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7904A looking for good home
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I’ve been using this 7904A oscilloscope for a few decades, but my wife has finally convinced me to downsize, so I’m looking for someone who will give it the care and respect it deserves.
It’s a unique scope, having been a part of Mildred Dresselhaus’s lab at MIT, where she did pioneering carbon research. The lab decided to get rid of the scope in the early 2000s in the traditional manner: covering it in “decomissioned” stickers and putting it in the hallway for crufters to claim. It still has the accompanying DRSLHS-stenciled cart, whose wheels work perfectly well, a little surprising given the age. The scope itself works fine as I can tell, as of six months ago. The main damage is my cats have bitten some of the knobs, and one is slightly bent. Please let me know if there’s any interest in this. I’m in San Francisco and would prefer pickups. /g/TekScopes/album?id=299063 |
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Hello:
I am in SF area, it will have a GREAT new home. I can arrange for for pickup in SF . This would be a WONDERFUL contribution for our non-profit organization, museum restorations. The scope provenance is especially interesting for our collection of history of technology How to contact you to arrange? I have Sent you a PM. MANY THANKS have an absolutely fantastic day! With Kind Regards, Jon |
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On Wed, Nov 20, 2024 at 08:57 PM, <breath@...> wrote:
They did that here too. But, usually it didn't make it out of the building... because... someone would always call the Campus Police. Of course, that stuff was in the hallway, for years, until finally the Fire Marshal issued an order. Then, everything immediately went into a dumpster. And of course too... if you took it from the dumpster, someone would call the Campus Police. -- Roy Thistle |
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Apparently there were not enough Vietnam War veterans on the campus. In the early 70s at our local university, the snitches and the campus cops would have been IN the dumpster. The number of legitimately discarded scopes and other gear that made it's way to caring homes in the students' and community homes was substantial. The University knew they were quietly doing a community service and fostering good relations. Sometimes they had actual sales, but that was rare, it wasn't worth the trouble. They tried to sell a 555 in the late 70s, couldn't get even $20.00 for it because it was too big and heavy, and gave it to a former friend to get it out of the way.
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? Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY??? US Air force 1969-73. Ground radio and NavAids tech. On 11/21/24 11:28, Roy Thistle via groups.io wrote:
On Wed, Nov 20, 2024 at 08:57 PM, <breath@...> wrote:The lab decided to get rid of the scope in the early 2000s in the traditionalThey did that here too. |
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In the 70s and 80s, trash night in the university area was exciting, especially in the spring as classes were ending.
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?? Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY On 11/21/24 13:39, breath via groups.io wrote:
One man's trash is a crufter's treasure! |
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I’m a retired radiologist. During my years from med school to faculty
(nearly 45 years) I have seen universities and hospitals discard huge quantities of equipment. In radiology, it was a lot of e-waste. I salvaged some stuff I could use, donate, or sell. Other stuff simply wound up in dumpsters. Examples: A complete Zeiss surgical microscope - basically a stereomicroscope on a stand with two heads - one for the surgeon and one for the surgical assistant. The hospital was discarding it because the Zeiss repair guy said that it couldn’t be repaired. The problem was that the fiber optic illuminator was bad and Zeiss no longer made that particular model. The hospital paid something like aSD $75K for that scope. I was told I could take it “as long as it doesn’t come back.” Swapped it to a surplus dealer for some surveying instruments. An original DEC PDP-8 with two racks containing a 32K-word disk, two DECtape drives, a high speed paper tape reader and a paper tape punch. ASR-33 TTY. I was offered it, but I lived in a studio apartment at the time; no space. A DEC LINC-8. Based on a PDP-8i. Had expanded memory (8K words), two DECtape drives, A-D converter, TEK X-Y CRT display, ASR-33 TTY. Even larger than the original PDP-8. No space. Went to e-waste. Several 1/2-inch, 9-track, magtape drives (used for saving CT scanner images). Took a couple and parted them out. My Tek 535A, 585, 547, and 556 (on carts except the 556); No room for them. They went off to a hamfest. Should have kept the 547 and the 556. About 40 Xeon processor Lenovo P720 workstation computers. 64 gig of RAM. Hard drives pulled (patient data concerns), CD reader/burner. Some were taken by employees, but the hospital then banned old computers from being offered to employees (even with the hard drives out). This policy has since been reverses. Still continues. Some universities have “property disposal” plans, some with stores. They offer stuff like this to the employees as well as the general public. If you live near a university or college, it might be worth your while to see if they have such a program and if items are available to the public. Steve H. On Sat, Nov 23, 2024 at 21:01 Roy Thistle via groups.io <roy.thistle= [email protected]> wrote: On Fri, Nov 22, 2024 at 11:19 AM, <breath@...> wrote:Tim Hunkin, in the last episode of "The Secret Life of Machines" called |
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On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 03:16:03PM -0500, stevenhorii via groups.io wrote:
Still continues. Some universities have “property disposal” plans, someThe Univ of Mich has a property disposition department. It was great before covid, they had a store you could wander around in and run across bargains (7904 w plugins on a cart for $75, color laser printers for $25 etc). Now they just do sealed bids and auctions, but I did manage to snag a mass spec for $110. Not nearly as good as the guy who got a complete SEM from the Tek surplus store for $500, but OK. Larger universities seem to have organized departments, smaller ones may just dump the stuff. Paul -- Paul Amaranth, GCIH | Manchester MI, USA Aurora Group of Michigan, LLC | Security, Systems & Software paul@... | Linux/Unix - We don't do windows |
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UCSD has a surplus site (I think UCLA also in this neck of the woods,
though I haven't had much luck with it), but I've found them rather random in pricing their stuff. Most of it is overpriced, and it stays there forever. Still useful to keep an eye, in case the opportunities arrive. Radu. On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 3:14?PM Paul Amaranth via groups.io <paul= [email protected]> wrote: On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 03:16:03PM -0500, stevenhorii via groups.io wrote:Still continues. Some universities have “property disposal” plans, someworth |
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Years ago, I went to the property disposal "store" at Stanford. I don't
know if it is still in operation. They had a few Tek scopes (7000 series as I recall), and a lot of early PCs including a couple of IMSAI computers (people are buying these early S-100 bus machines now), some other test equipment, and what caught my eye: a petrographic microscope. These things are basically quantitative polarizing microscopes and this one was probably a 1940s (or earlier) era scope. Had all the objectives and eyepieces, came in a wood case, a circular stage, and the focus controls were smooth. Substage mirror instead of an illuminator though. Still, for $150 I was happy to buy it. Played with it for a few years and wound up giving it to a friend of mine who wanted it for his wife (a geologist). My most recent find at the hospital was a "crash cart" (no meds in it) which is basically a rolling steel cabinet much like one of those multi-drawer tool boxes. Free. Again, the only thing they said was "don't bring it back". These turned out to be very popular - most (there were initially probably 70 or more of them - they were disposing of them as they were being replaced by newer ones) were snapped up as soon as they showed up in the corridor where biomedical engineering (apparently responsible for a lot of this stuff). I had one of the technologists I work with run down there and get one for me. I was busy doing biopsies that day. That cart makes a nice base for my small milling machine with plenty of drawers to store tooling. Good "hunting" if you find a university or hospital property disposal office (I've not found "stores" in the hospital places - you usually have to know someone who works there or work there yourself). Steve H. On Mon, Nov 25, 2024 at 12:03?AM Radu Bogdan Dicher via groups.io <vondicher@...> wrote: UCSD has a surplus site (I think UCLA also in this neck of the woods, |
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My tale had many twists and turns. Like a vast number of people in the early 1970s staring out on their own after military service or collage, it was terrible at first. Consumer electronics repair sweatshops in this area were cruel beyond belief about letting us take home or buy abandoned TVs and sound equipment.It created powerful anger and personal views that many of us still hold. Fortunately, 99% of us escaped to far better careers within a few years, and worked to keep other younger people from going to work for the sweatshops. Most of them collapsed and went out of business soon after.? Once I was able to escape the sweatshop, things reversed totally. I found a great job at an elevator company for the next 33 years, and discards of all sorts were abundant and permission to take them home was freely given. Because the route through? buildings to elevator machine rooms, and the rooms themselves, were often a repository of unwanted electronics, there were many items to see and ask if they were available. They were usually free, with the maintenance people were happy to see them go. In the holiday season a bottle or two of potent potables could also help. Hospitals of course usually have elevators, and they were happy to see unwanted equipment taken away, with a firm understanding it was never to be sold to anyone. Swaps and gifts to friends were fine. After retirement, I was drawn into a job at a vintage sound equipment boutique. The owners there were totally the opposite of decades ago, and abandoned gear was easily available. They also happily accepted some discarded gear that people wanted to get rid of because the local trash pickup regulations made it difficult. They rejected some of it, but were quite willing to be alert for stuff I might want. The very best was a Collins 51S-1 receiver. The owners gave a modest payment to the person who brought it in, and I took it home in return for working 4 hours off the clock. In my three years, two "5" series Tek scopes were dropped off, along with some? Hewlett Packard signal generators and multimeters. I fixed some of them and used them in the shop, the rest I took home. I eagerly looked for Tek scopes with limited vertical response to repair and sell as "system monitors" to wannabe audio engineers who came in. One brand of stylish European sound gear was brought in frequently. It was usually not worth the time and cost? to restore for sale in the store, but very restorable if one wanted to take the time at home. I built up a good collection. Some employers realize the benefits to employee morale and are eager to protect it.
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?? Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY On 11/25/24 0:57, stevenhorii via groups.io wrote:
Years ago, I went to the property disposal "store" at Stanford. I don't |
Jean-Paul
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