Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us, watching your videos over the years was a big part of what got me to this point!

Thanks Walt! I definitely took inspiration from posts of yours in the VETE FB group :)

Thanks for the kind words! There is a lot of great gear in that group, and a lot of great lab ideas. A few things I particularly love about yours: 1. Overall organization! I love the dedicated soldering area, separate from most of the test equipment. 2. Several awesome instruments, such as the Tektronix 11000-series, the Tek color digital oscilloscope, the spectrum analyzer, function generators, etc. And several great items that are still on my "to acquire" list, like the DMMcheck and Hakko fume extractor! Also, your 575 is working! I finally obtained one, but I haven't had a chance to check it out. I suspect it will need some significant TLC... 3. Your frequency standard and distribution amplifier setup. Very nice. I have a GPSDO, but I don't have it in any kind of permanent setup yet. And I don't have a distribution system for it at all. I have some plans (dreams?) to clean up more of my basement so that I can relocate my workbench to a new area and significantly expand it. That will also free up a bunch of space from its current location which I can then use to better organize and consolidate my audio system. One of these days! Once again, you've created a fantastic setup! Cheers!

@Walt Wimer The basement is the best common ground! :)

@@waltwimer2551 The best lab is using the least possible amount of equipment & investment to achieve the most possible results. There's alot of redundancy here for trophy purposes.

@@user-ht6qt6zv1c I see absolutely nothing wrong with collecting vintage test gear in order to preserve history and engineering works of art. People do the same with cars, stamps, vintage toys, vintage radios, books, beer cans, signs, and on and on and on. 😎👍

It sure is! The ceramic strips inside are beautiful. Also, the HP 5342a is another work of art,on the inside at least. If you’ve never seen one torn down, look up @curiousmarc video on it

I found a 577 at a thrift store for $40 and am restoring it for my lab 😌

@@jessihawkins9116 oh man, I’m jealous!! I’d love to upgrade someday.

@@pac1085 yeah. They said it was an oscilloscope that wouldn’t turn on. They were going to trash it 😆

@@jessihawkins9116 that’s funny, I’m going to an auction this weekend and they have two hp 5372a time interval analyzers listed as oscilloscopes, hoping to get one dirt cheap

Sure is. Although I’m taking a road trip next Friday to buy a really nice 576 to replace it, been looking for a while.

yeh ,,steeampank ,, collection - its true!

Hahah thanks but not quite! Maybe you haven’t seen CuriousMarc’s channel :-)

At least you can just open the garage door and unload these monsters onto your bench! I need to install a dumbwaiter or something to them downstairs ;)

Haha, you’re right… thanks for the laugh. Truth be told, the only item in the video that I paid over $1000 for was the Siglent spectrum analyzer. Almost everything else was less than $500. it’s amazing the deals you can get on test equipment in the USA these days, especially if you take a little risk and buy items that appear to need minor repairs. I mean who wants to pay $300 for a solder sucker when I can get a HP 8644B that had an msrp of $24,305 in 1992 for 265 bucks? Lol

Thank you!! It's always a work in progress, but I try to keep it neat.

I get mine cleaned up occasionally…. Just to shoot a video, otherwise, when it is clean, I never find anything 😂

The levear vp-7725d has stellar specs on thd, thd+n and an ultra low distortion oscillator. I would have been ok with a QuantAsylum, but they have been out of stock for a very long time due to chip shortage. I noticed they recently restarted production and may pick one up as it can perform other measurements I can’t easily do

I promise to make a video one day when I organize it :-)

Is the FM-204 the one you have? Interesting..

@@pac1085 yes I had the FM-204 station after I got the 240V UK version of the FR301, it is a little better the way you can hold it like a pen but overall the 301 is way more powerful at melting the solder so you can use the trigger quicker. Much faster if you have a ton of pins to desolder.

thanks for the feedback, they are very expensive and no comparisons I could find online. The FM-204 seems to have higher suction(15L/m vs 11L/m on the 301) but slightly lower high end temperature (450C vs 500C of the 301), I rarely need to turn the FR-301 up past #1, since i mostly work on single sided boards, so it's surprising based on specs alone, but good to know.

@@pac1085 yeah I went from the specs too expecting it to be more impressive, but if you think the vacuum is directly next to the subject on the 301 vs on the 204 it has to travel all the way down the tube, I have a feeling that also has an effect

Hi Joe, I mostly recommend KZfaq, there are a huge number of extremely talented people on here and thousands of videos on repairing radios, hifi equipment, etc. if you look through the channels I’m subscribed to, that’s a good place to start. What type of stuff do you want to learn the most? Maybe I can make a more specific suggestion

@@pac1085 I'd like to learn building a audio amplifier, all the way up to some things like repairing automotive engine controllers and modifying equipment

@@xblinkusedfinchx For building an audio amplifier from the ground up, (assuming you're talking transistor, not tube) check out JohnAudioTech on youtube. He has some great videos where he builds some small amps, talks about the various types of amplification, etc. For automotive engine management, that's what got me started with working on electronics nearly 20 years ago. I built a Megasquirt ECU kit for a car I had at the time. Although it is just a kit, you learn a lot about it, and I also had to modify it quite a bit to work with my ignition system at the time etc. And there's also mr Carlson's lab for general all around electronics knowledge!

Yeah, In it’s default configuration the transformer secondaries neutral is bonded to ground, which you don’t want. If you google it there are a bunch of articles / forum posts on it and how to change that.

I found these on Facebook marketplace locally. I think it was a little bit of luck, although I have seen other listings since then for cheap akro mils style bins here and there. Many times they have components in them. I’ve had really good luck with Facebook marketplace when it comes to finding things I want. They aren’t always available right away but since it keeps track of what you search for, when someone does end up listing them, they tend to show up in recommended items.

@@pac1085 Thanks. I'll try that. The more you hunt, the luckier you get.😸😎👍

It has an ammeter on it. I also have a line splitter and an amprobe ac50a leakage current clamp (.01mA resolution) if want better resolution. I have been collecting parts to put it all in a nice enclosure with panel meters eventually. I mostly work on transistorized equipment, so it doesn't get much use anyways.

A standard SPST household switch

@@pac1085 So the switch turns AC power on and off, but you dont have a way to remove the bulb from the circuit? IF you want to bypass the bulb how do you pull that off?? Maybe when you no longer need the current limiter, you just unplug the load and go right into AC power?? Thanks for clarifying this for me.. Robert

@@myradiovideos I just unplug the device and plug it directly into the variac/isolation transformer or wall depending on the circumstances. I am planning on rebuilding the dim bulb setup in the near future, with the ability to do what you mention, meters, multiple bulbs, etc

@@pac1085 ok got it and thanks

Haha, it was free, that’s the only reason I have it!

No issues - first, it’s not all powered on at all times like shown in the pic, usually only 2-3 pieces of gear depending on what I’m working on. Also, most of this equipment was designed to be rack mounted, where they would be stacked even more densely and in an enclosure. Most of the HP equipment has large fans in it for that reason

Mostly eBay to be honest. But yea, I feel for the people who aren't in the USA - it sounds like it's much more difficult to obtain a lot of this stuff in other countries. The guys from Australia are the most vocal ;)

Hi, sorry I don't really do repairs for the general public, I just don't have time since I still work a regular job. I'm pretty far away anyways - Rochester, NY. I know there are some good techs/shops in the Houston area, but I don't have any specific recommendations. Good luck!!

@@pac1085 then how do you know there are good techs or shops in the Houston area ? Appreciate your response anyway about your availability.

@@vonleyser I’m in a few Facebook groups related to vintage audio repair and I have seen posts of quality work from some guys in that area, but I don’t have a quickly accessible list, or time to try and go dig those posts up, sorry. Good luck with the repair!

The one with the light bulb on it? A “dim bulb tester” I did a video on them a few months ago as well

I'm mostly interested in 70s'-80's HiFi at the moment, so the SX-780 is right up my alley. I still work full time in an unrelated field, so I'm not interested in having gear shipped into me for repairs. If you happened to be near the Rochester, NY area then we could talk.

@@pac1085 Darn! I'm about 750 miles south. Maybe one day if I travel that way.

@@seeharvester you could try Arnel Bautista in Virginia Beach. He’s very highly regarded and although I see him post mostly on a marantz restoration Facebook group I’m in, I heard he does Pioneer too

@@pac1085 Oh wow! That might work! I'll check into it. Thanks.

For soldering fumes.

@@arnbon6241 thanks.