Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Interesting day today. Between doing serious work, I managed to blow the shit out of my power meter. I keyed in 100W on my TX instead of 5W, plugged the power attenuator into the wrong BNC stupidly and dumped the whole thing into the ass of an AD8307. It was expecting about 100mW after the attenuator. It basically just went TING and there is no sign of the IC or load resistors any more other than some crumbs. Resistors were 0.6W ones. I'll post a picture later when I've got a few mins.

Run out of AD8307s so bodged up a 1970s style 4W load quick. SWR is surprisingly low at 1.2:1 right up to 50MHz! And it's surprisingly accurate once you do a cal curve.

[Specmaster]

Looks good too. I reckon it was a momentary lapse of concentration due in part to the distinct lack of any decent oven cooked food, I fancy a Pizza right about now too.   

[bd139]

Indeed it probably was. Also because I was on the phone at the time on a conference call which I didn't need to be on but had to be there because of procedure. I mute it and start snoring usually.

All that missing oven food is killing me. Still having problems with the bastard thing grr. Looking like next week for resolution.

However pizza is on the menu for tomorrow - from the hut, not the oven. Tonight it's Tesco chicken tikka masala from the microwave and some naan breads done in the george foreman grill the wife bought but never used. Where there's a will there's a way curry. Hopefully this will fuel me enough to check out my PL310 which is reading nowhere near what it should be suddenly on the voltage output. Hmm.

[Specmaster]

Indeed it probably was. Also because I was on the phone at the time on a conference call which I didn't need to be on but had to be there because of procedure. I mute it and start snoring usually.

All that missing oven food is killing me. Still having problems with the bastard thing grr. Looking like next week for resolution.

However pizza is on the menu for tomorrow - from the hut, not the oven. Tonight it's Tesco chicken tikka masala from the microwave and some naan breads done in the george foreman grill the wife bought but never used. Where there's a will there's a way curry. Hopefully this will fuel me enough to check out my PL310 which is reading nowhere near what it should be suddenly on the voltage output. Hmm.

A few years ago our oven broke 2 days before Christmas, it was covered by insurance but they declared it was not covererd.  The failure was due to cleaning it before gracing it with the family turkey Christmas day. So apparently you're not meant to clean them WTF!

Brought a Halogen oven as a back up plan in case I was not able get another oven in time. SWMBO refused to use it so I had to hunt for a oven. Managed to locate one on Christmas eve, collected it and installed it in the nick of time. Phew.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[bd139]

I killed my previous oven when I cleaned it last time. The fan gave out. They’re really made of shit these days. Then again everything is.

Nice timing. That sort of recovery scores you lots of points with SWMBO. 

[SeanB]

Funny thing is here the item to be eaten after a night on the plonk is either a vetkoek, or a good old fashioned Bunny chow. Vetkoek can be sweet or savoury, and generally is around a good double handful, stuffed in the best with a delightful blend of mince, potato and onion filling, with either spicy or hot flavour. Basis is a big lump of fresh cake dough, deep fried till it is golden brown outside with a soft creamy interior. With that you also will get koeksisters, a sweet dessert as a nice counterpoint if you actually finish the main entrée.

The bunny is best a loaf of day old white bread, with a filling of curry, can be vegetarian if you are Hindu, or can be a variety from mutton (or goat), beef, chicken, crab or fish, typically shad in or out of season. Spice is generally from mild (only takes your socks off) to hot ( instant sober and nose clear) but in all cases you will have to make sure the toilet paper is both plentiful and well chilled in the morning. There is an annual competition as to which take away place has the best Bunny. Always comes with sambals, which can range from grated carrot and a little chilli to an almost pure sliced devil chilli, there to add a little spice to the meal.

Yes there is a lot of hot spicy food here, and the vegetarian take away across the hill is doing roaring trade, I like the bhadjia they serve, fresh from the frier.

[Cerebus]

Nice timing. That sort of recovery scores you lots of points with SWMBO. 

All of which will disappear the next day when she opens that new hammer drill that you were sure she'd love for Christmas. 

[bd139]

Funny thing is here the item to be eaten after a night on the plonk is either a vetkoek, or a good old fashioned Bunny chow. Vetkoek can be sweet or savoury, and generally is around a good double handful, stuffed in the best with a delightful blend of mince, potato and onion filling, with either spicy or hot flavour. Basis is a big lump of fresh cake dough, deep fried till it is golden brown outside with a soft creamy interior. With that you also will get koeksisters, a sweet dessert as a nice counterpoint if you actually finish the main entrée.

The bunny is best a loaf of day old white bread, with a filling of curry, can be vegetarian if you are Hindu, or can be a variety from mutton (or goat), beef, chicken, crab or fish, typically shad in or out of season. Spice is generally from mild (only takes your socks off) to hot ( instant sober and nose clear) but in all cases you will have to make sure the toilet paper is both plentiful and well chilled in the morning. There is an annual competition as to which take away place has the best Bunny. Always comes with sambals, which can range from grated carrot and a little chilli to an almost pure sliced devil chilli, there to add a little spice to the meal.

Yes there is a lot of hot spicy food here, and the vegetarian take away across the hill is doing roaring trade, I like the bhadjia they serve, fresh from the frier.

Howzit bru ... South African food is awesome. I had a lot of South African colleagues a few years ago and they used to cook for us. I tried making my own bunny chow with a loaf and some tinned curry but it wasn't the same

If you're in the UK, don't go in Shaka Zulu in Camden though; that's a fucking rip off. 50 quid a seat for some pickled ass on a plate and a bottle of wine.

Nice timing. That sort of recovery scores you lots of points with SWMBO. 

All of which will disappear the next day when she opens that new hammer drill that you were sure she'd love for Christmas. 

If I bought mine one she'd use it and that would be bad news. One time she couldn't wait until I got home to assemble the Ikea crap. So I come home to "it wouldn't fit so I used the hack saw".  ... that Sunday was standing in the Ikea returns queue at Lakeside. It was out of the building so I'm carrying 20Kg of damaged fartyfluffboard in the pissing rain.

[Specmaster]

Funny thing is here the item to be eaten after a night on the plonk is either a vetkoek, or a good old fashioned Bunny chow. Vetkoek can be sweet or savoury, and generally is around a good double handful, stuffed in the best with a delightful blend of mince, potato and onion filling, with either spicy or hot flavour. Basis is a big lump of fresh cake dough, deep fried till it is golden brown outside with a soft creamy interior. With that you also will get koeksisters, a sweet dessert as a nice counterpoint if you actually finish the main entrée.

The bunny is best a loaf of day old white bread, with a filling of curry, can be vegetarian if you are Hindu, or can be a variety from mutton (or goat), beef, chicken, crab or fish, typically shad in or out of season. Spice is generally from mild (only takes your socks off) to hot ( instant sober and nose clear) but in all cases you will have to make sure the toilet paper is both plentiful and well chilled in the morning. There is an annual competition as to which take away place has the best Bunny. Always comes with sambals, which can range from grated carrot and a little chilli to an almost pure sliced devil chilli, there to add a little spice to the meal.

Yes there is a lot of hot spicy food here, and the vegetarian take away across the hill is doing roaring trade, I like the bhadjia they serve, fresh from the frier.

Howzit bru ... South African food is awesome. I had a lot of South African colleagues a few years ago and they used to cook for us. I tried making my own bunny chow with a loaf and some tinned curry but it wasn't the same

If you're in the UK, don't go in Shaka Zulu in Camden though; that's a fucking rip off. 50 quid a seat for some pickled ass on a plate and a bottle of wine.

Nice timing. That sort of recovery scores you lots of points with SWMBO. 

All of which will disappear the next day when she opens that new hammer drill that you were sure she'd love for Christmas. 

If I bought mine one she'd use it and that would be bad news. One time she couldn't wait until I got home to assemble the Ikea crap. So I come home to "it wouldn't fit so I used the hack saw".  ... that Sunday was standing in the Ikea returns queue at Lakeside. It was out of the building so I'm carrying 20Kg of damaged fartyfluffboard in the pissing rain.

I'd have thought you'd be shopping at Wembley or Croydon, Lakeside is a bit of a trek for you.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[bd139]

I was living in Leyton then. They hadn't opened the Edmonton Ikea at that time either.

[xrunner]

Well, the TEA party thread is near taking the top spot in the category Top 10 Topics (by Replies). Current #1 is EEVblog #751 - How To Debunk A Product (The Batteriser). It's only had two replies in four months. As of now we need:

9014 - 8840 = 174 posts

That should happen by the end of the weekend at this rate LOL. 

(Well certainly by the end of the coming week)

[tggzzz]

Well, the TEA party thread is near taking the top spot in the category Top 10 Topics (by Replies). Current #1 is EEVblog #751 - How To Debunk A Product (The Batteriser). It's only had two replies in four months. As of now we need:

9014 - 8840 = 174 posts

That should happen by the end of the weekend at this rate LOL. 

(Well certainly by the end of the coming week)

Mutating the thread into something related to cats is a good way to increase posts.

Unfortunately.

[bitseeker]

Nooo. We cannot let the felines take over. Man your stations!

[BravoV]

Mutating the thread into something related to cats is a good way to increase posts.

Unfortunately.

+1

... and pets .. and food and life and ... prolly everything else soon.

[neo]

Mutating the thread into something related to cats is a good way to increase posts.

Unfortunately.

+1

... and pets .. and food and life and ... prolly everything else soon.

All roads lead to rome, every stream goes back to it's source in the end. What is electronics if not life?

Also if you really want to go wacky i could start talking engines, 

[xrunner]

Nooo. We cannot let the felines take over. Man your stations!

Agreed that would be a cat-astrophe.

(Sorry I had to do that)

[BravoV]

Also if you really want to go wacky i could start talking engines, 

Do not provoke me ... 

[beanflying]

I love Cats but they really are Evil schemers 

Watching and waiting for evilbay TEA auctions to get closer to ending ............. 

[Cerebus]

Mutating the thread into something related to cats is a good way to increase posts.

Unfortunately.

+1

... and pets .. and food and life and ... prolly everything else soon.

Basically this is the pub that a bunch of dodgy geezers with a Test Equipment fixation ship up in at the end of the day. Most of the time, between trips to the bar and the pissoir, the conversation will be about TE, but it's only natural that post-pub nosh, "The youth of today...tsk" and mentions of what SWMBO will do when she sees the new boat anchor drift into and out of the conversation from time to time.

Oi, BD139! It's your round you scunner!

[neo]

Mutating the thread into something related to cats is a good way to increase posts.

Unfortunately.

+1

... and pets .. and food and life and ... prolly everything else soon.

Basically this is the pub that a bunch of dodgy geezers with a Test Equipment fixation ship up in at the end of the day. Most of the time, between trips to the bar and the pissoir, the conversation will be about TE, but it's only natural that post-pub nosh, "The youth of today...tsk" and mentions of what SWMBO will do when she sees the new boat anchor drift into and out of the conversation from time to time.

Oi, BD139! It's your round you scunner!

Only problem is that i'm only a dodgy geezer at heart and that nobody in their right mind would let me into a pub.

Free fries for Americans and free chips for Brits! 

[beanflying]

Mayonnaise for the Germans for their Chips 

2.30 pm Mmmm Beer 

[bd139]

The German in me likes mayo on chips

Back on topic a bit, I had a dream last night that I bought a Nixie tube counter.  There’s one on eBay, an HP, buyer collects, London. Fully discrete with ovenized oscillator.

Unfortunately SWMBO would probably shit the bed on this one as it’s huge, noisy and she’s out today which is just as well as a large full duplex laser printer is arriving. Not sure I can break two lots of bad news for her in such a short time. Although I did resist that 7904 with 7L12 the other day. Ho Ho Ho.

[Mr. Scram]

The German in me likes mayo on chips

Back on topic a bit, I had a dream last night that I bought a Nixie tube counter.  There’s one on eBay, an HP, buyer collects, London. Fully discrete with ovenized oscillator.

Unfortunately SWMBO would probably shit the bed on this one as it’s huge, noisy and she’s out today which is just as well as a large full duplex laser printer is arriving. Not sure I can break two lots of bad news for her in such a short time. Although I did resist that 7904 with 7L12 the other day. Ho Ho Ho.

Did you offer that German in you some tea?

[neo]

The German in me likes mayo on chips

Back on topic a bit, I had a dream last night that I bought a Nixie tube counter.  There’s one on eBay, an HP, buyer collects, London. Fully discrete with ovenized oscillator.

Unfortunately SWMBO would probably shit the bed on this one as it’s huge, noisy and she’s out today which is just as well as a large full duplex laser printer is arriving. Not sure I can break two lots of bad news for her in such a short time. Although I did resist that 7904 with 7L12 the other day. Ho Ho Ho.

If you want my honest opinion.

BUY IT!! You'll kick yourself if you don't, though i suppose SWMBO might kick you do.

[Specmaster]

The German in me likes mayo on chips

Back on topic a bit, I had a dream last night that I bought a Nixie tube counter.  There’s one on eBay, an HP, buyer collects, London. Fully discrete with ovenized oscillator.

Unfortunately SWMBO would probably shit the bed on this one as it’s huge, noisy and she’s out today which is just as well as a large full duplex laser printer is arriving. Not sure I can break two lots of bad news for her in such a short time. Although I did resist that 7904 with 7L12 the other day. Ho Ho Ho.

Ho ho ho, bloody hell chaps it's Christmas in Isleworth, well the bd139 house at least. Presents are on big side this year so SWMBO will be pissed off and the topic of conversation will be one of 2 things or both even, A) Move your lab into the tin shed, or B) We need a bigger house...[emoji48]


From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]