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- Category: Allotment 44
- Category: Ancestry
- Category: Electronics
- Electronics
- Category: ADS-B
- Category: AIOM - Analog Input Output Module
- Category: Attenuator calibrator (objective: a really precise and accurate apparatus)
- Category: DCF77
- Category: GPSDO 10 MHz
- Category: High Voltage Power Supplies
- Category: Hobbyist's Essentials: Magnetic Levitator
- Category: Hobbyist's Essentials: Marx Generator (a high voltage device, generating really serious sparks)
- Category: Hobbyist's Essentials: Solid state Tesla coil
- Category: Magnetic
- Category: Micro-Tel MSR-902C
- Category: Microwave
- Category: Millimeter Wave
- Category: NOAA APT - you want to see the clouds from above?
- Category: Noise Meters and Noise Figures
- Category: Phase Noise Measurement
- Category: PLL
- Category: Precision Timing
- Category: R820T/RTL2832U USB SDR: Various hacks and measurements
- USB RTL SDR 28.8 MHz Reference: dividers, PLL, success
- USB RTL SDR 28.8 MHz Reference: VCO design established
- USB RTL SDR 28.8 MHz Reference: VCXO
- R820T, RTL2832U SDR USB stick: some more findings about temperature sensitivity.
- R820T, RTL2832U SDR USB stick: gain accuracy tests
- R820T, RTL2832U: narrow-range linearity
- R820T, RTL2832U SDR USB stick: using it as a “poor man’s” spectrum analyzer – level linearity, level accuracy
- R820T, RTL2832U SDR USB stick – sensitivity, dynamic range
- R820T, RTL2832U: SDR USB stick hack – clean and stable reference!
- Category: Stepper/Multiphase Motor Control
- Category: Ultra-linear ADC
- Category: UWB SDR: Ultra-wideband (0-40 GHz) Software Defined Radio
- Category: Various
- Blaupunkt OSTIA Home Radio: revamping an old beauty
- NE555 Watchdog Timer: the ESP32 needs some oversight
- Hewlett Packard HP-85B: a marvelous desktop computer revived
- LVDT converter: a Mahr P2004M, some electronics, and sub-micron resolution
- Automated Basement Ventilation: keeping it dry
- Cheap personal scales: turned into parcel scales with USB interface
- New Smart Home: at least, gas&electric meters are talking to the world wide web
- Force compensating precision balance: a few very interesting, very rare schematics
- Fake DAC8512, AD8512, Mixup, or both?
- Motorola 2N5160 PNP RF Transistors: new-old-stock, medium old stock, fake stock?
- A low frequency xtal oscillator: Austrian generosity, gold, and crystals
- A precision current source: a mirror, and a TL431
- The big crash: Server failure
- Crimping Molex Contacts: 3.96 mm KK Style, new capability add to my workshop
- HP 8412A Phase Magnitude Display: really unusal supply voltages…
- US TEO Power Suppy: you want to get killed by a USB charger?
- AB Arboga Maskiner U2508: a simple DRO (linear glass scale readout)
- Length Endcoder Interface: reading the Heidenhain
- Manuals Additions: Motorola!
- A wireless door bell, activated by a wired door bell!
- Holzmann BS 128HDR: “Holz” means wood, but this is a metal band saw!
- Micrometer and Force: a time-stamped interface
- Workshop upgrade: Light fittings, and luminous efficacies
- New test lab and workshop: Renovation update
- Ultra-cheap LED Spot Lights: Failure mode analysis, and some reverse engineering, and some concerns
- Switchable microwave filter – inside a HP 83732B
- Major relocation, and numerous 230 V conversions…
- YIG Oscillator/YTO Analyzer: linearity, output power, hysteresis
- HP 11683A Range Calibrator: no power meter calibration without it
- HP 11708A 30 dB Reference Attenuator: less than 0.0005 dB drift per year?
- A13 30 MHz Reference Oscillator: a reasonably quiet oscillator, and a noise cable
- 440 MHz ISM Band Amplifier: a few extra milliwatts….
- Vintage IC Stock: listing
- IBM Thinkcentre M50 P4 3 GHz: electrolytic capacitor repair
- EMI Sniffer/Checker
- Ultrasonic Pest Chaser: final design
- Vintage Transistors and IC Stock: listing
- Micro Networks Corporation MN3010 DAC: long term stability test of a rather unconventional DAC
- Ultrasonic Pest Chaser: scare way all the rats, squirrels and other furry creatures….
- Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) TP120-13MSL, 13 Watt: some circuit analysis
- HP 8481A Power Sensor: why are they all blown?
- TMS 2532 EPROM adapter: one byte every 50 ms…..
- BNC 50 Ohm Termination: a rather surprising construction
- ADCMP580 Ultrafast Comparator: it’s really fast!!
- Rong Hua (Bianhuan) “50 Watt” Travel Adapter: not enough iron, for this “wattage”
- Resistive Power Splitter: trying out a low-cost construction
- Oscillator Driver/PLL: tuning fork oscillator
- Tesla/Voltcraft BK127C Power Supply: a trusty fellow
- Reference Signal Conditioning: 10 MHz amplifier/limiter, :2 divider, 5 MHz output
- HP Fundamental/Harmonic Mixer 5086-7285 (22 GHz): digital bias control
- YTO YTF Driver: 0..250 mA, 16 bits resolution
- YIG tuned oscillator (YTO) / YIG tuned filter (YTF) driver: digitally controlled current source
- Avantek AFT-4231-10F 2-4 GHz Amplifier: some characterization and modeling
- A quick look at the HP 5086-7259 YIG Oscillator: 2.0-4.5 GHz, 15-18 dBm
- Figuring out the details of the Avantek S082-0959 YIG filter
- PLL frequency response measurement: a ‘not so fancy’ approach, for every lab
- Terminations: 50 Ohm, +-1%
- Category: YIG
- Category: General
- Category: Miscellaneous
- A good “Springerle” recipe
- A new Honigkuchen recipe
- Bauhaus VoltoLux LED Lamp: a early failure sickness finally subsided
- Metalworking: strange defects of long-used tools
- Wood and Steel, covered in Paint: a new garden bench
- Outdoor movie theater: a digital projector ceiling mount
- Laser cutter setup: air supply, off-gas and various cutting tests
- Baking 1&1: delicious cocos cookies
- Baking 1&1: hazelnut cake
- Baking 1&1: gooseberry cake with almond-based topping
- Baking 1&1: Chiffon cake
- Baking 1&1: black currant cake
- Etalon 77.19000 Height Gauge: a broken pinion
- Workshop Upgrade: Laser cutter and engraver SCULPFUN S9
- Workshop Upgrade: 3D Printer
- SMEG CS19ID-6 Range: another defect
- A Japanese hot pot: A hot spring without a hot spring
- Heating energy consumption: first evaluations, and total annual energy demand
- Christmas Time: Honigkuchen (honey based cookies)
- A major move, and a defective CATV splitter
- SMEG CS19ID-6 Range: cold food only….
- Delicious Apple Muffins
- Banana Muffin: sooo delicious, and we don’t add any chocolate
- Recipe: Pickled Garlic (and other mixed local vegetables)
- Recipe: German Küchle
- Pizza and Baguette Oven: From China, to Japan
- AB Arboga U2508: adding a “z-axis” digital indicator
- Chuck tender/Bug Filet: Just let it soften in the oven
- Steamed dumplings: Dampfnudeln (original Swabian German type and recipe)
- Chair Repair: build in 1991, refurbished in 2017
- Xmas Cookies: Heidesand
- Cast Aluminium Wok with Gas Burner: a 10.5 kW cooking arrangement
- Really Hot: Brick Oven Pizza at Home
- Phillips Senseo Coffee Brewing System: the serious consequences of a broken wire
- 1″x30″ Belt Sander: re-wiring a capacitor motor from 115 VAC to 230 VAC
- Ordinary Wheat Bread: well-proven US recipe
- Some (good old German) baking recipes: strudel, marble cake, Gugelhupf
- Dell Optiplex FX160 – 2 GB – Spinpoint M9T 2 TB: Ubuntu server economizer
- Xmas Bakery: ginger cookies
- Xmas Bakery: double-choc chocolate trees
- Special Ginger Honey Liquor: Elixir No. 4
- It’s tomato (and zucchini) time!
- Wheat Corn Bread – an easy recipe
- LinuxCNC EMC2 HAL Files: 3 axis mill, 2 axis lathe with encoders, jog wheel, axis compensation, camera view
- Homemade Hard Candy: sugar free extra-strong eucalypt-menthol
- Braided Bread: German “Hefezopf”
- FKM349VL Benchtop Mill: control, EMC2 LinuxCNC interface
- German Bakery: sourdough bread, ‘quark’ variety
- Xmas Bakery: Nougat Plätzchen(=small cookies)
- Xmas Bakery: Christstollen
- Dell PowerEdge SC1425, 2x Seagate 3 TB NAS S3000VN000, Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS: server upgrade
- Category: CNC Tools
- Category: Well
- Category: Test Equipment Repairs
- Micro-Tel SG-811 Swept Signal Generator: a hot (and golden) driver
- HP Agilent Keysight: missing instrument feed mystery
- Category: Advantest Takeda
- Category: EIP 545A Microwave Counter: power meter upgrade
- Category: Generators - High Frequency
- Category: Generators - Low Frequency
- Category: HP 1345A Digital Display
- Category: HP 3455A Digital Voltmeter
- Category: HP 3562A Dynamic Signal Analyzer
- Category: HP 4191A Impedance Analyzer
- Category: HP 5372A Frequency and Time Interval Analyzer
- Category: HP 8753C Network Analyzer
- Category: LCR Meters
- Category: Micro-Tel 1295 Precision Attenuation Measurement Receiver (2nd unit)
- Category: Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: AM detector/AGC circuit fix, A3B5 assy
- Anodizing 7075 Alloy: Micro-Tel handles
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: a set of new handles
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: a wire, another 2N2905A – repair completed (!) – sensitivity test passed
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: three bad guys, an a revised YIG filter
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: manual found!
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: reducing phase noise – phase detector frequency
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: phase lock test, YIG driver bandwidth modification
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Interface/PLL: low noise power supplies for PLL and pretune circuits
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Remote Interface: pretune DAC, precision reference, and some auxilliary circuit
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: remote control (digital interface)
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: a broken trace, a replaced pot, and an escape proof guarantee
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: crosshair, imagesetting film printing, remote control input
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: some progress
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: the monitor output
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A: RF tuner block diagram and component specs
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A: some basic repairs
- Micro-Tel MSR-904A Microwave Receiver: the big box arrived!
- Category: Oscilloscopes
- Category: Power Supplies
- Category: Spectrum Analyzers
- Category: Various
- LH0021CK Power Opamp: an analog autopsy
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 Headphones: water and a corroded connector
- Agilent 4352B VCO/PLL Signal Analyzer: see you again, after 5 years
- Heraeus K1150/3 Oven: some cosmetics, some bricks, some electronics
- Crystal Chandelier Restoration: an antique brought back to safe operation
- Meridian 506 CD Player: after 5 years, in need for more attention
- Watkins-Johnson SE222-50 Backward Wave Oscillator: the magic helix
- Olympia CD401 Tischrechner: a magnetic keyboard
- HP 4140B pA Meter/DC Voltage Source: some incorrect assumptions, but finally, a repair
- Induction range repair – just a couple of IGBTs, and a 20 Amp fuse
- HP 4140B pA Meter / DC Voltage Source: Special low currents, special connectors, and various FETs
- Mettler AE 163 Dual Range Analytical Balance: Swiss Made equipment, in Japan
- HP Attenuators: another great method to fix them
- HP 856x and 859x Series Spectrum Analyzer: Rubber keypad issues with 8561e 8562e 8563e 8593e 8593e 8596e, etc.
- HP 8753C Network Analyzer: a new old YTO, and a new old firmware
- HP 3325B Synthesizer/Function Generator: a quick fix, and a hot transistor
- HP 6205C Dual DC Power Supply: a generous binding posts fix
- HP 8753C Network Analyzer: Serial numbers, options, EEPROMs
- HP 8561B Spectrum Analyzer: a smoking power supply
- HP 4192A LF Impedance Analyzer: a leaking backup
- HP 6634A System Power Supply: A few almost-bad RIFA caps, and a 100 Volt, 1 Amp, source-sink supply, and a generous load of transistors
- HP 3326A Two-Channel Synthesizer: replaced, and replaced again!
- HP 8754A 4 MHz to 1300 MHz Network Analyzer: final repairs, and a function test
- HP/Agilent 6060A System DC Electronic Load: a quick repair
- Agilent 4352B VCO/PLL Signal Analyzer: working!
- HP 6038A System Power Supply: all fixed!
- HP 3326 Two-Channel Synthesizer: a bad lot of tantalum capacitors
- HP 8754A 4 MHz to 1300 MHz Network Analyzer: an analog computer, and a few rusted transistors
- HP 6038A System Power Supply: A 150 Watt Option (Option 100)
- Micro-Tel SG-811 Signal Generator: a second unit
- HP 3580A Spectrum Analyzer: Digital display fix, and ancient CMOS circuits
- HP 3580A Spectrum Analyzer: a few mechanical repairs, and sweep test
- HP 3580A Spectrum Analyzer: a non-working marvel of engineering
- Meridian 506 CD Player: a hot driver
- Auna AV2-CD508 HiFi Amplifier: start-up power supply repair
- Oil Temperature Measurement Ni50: several meters of very thin wire
- HP 85685A: another mains filter failure – Schaffner FN 376
- HP 85685A Preselector Repair: faulty attenuation
- Rigol DS1052D=DS1102D Oscilloscope: encode issue fix
- SME Tonearm Series V: a really THIN wire!
- Marantz Stereo Amplifier PM-14 MkII: explosive silicon
- HP 8640B Signal Generator: A new divider
- Dual CV 1600 Stereo Amplifier: a real HiFi classic with some capacitor smoke, and a very large dropout voltage regulator
- HP 6115A Precision Power Supply: repair complete!
- HP 6115A Precision Power Supply: not just one defect mixed with a lot of precision
- HP 83572A RF Plug-in 26.5-40 GHz: only a fuse away from the highest frequencies
- EIP 545A Microwave Frequency Counter: another dead tantalum repair
- A Thermal Fuse, and HP 10811-60111 Repair
- HP 3325B A26 Assembly: low byte SRAM, and an incorrect signature
- HP 436A Power Meter: smoke and stench – X-rated cap failure
- HP 436A Power Meter: a strange analog ground issue
- Kebaili CPG-500 Current Pulse Plating: reverse pulse plating power supply
- HP 8565A Spectrum Analyzer: a ‘new’ CRT for a trusty unit
- Clothes dryer repair: AKO 742336 control unit type EDR0692XAX
- HP 3326A Two Channel Synthesizer: finalization of repairs
- HP 3326A Two Channel Synthesizer: a engineering mystery, and a fuse mystery
- HPAK (HP Agilent Keysight) 3326A Two Channel Synthesizer: power supply trouble
- HPAK (HP Agilent Keysight) 6205C Dual DC Power Supply: a mechanical fix
SimonsDialogs – A wild collection of random thoughts, observations and learnings. Presented by Simon.
