycles is different for the different caps

It is easy enough to see that stress affects the cap by simply bending
the board slightly, I can't say that the amount is the same as the
haeting and cooling effect though.

Not all caps had the same trend after mounting on a board but it was
reasonably close.

In all the cases, the same board layout and location was used for the
caps

================================================================I'm using 0402 220pF NPO caps in an active bandpass filter with a Q of
10. Going from 25 to 70 deg C doesn't affect the filter noticeably.
The phase response doesn't drift more than a couple degrees. This is
on a FR4 board.

I'm not sure how much effect you would expect to see in a LC filter,
obviously the square root of the capacitances so 220pf to 230pf should
move the peak by only 2%. At a q of 10 this wouldn't register unless
you were on the edge.
Also, 0402 might be a key difference, I use 1206

================================================================The only thing you can do that's not extra expense, is to change the
mounting pads for the surface-mount artwork; it's possible that
a bit of reshaping can change the local board flexure or buckling
enough to improve the performance. Your fabricator, and the
capacitor manufacturer, will then insist that any problems that
arise are your "fault", of course.

I have seen some solutions but not commercially.
# One was a little metal clip that raises the cap up off the board to
reduce the leverage that the board has on the cap.
# One patent had clips attached to the caps
# One user suggested a thick solder mask in the centre of the cap to
raise it slightly
# One designer said to drill stress relief holes adjacent to the cap
but this was later said to exacerbate the problem
# I saw a 'solution' where a large IC was relocated on the opposite
side of the board to the cap (underneath the cap) but no results were
published.


George

 

[Phil Hobbs]

JosephKK wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:27:53 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:53:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:34:14 -0400, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:25:15 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

giant snip
As a kid I grew up in Europe and back then such exotic parts were very
hard to find over there, even at hamfests.
We were lucky. Tons of exotic surplus gear, lots of old teevees,
Allied and Lafayette and Fair Radio Sales mail-order available to
anyone, local distributors for over-the-counter transistors and
10-turn pots and such... the counter guys gave me more parts than I
ever paid for. I made a deal with my parents to dump my allowance in
favor of a revolving credit account with Allied, so I could just order
stuff. I made spending money fixing radios and TVs.

John

Still not as good as now. I just bought an excellent-condition HP 8568B
spectrum analyzer for $900. About 2 cents on the dollar. So far this
year I've bought test equipment that would have cost way over $100000
new, for probably $4k altogether. Amazing.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
And I'm looking at, theoretically, a quarter million dollars worth of
sampling heads over there on my shelf. This is an amazing time to
start a niche business, or even an exotic hobby.

Is there anything available at reasonable cost that does zippy sampling
without needing a Goliath of a scope attached to it?
Not really. The 5000 and 7000 series scopes had sampling plugins - I
have a bunch, and they're dirt cheap now - but they were pretty bad
compared to the superb 11801-series stuff.

There is an 11802 on Ebay right now for $1k but untested, "powers up".
Thing is, I haven't gotten much more space here. A sampler for the 7704
over here would be nice. What is so bad with S-4 and 7S11? Ok, the
25psec risetime doesn't quite rival your gear but for most stuff that
should do.
That stuff works, but it's not as quantitative as the later gear. And
TDR is a fabulous thing to have, and the TDR on the 7-series stuff is
really mediocre.

Isn't this beautiful?

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/Z250A.jpg
ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/Z250_TDR.jpg

(TDR of the test trace, J28 to J29)


There are some little USB samplers, but they're very expensive.

Probably not much of a market anymore and the TDR guys in the field
dont' need a precision under a foot to figure where they have to drop
the bucket of their Kubota.
Too much cheap surplus stuff on ebay, too. I'd love to do a cheapish
USB TDR, but there's probably no good market.

John

John L, Jeorg:

I am in the market for (in no particular order) a fast analog scope
maybe a TEK 2465B. I could use an 11801/11802 with a few heads good
to say 6 GHz, and some probes. A decent freq/interval counter. A
5-1/2 digit multimeter (with 4 terminal ohms, and true rms ac
measurements up to 100 KHz). And an AM/FM modulatable function/sweep
generator up to 20 MHz. Except for the good scopes, this is high
hobbyist to low end or mid-range lab stuff.

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.

FWIW here's my lab equipment list including what I paid for it on eBay.
Some things I already had for awhile and forgot, or else didn't get on
eBay. I've had really good luck on eBay--good stuff for a few cents on
the dollar, almost zero duds.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

-------------

ElectroOptical Innovations Equipment List

Phil Hobbs,
September 29, 2009


HAVES
*****


Oscilloscopes: Price (Shipping)
--------------

Tek TDS744A 500 MHz 2Gs/s, 4 channel scope $ 849 ( 0)

Tek 11802 Sampling Scope
SD-22 12.5 GHz dual low noise head
SD-24 20 GHz dual TDR head
SD-42 6.4 GHz OE converter $ 200
SD-14 dual-channel probe sampler 3 GHz $ 175 ( 16)
(One channel mildly broken)

Tektronix 466 Analogue Storage Scope $ 100

Tektronix 475A Analogue Scope $ 100


Counters and Spectrum Analyzers
-------------------------------

HP 8568B Spectrum Analyzer, 100 Hz->1.5 GHz $ 900 ( 90)

HP 35665A dynamic signal analyzer $ 351 ( 120)
(Options 1C1 (add 2MB memory), 1D4
(Arbitrary function source), and
1C2 (HP instrument BASIC)

HP 5315B Universal Counter $ 80


Signal Sources / Time & Frequency Generators
---------------------------------------------

HP 8013B pulser
Highland P400 Digital delay generator

HP 3325A synthesizer $ 299
HP 8640B ultraquiet phaselocked generator $ 120 ( 60)

HP 8620C Sweeper mainframe $ 250 ( 50)
HP 86222B 0.01-2.4 GHz plugin


Meters
-------

HP 400EL AC Voltmeter (10 MHz)
HP 3403A True RMS Voltmeter (100 MHz) $ 95 ( 26)

Simpson Model 260 Series 3 multimeter
Fluke 87 handheld DMM $ 249 ( 0)

Keithley 191 5.5 digit DMM #1
Keithley 191 5.5 digit DMM #2

Power Supplies
--------------

MIT PMT-2000 HV power supply $ 41 ( 13)

Power Designs TP343A triple DC power supply $ 48 ( 16)
Power Designs TP325 triple DC power supply $ 47 ( 17)

HP 6112A Precision DC power supply (5 digit)


Amplifiers
----------

Highland J750 Amplifier
Highland T860 Buffer/Driver


Optical Test Equipment
----------------------

Blue Sky model 200 Collimeter
collimation tester

Uniphase 1137P He-Ne (needs 1202 $ 212 ( 21)
power supply, 2.4 kV, 6.5 mA)


Furniture and Hardware
-----------------------

19-inch HP rack $ 300 ( 0)
Vidmar 15-drawer cabinet $1382 ( 176) (new)
Safco 5-drawer map cabinet, 30x48 $ 0 ( 0) Salvage

5 pcs 2M GPIB cables $ 32 ( 16)


---------------------------------------------------------------
Total 5830 ( 621)


-------------- WANTS ------------------


Tools
-----

Cooper 13006C 6-inch gas pliers
(13006 OK too)--discontinued

Mantis microscope with 4x & 8X objectives $1500
Sherline--Small lathe/milling machine $3000
Metcal soldering/desoldering station $ 300
Small electric vacuum pump $ 150
Small electric compressor $ 150

Spares
------
Epson SMD-300 disc drive for HP 35660A (?)
TEAC 300D disc drives for HP 35665A
Sony MP-F52W-20 disc drives for HP 4145B


Interfacing and Control
-----------------------

Prologix GPIB-Ethernet module $ 200 new



Oscilloscopes & Accessories
---------------------------

Tek TDS684B 1 GHz, 5 Gs/s, 4 channels
simultaneously, colour LCD
Opt 13 serial/parallel hardcopy port
Opt 1F Floppy drive
Opt 2F Advanced waveform math

For Tek 11802 sampling scope:
SD-46 20 GHz OE converter
SD-48 30 GHz OE converter
SD-32 50 GHz sampling head
SD-51 20 GHz trigger head

1x 012-1220-00 1m sampling head extender
1x 012-1221-00 2m sampling head extender

Counters and Spectrum Analyzers
-------------------------------

HP 8444A Opt 59 Tracking Generator for 8568B
HP 5372A Modulation domain analyzer


Meters
------

HP 435A analog power meter
HP 8482A power meter head and cable (100 kHz - 4 GHz)
HP 8484A diode power head and 11708A reference attenuator
HP 4470A transistor noise tester


Signal Sources / Time & Frequency Generators
--------------------------------------------

HP 3325B or equivalent
HP 8560D synth plus plugins

Highland Technology arbs


Furniture
---------

Lista or Vidmar two-pedestal workbench with lots of small drawers
Workbench for Sherline


Optical
--------

3 x 4 foot Newport optical breadboard and bench

10 mW He-Ne

100-mW single frequency green DP YAG

Lots of mounts

Optical spectrum analyzer

Optical power meter

Pb salt camera

JDS Uniphase 1202-1 power supply



Computers
---------

26-processor pizza box cluster, 50G RAM,
10 TB disc, Rocks cluster Linux

Small server rack

1U 20-inch LCD/keyboard drawer

GbE router

Intel C++ and Fortran compilers

Business FIOS line--15/20Mb fixed IP

Firewall machine

NAS machine with mirroring

B-size laser printer with Postscript, Ethernet
and duplex--HP 5000, about $300-400 refurb

B-size page scanner with ADF & duplex


--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

[Richard the Dreaded Liber]

On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:43:54 -0700, Charlie E. wrote:

On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:20:52 -0700, Richard the Dreaded Libertarian

Gleaned from USENET and modified appropriately:
================================================
A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at
the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him..

He asked, 'What are all those clocks?'

St. Peter answered, 'Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a
Lie-Clock.

Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move.'

'Oh,' said the man, 'whose clock is that?'

'That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that
she never told a lie.'

'Incredible,' said the man. 'And whose clock is that one?'
St. Peter responded, 'That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have
moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire
life.'

'Where's President Bush's clock?' asked the man.

Bush's clock is in Jesus' office.

He's using it as a ceiling fan.
================================================

So, you see, it works both ways. ;-)

Actually, the first time I read this, it was Clinton's clock in the
office, but these things hang around for a while... ;-)

Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton,
Bush II, Obama -

The more things change, the more they stay the same. )-;

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Nico Coesel]

Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

JosephKK wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.


Unfortunately EBay has monopolized the market for 2nd hand, they are
almost like Walmart. So they call the shots, and thus also the fee levels.

The 2465 is a very good choice, this is the scope I always recommend to
clients whom I feel are in dire need of a "real" scope. Can't go wrong.
But remember that those things can be very tired.

I bet the Lecroy LH314H (rebranded Iwatsu SS-7847A) is just as good as
the 2465 and more recent. Sometimes they come quite cheap on Ebay.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
"If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer!"
--------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Nico Coesel]

Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

Tek 11802 Sampling Scope
SD-22 12.5 GHz dual low noise head
SD-24 20 GHz dual TDR head
SD-42 6.4 GHz OE converter $ 200
SD-14 dual-channel probe sampler 3 GHz $ 175 ( 16)
(One channel mildly broken)

That seems very reasonable especially since the Dollar is so low.
Shipping costs to Europe are still huge though.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
"If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer!"
--------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Phil Hobbs]

Nico Coesel wrote:

Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

Tek 11802 Sampling Scope
SD-22 12.5 GHz dual low noise head
SD-24 20 GHz dual TDR head
SD-42 6.4 GHz OE converter $ 200
SD-14 dual-channel probe sampler 3 GHz $ 175 ( 16)
(One channel mildly broken)

That seems very reasonable especially since the Dollar is so low.
Shipping costs to Europe are still huge though.

;0 Those are just the prices for the plugins.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

[Joerg]

Nico Coesel wrote:

Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

JosephKK wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.

Unfortunately EBay has monopolized the market for 2nd hand, they are
almost like Walmart. So they call the shots, and thus also the fee levels.

The 2465 is a very good choice, this is the scope I always recommend to
clients whom I feel are in dire need of a "real" scope. Can't go wrong.
But remember that those things can be very tired.

I bet the Lecroy LH314H (rebranded Iwatsu SS-7847A) is just as good as
the 2465 and more recent. Sometimes they come quite cheap on Ebay.

Got a link? Search engine didn't find it. So far I was less than
impressed with LeCroy scopes but maybe they've got a gem somewhere. The
epitome of ghastliness are Windows-based scopes ... yuck.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Oct 1, 10:33 am, Raveninghorde <raveninghorde@invalid> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:47:53 -0700 (PDT),Bill Sloman

bill.slo...@ieee.org> wrote:

That's the problem having customers, I guess. It must be be very
liberating to have no customers.

I could do with being a bit less liberated. Even one customer would be
nice.

snip

Since you are a such a prig there is no way you could treat a contact
with enough respect to ever do business with them.

There you go, thinking that you deserve to be treated with respect,
when all you do is repeat denialist propaganda, making it a trifle
more incoherent in the process.

Otherwise with your self proclaimed superiority to us inferior engineers you would be raking it in.

Not in the Netherlands. If you are over sixty, they can't believe that
you want to work, and can't imagine hiring anybody that old.

And I don't claim to be a better engineer than you - I've got no idea
of your competence as an engineer, and people with very strange ideas
can do quite respectable engineering. John Larkin comes to mind.

As a self-proclaimed expert on anthropogenic global warming you are a
complete clown, and in that arena I treat you with most of the respect
that you deserve. In medieval times, people who brought inadequate
goods to the marketplace were subject to a barrage of rotten tripes,
but my internet connection isn't equipped to provide that level of
criticism, appropriate though it might be.

--
Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

 

[JosephKK]

On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:28:51 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

JosephKK wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:27:53 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

<snip>

Too much cheap surplus stuff on ebay, too. I'd love to do a cheapish
USB TDR, but there's probably no good market.

John

John L, Jeorg:

I am in the market for (in no particular order) a fast analog scope
maybe a TEK 2465B. I could use an 11801/11802 with a few heads good
to say 6 GHz, and some probes. A decent freq/interval counter. A
5-1/2 digit multimeter (with 4 terminal ohms, and true rms ac
measurements up to 100 KHz). And an AM/FM modulatable function/sweep
generator up to 20 MHz. Except for the good scopes, this is high
hobbyist to low end or mid-range lab stuff.

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.


Unfortunately EBay has monopolized the market for 2nd hand, they are
almost like Walmart. So they call the shots, and thus also the fee levels.

The 2465 is a very good choice, this is the scope I always recommend to
clients whom I feel are in dire need of a "real" scope. Can't go wrong.
But remember that those things can be very tired.

For the generator check out modulateable DDS eval boards.

If you really don't want EBay your only options are 2nd hand re-sellers
(expensive, usually), company auctions (very good deals, got some of my
stuff that way) and another very good source are hamfests.

If someone i knew somewhat, that did not have issues with eprey was
interested in helping me out, i would not be so remiss as to not
include some consideration for their assistance.

 

[JosephKK]

On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:21:00 GMT, nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel)
wrote:

Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

JosephKK wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.


Unfortunately EBay has monopolized the market for 2nd hand, they are
almost like Walmart. So they call the shots, and thus also the fee levels.

The 2465 is a very good choice, this is the scope I always recommend to
clients whom I feel are in dire need of a "real" scope. Can't go wrong.
But remember that those things can be very tired.

I bet the Lecroy LH314H (rebranded Iwatsu SS-7847A) is just as good as
the 2465 and more recent. Sometimes they come quite cheap on Ebay.

I can handle LeCroys, but they are samplers not real time scopes.

 

[Joerg]

JosephKK wrote:

On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:28:51 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

JosephKK wrote:
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:49 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:27:53 -0700, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:


snip

Too much cheap surplus stuff on ebay, too. I'd love to do a cheapish
USB TDR, but there's probably no good market.

John
John L, Jeorg:

I am in the market for (in no particular order) a fast analog scope
maybe a TEK 2465B. I could use an 11801/11802 with a few heads good
to say 6 GHz, and some probes. A decent freq/interval counter. A
5-1/2 digit multimeter (with 4 terminal ohms, and true rms ac
measurements up to 100 KHz). And an AM/FM modulatable function/sweep
generator up to 20 MHz. Except for the good scopes, this is high
hobbyist to low end or mid-range lab stuff.

20 years away from the lab and i don't remember what is good stuff any
more. The stuff must be functional, but 20+ year old stuff is quite
acceptable. For computer interactivity i expect to buy/use USB to
GPIB converter(s). Serial is acceptable as well.

My proper email address is in the headers. I have an objection to
dealing with e-prey or preypal myself.

Unfortunately EBay has monopolized the market for 2nd hand, they are
almost like Walmart. So they call the shots, and thus also the fee levels.

The 2465 is a very good choice, this is the scope I always recommend to
clients whom I feel are in dire need of a "real" scope. Can't go wrong.
But remember that those things can be very tired.

For the generator check out modulateable DDS eval boards.

If you really don't want EBay your only options are 2nd hand re-sellers
(expensive, usually), company auctions (very good deals, got some of my
stuff that way) and another very good source are hamfests.

If someone i knew somewhat, that did not have issues with eprey was
interested in helping me out, i would not be so remiss as to not
include some consideration for their assistance.

I can't help you there because (so far) I've never bid on EBay myself,
only my clients, a lot. If you do need a lot of stuff I'd consider
setting up an account. I guess you could always cancel it when done.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[qrk]

On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:12:32 -0700, Jim Thompson
<To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon@My-Web-Site.com> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:11:41 -0400, T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net
wrote:

In article <23lsb5tf466bn2d72jnfognqporrtu7rsa@4ax.com>, To-Email-Use-
The-Envelope-Icon@My-Web-Site.com says...

Anyone with experience using Skype Video?

Is a dual-core processor really needed?

Camera recommendations?

...Jim Thompson

No it isn't needed. I have a Dell XPS M140 and I use it with a Sanyo
Xacti C40. I do need to run a video split program but other than that it
works just fine.


I got it running before I went out of town. The setups let you set
audio and video independently.

Now! Is the any way to send screen contents instead of camera output?

...Jim Thompson
Yes there is. I always forget how to do it, but enough right clicking

will bring up a menu which allows you to send your screen contents.
Only problem with Skype, you can only use video and screen contents
between two people. If you have 3 people in a conference, video is
disabled.

Since all my computers are multiprocessor/multicored, don't know if
you can run video on a single core system. Should work fine unless you
have a 350MHz machine. Even my little netbook works fine.

The Logitech $80 to $100 camera that rests on the monitor works well.
You need lots of even light if you want decent quality. Be sure you
don't have bright backlighting.

--
Mark