Bob Boyce TPU thread

[magnetman777]

Hello All

My name is harry . I want to say high and offer any assistace I can with your development. I have experience with pic chips,FPGAs and FEts I also write c code and VB . I have a working controller that has 8 drivers for coils. Please contact me if I can help.I also have patents in digital wireless modulation techniques.

Harry

[Bruce_TPU]

A big Welcome to Harry! 

I believe Harry's experience and ideas will contribute greatly to this endeavor, and have invited him to be a part!   

Harry, we look forward to your experiments to come!

Warm regards,
Bruce

[MarkSnoswell]

Help  ... There are a number of small electrical items that I want to order that are only delivered to US destinations at a reasonable price.
Is there anyone who would be happy to receive these and mail them on to me? I will cover all costs and you may be interested in sharing some of the purchaces as they are all relevant in some way to this research.

thanks.

mark.

[Bob Boyce]

Not sure if there is anything I can do to help Mark. If you email me the particulars I can check into it.

I've been busy trying to get some newer and faster test equipment in my shop. The transition times on my new driver setup is so fast that I cannot even see the transitions on my 150 Mhz Tektronix 2445 or 2445A scopes.

So far I have had a fiew pieces arrive, but most of what I received were DOA or destroyed in shipping. I wish eBay sellers were more honest about the condition of what they sell, and more careful about how they handle and pack delicate test equipment.

One unit, a supposedly working HP 8116A, had the front panel bashed in, and the seller tried to blame the shipper. The box was in nearly mint condition, and they had packed the unit in that bagged liquid foam that forms to fit the space. The foam had formed to fit the bashed in front panel, which proved quite well they had shipped the unit like that! They kept denying it until I sent them pictures of the unit, the foam impression, and the perfect box. Then they blamed their shipping dept for dropping it, and said that since they had sold as-is, I was out of luck. After paying a premium for a supposedly working unit, I was not about to settle for that! Only after I threatened them with negative feedback and reporting to eBay for item not as described, that they offered return for full refund, or keep and get a partial refund of $100. Shipping was high, which I would have had to pay again to return, so I accepted the partial refund. Fixed the front panel, only to find a whole lot of other problems that apparently had existed with the electronics prior to the unit being dropped. So that one is on a back burner for now

Another HP8116A unit was advertised as powering up but having an error code that was related to a dead memory battery. That unit arrived DOA, and upon opening I found that someone had apparently tried to charge the non-rechargable lithium memory battery and it exploded, spraying electrolyte all over the logic board, which was then covered by corrosion which even extended under the chips. That unit is still DOA and on a back burner for parts or repair.

Then a Wavetek 859 Pulse generator arrived with the right side of the front panel broken. Again, the box was in good condition, so it must have been dropped on the front right corner prior to shipping. The whole front frame was shifted to the left by 1/4", bending the sheet metal of the housing. I repaired it as best as I could and it works now if I bypass the broken front panel power switch. I have a parts unit on the way to fix this one better.

Managed to get an HP 8111A that was advertised as DOA, and I repaired it by replacing all of the dried out power supply capacitors. Analog tuning, but at least it works!

I also managed to get an advertised working HP 3225A, which arrived in good condition and seems to work just fine. Finally, after all that trouble, something arrived that actually was working as advertised!

A Tektronix HFS9003 showed up yesterday. It arrived in excellent condition, being packed in that formed foam. It also worked as advertised! This HFS9003 came with a pair of 4 channel cards installed, each channel with both non-inverted and inverted outputs. The primary pulse setting is split amongst all channels, but each channel is selectable for 1 t, 1/2 t, 1/4 t, or 1/8 t, where t is the timing interval. I am still waiting for a gross of SMA to BNC adapters to arrive from Hong Kong so I can connect to it.

I just bid and paid for an HP 54110D color digitizing scope that needs repair;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320187756612

I have 2 more Wavetek 859 pulse generators and a DOA HP 54100A 1 Ghz scope on the way as well. The Wavetek 859s were bought as a set, one working, and one not - for parts. The HP 54100A  they said does not power up. I will attempt to repair it, but if not, I can use it for parts to fix that HP 54110D that has a bad attenuator. It also has some pods in it that can be used for the HP 54110D.

Bob

[MarkSnoswell]

Bob,
   What a string of bad luck with eBay ... I have not had a problem with eBay although I have not been purchacing so much used equipment.

Still -- it sounds like you will have a very good set of equipment once you get it working.

I have been working on some basic scalar tests -- a Meyel transmitter/reciever replication at present. I should have results to report on shortly.

Mark.