What is your single most wish for test gear! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 03:51:27 pm
content: Take a moment away from the busy day and dream a bit. If you had 1 test gear wish and you could make that wish come true today, what would you wish for?Mine would be an Agilent or Keithley SMU.

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 04:04:17 pm
content: Most excellent pick

author: jlmoon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 04:07:38 pm
content: Mmmmmm Agilent B2912A.. pure porn! A must have!

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 05:16:05 pm
content: If we are dreaming here of our wish for test equipment. Mine would be a device that not only ascertains the problem in the DUT but also either suggests and or fixes it as well.

author: Sebastian
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 05:22:01 pm
content: A spectrum analyzer with at least 3GHz Bandwidth for Bluetooth and GPS testing would be very nice right now. I wouldn't mind a network analyzer for that frequency range either.

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 05:23:51 pm
content: if we're dreaming.... then obviously it would be a freaking all-in one Everything Meter with infinite accuracy combined with a remote-sensing scope (no probes - it's wire-less) with infinite bandwidth

author: RobertoLG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 05:58:58 pm
content: Quote from: rob77 on September 03, 2014, 05:23:51 pmthat's probably the one hehehe...oooooohhh beauty...thumbs up!

author: jlmoon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 05:59:43 pm
content: "to infinity and beyond!"

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 07:35:06 pm
content: Without doubt the MSOX6004A.

author: sacherjj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 09:56:04 pm
content: It is actually hard for me to say. My current job took me from software developer, back to my EE degree and with some pretty decent equipment. I don't have enough time to fully use what I have. Seems like it would be greedy to want more, right now.What I could use is an engineering department bigger than just me.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 10:25:08 pm
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on September 03, 2014, 03:51:27 pmI would wish for more space to work in and more space to store stuff rather than wish for any particular bit of test gear

author: sunnyhighway
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 10:49:47 pm
content: Quote from: G7PSK on September 03, 2014, 05:16:05 pmStop dreaming, such a device already exists.Unlike other devices, it's performance gets better if it ages. Depending on the model, it can operate on its own. But here are also models that tend to work better if coupled with similar devices.Impossible to buy, but it can be rented for an average of 40 hours per week. More than 40 hours per week is possible, but the rent will increase exponentially and the performance is not guaranteed to be as stable. IIRC it goes under the uninspiring name "EE".

author: Flump
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 10:53:32 pm
content: Any high end test gear is completely wasted on meso my dream test gear is a Fluke 27 DMMOne of my best friends had one but when he passed away a few years backhis family went all shitty about his belongings and wouldn't accept my reasonable offer on it,and it sold on ebay for less than I offered, I spot them on ebay now and then andeach time I see one I think about him at his bench with his head stuck in an old tv set

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 11:00:44 pm
content: I want a nixie tube based 3458A.And a 2450 SMU,

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 11:29:04 pm
content: A Keithley 2700 Datalogger with multiplexer, and some new DC loads. Those items combined with a bit of Labview programming could double my testing throughput, with more thorough results.Or, non-work-related, a Tektronix MSO 3054 would be nice. It'll look good next to the 2465a.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 11:52:52 pm
content: Quote from: Flump on September 03, 2014, 10:53:32 pmAh man, very noble. Great story too! I hope you get one!

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2014, 11:55:45 pm
content: I am still looking for a DSO with a built in sine and edge/impulse source which supports swept and edge/impulse vector network analysis. Any DSO with a built in AWG should be able to do this but none do. There are a couple of USB instruments which sort of have this capability but they are toy like.My second choice would be a sampling oscilloscope which has full TDR capability built in like the old Tektronix oscilloscopes which used their SD series sampling heads.

author: os40la
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 12:04:23 am
content: I'll take a Large Hadron Collider please...

author: skipjackrc4
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 12:23:12 am
content: I'd go for an Agilent N5247A 4 port VNA. I'd prefer the 67 GHz version of course, but I suppose I would settle for the 50 GHz one. And a stash of phase stable cables and precision connectors for it, of courseOh, and an eCal.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 12:55:15 am
content: 6ghz spectrum analyser with tracking gen for under $2000 nzd.Dont mind if its sdr based but needs to have screen and controls

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 12:59:04 am
content: Spectrum analyzer, and maybe some EMC or radio equipment (sources, detectors).Tim

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 04:11:00 am
content: definitely the 2450 SMU since I don't have one.if we're talking about neat things then an 8-channel scope: yokogawa dlm4058or more practically a tektronix MDO4104B.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 04:18:09 am
content: An electronic microscope in our living roomhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/video-operation-of-a-scanning-electron-microscope-at-home-in-my-living-room/

author: Dago
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 04:47:05 am
content: Definitely some high GHz vector network analyzer. The higher it would go the better (over 12 GHz at least). Pretty damn expensive even when used. Without even mentioning how much the cables and calibration kit and adapters etc. cost... Some dude was selling a 15 GHz Wiltron VNA (biggest measuring device I've ever seen) and had a full cal kit for it (basically a couple of coax cables and connectors and 50 ohm terminators and such) and it cost around 10000€ new (the cal kit).

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 07:48:44 am
content: Quote from: zapta on September 04, 2014, 04:18:09 amthat's really awesome !i have no clue what i would use it for , but i definitely want one !

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 08:29:39 am
content: I'll have a mixed domain oscilloscope please but make sure that it has the tracking generator option as well. I can then replace my scope, spectrum analyzer, logic analyzer and VNA with one box and have more space on the bench.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 10:46:29 am
content: A high end Agilent spectrum analyser with an S-parameters test set. With an RF anachoic chamber which doubles as a beer fridge when it is not in use.

author: VK5RC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 11:00:06 am
content: Agilent sorry Keysight VNA 50GHz + and Cal set with cables and spare connectors , ……………….wake up Robert you're dreaming!

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 02:57:06 pm
content: I'd like a 'potential imaging device', please. It would be a camera which would produce an artificial image of a board in which the brightness and/or colour of each pixel would be determined by the voltage on whatever conductor is there, or some neutral background colour if the pixel corresponds to an insulator.IC pins would, therefore, be clearly visible as rows of conducting points on a neutral background. The false colour palette would be chosen so as to make power rails and ground clearly identifiable, with a suitably intensity-graded response for analogue levels in between. A conventional visible light camera would be optically aligned and used to aid in orientation and recognition.If the 'potential camera' were really good, it would have a high enough frame rate to be able to tell the difference between pins that are oscillating and those which are at a dc level. Maybe it could have 'virtual probes', in which some number of individual pixels are repeatedly scanned at a very fast rate, as a sort of non-contact oscilloscope. The rest of the image could be refreshed much less often, a few Hz would be fine.How could such a device ever work? No idea. Maybe it could be done by putting the board into a vacuum chamber and scanning an e-beam across it? Not quite as handy as a thermal camera, but then again, early ones of those weren't exactly portable and easy to use either.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 03:25:25 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on September 04, 2014, 02:57:06 pmAn SEM does precisely that, yes. You do have to mind the weak beta flux (screws with ICs?) and leakage current though (even an extremely weak beam will probably roast CMOS, even bipolar).Tim

author: DenzilPenberthy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 03:41:10 pm
content: Quote from: os40la on September 04, 2014, 12:04:23 amYou won't like the electricity bill...

author: Precipice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 04:04:13 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on September 04, 2014, 02:57:06 pmYep, I've seen that done, and it was as cool as you'd think. Obviously no fast clock rates. De-capped chip, in an SEM.You _might_ be able to do something with an array of pointy capacitive probes and alienesque amplifiers, but DC would be tricky.There were also schemes for using voltage to do 'something optical' to lumps of crystal, to make non-conducting high frequency scope probes. Maybe sufficient cunning could scale that into an array?My sensible bid is for a flying probe to spot where EMC is coming out of a product, and my non-sensible one is an undo button. (Possibly one I could attach to interns, so I could let them loose on real stuff without bowel-wrenching fear).Oh yeah, high resolution cheap X-ray, and software to do the tomography, reassembly and reverse engineering of multilayer boards, as well as commenting on soldering quality.

author: os40la
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 05:21:19 pm
content: Quote from: DenzilPenberthy on September 04, 2014, 03:41:10 pmBut all the worlds top Physicists knocking on my door asking to come in and play.... Priceless!!!

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 08:00:54 pm
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on September 03, 2014, 03:51:27 pmMy own shed/garage with a lift for a car so I can do more work on our cars.

author: wiss
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 08:16:49 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on September 04, 2014, 02:57:06 pmIt can be done using an AFM.Practical limitations today would be aspect-ratio of surface features (45 deg angles), and 100 um vertical and 1 by 1 mm horizontal image-size.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_force_microscope

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 11:27:17 pm
content: I want a Dave.I'm sure he gets better info and results out of my basic scope than I would get out of the most fancy one :-)