In article ,
Jim Lux wrote:

Anyone who has never accidentally cooked a piece of test equipment just
hasn't been working long enough.

"Experience is directly proportional to equipment destroyed."

I think I blew up my first piece of test gear at the age of 14 or
so... tried to measure line voltage, with the VOM control still set on
"ohms". POP!

Fortunately it was just one resistor... I eventually replaced it, and
I still have that old 1000 ohm/volt VOM (a 1965-vintage Lafayette)
sitting in a drawer somewhere.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:

I think I blew up my first piece of test gear at the age of 14 or
so... tried to measure line voltage, with the VOM control still set on
"ohms". POP!

Fortunately it was just one resistor... I eventually replaced it, and
I still have that old 1000 ohm/volt VOM (a 1965-vintage Lafayette)
sitting in a drawer somewhere.


Were you involved with THE pinball machine?

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Making your enemy reliant on software you support is the best revenge.

On 9/8/2011 1:17 PM, Dave Platt wrote:
In ,
Jim wrote:

Anyone who has never accidentally cooked a piece of test equipment just
hasn't been working long enough.

"Experience is directly proportional to equipment destroyed."

I think I blew up my first piece of test gear at the age of 14 or
so... tried to measure line voltage, with the VOM control still set on
"ohms". POP!

Fortunately it was just one resistor... I eventually replaced it, and
I still have that old 1000 ohm/volt VOM (a 1965-vintage Lafayette)
sitting in a drawer somewhere.


So, you only did it *once* in all this time? Every few years I do the
same thing, except the fuse catches my error.

John KD5YI

In article , John S wrote:

I think I blew up my first piece of test gear at the age of 14 or
so... tried to measure line voltage, with the VOM control still set on
"ohms". POP!

Fortunately it was just one resistor... I eventually replaced it, and
I still have that old 1000 ohm/volt VOM (a 1965-vintage Lafayette)
sitting in a drawer somewhere.


So, you only did it *once* in all this time? Every few years I do the
same thing, except the fuse catches my error.

Oh, no, by no means - that was just my *first* time.

As in your case, the fuses tend to save most of my VOM/DVM foulups
these days. Reminds me, I've gotta go grab some 250 mA mini-fuses to
fix one of my meters and restock my oops box.

To paraphrase Foghorn Leghorn, "Fortunately, I always keep a spare set of
feathers in my locker, for just such an occasion."

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On Thu, 8 Sep 2011 11:17:00 -0700, (Dave Platt)
wrote:

"Experience is directly proportional to equipment destroyed."

"Learn By Destroying(tm)".
"You don't understand it until after you've repaired it."
"Fire and smoke are good indicators of a major screwup".

Sitting on my messy workbench are two almost identical and unlabeled
coax cables ending in N connectors with BNC adapters attached. One
goes to a militarized dummy load and power guesser. The other goes to
the output of my HP8656A signal generator. It took about 5 years, but
I finally got them mixed up and plugged a transmitter into the
generator. Fortunately, either the HP8656A apparently has some manner
of idiot protection inside, or I was simply lucky, as it survived my
stupidity.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html
Maybe if I clean up the mess...



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html


That maroon-colored thing in the lower right corner? I'm guessing part of
chair, an incredibly useful piece of furniture for stacking things that
don't belong on the floor. :-)

On Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:50:08 -0700, "Sal" wrote:

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
.. .
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html

That maroon-colored thing in the lower right corner? I'm guessing part of
chair, an incredibly useful piece of furniture for stacking things that
don't belong on the floor. :-)

No chair... standing room only. It's part of a furniture dolly that I
use to move the two MSF5000 repeaters around the shop.
http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-movers-dolly-38970.html
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/K6BJ-MSF5000/backup-repeater.jpg
It's leaning against one side of the backup repeater. The shop also
is used for small engine repair, chemistry experiments, general
fabrication, bicycle repair, and radio repair. Bench work came to a
standstill for 2 weeks while I was waiting for chain saw parts.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558