Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

There was a separate article that outlined many of the military systems are vulnerable to attack due to being networked without the proper safeguards. People responsible for these systems were convinced their systems were safe, while some have passwords which can be guessed in seconds. It's basically the military version of the IoT shitfest. Luckily opposing forces have shown no interest in that attack vector, right?

At this point the F35 looks about as dependable as those Iranian prototype jets.

[bd139]

Having worked in the defence sector that is the status quo. As you probably know I don’t work in that sector any more. No one with half a clue does because the money is so much better elsewhere. So much so that the first job I had out of the defence sector was basically server bitch and my salary doubled overnight from “grade F salary with grade C job” to “wow I can actually afford to eat suddenly”.

What that leaves is old people who have managed to clock up incremental holiday entitlement so it’s worth holding onto the job for 3 months of holiday a year. Those guys need someone to turn their PC in the morning. There are a few stallwarts who without them the place would fall like a house of cards but they are only in command of the ubiquitous idiot. I suspect the latter had their hand in “IoT for military” as you so elegantly describe it.

I heard one describe layered security as “we need to add more code around this code”. I ran away quick.

[mnementh]

Well.... Aren't YOU a big fella...

It appears my HP 3478A has been delivered; as soon as I clear away the latest wave in the sea of tax paperwork I'll put it up on the bench and cut it open.

mnem
*Off to pick up the kiddles*

[GreyWoolfe]

Nice but access to the shelves behind is how?

He gets the two nonagenarian Italian Nonnas who live down the road to come and lift the whole rack out of the way. Never underestimate the lifting power of an old Italian woman dressed all in black. 

Especially the Nonnas that are 5 foot tall or less.  On average they can bench press an SUV.  Remember also, when they are angry and flare their nostrils at you, it will remind you of looking into the business end of a lupara.  The lupara, however, is much less dangerous.

[Specmaster]

Quick update on the status of the Teac CR-H250, the ultrasonically cleaned DAB module has been dried and reassembled back in the unit and now I have a 100% functional receiver on all wavebands, aux and CD inputs along with tape so winner winner, chicken dinner

[Specmaster]

Well.... Aren't YOU a big fella...

It appears my HP 3478A has been delivered; as soon as I clear away the latest wave in the sea of tax paperwork I'll put it up on the bench and cut it open.

mnem
*Off to pick up the kiddles*

Well that is good news, sort that blasted tax papers out and lets have a report on your latest toy, fingers crossed it will spring to life and be in calibration so you put it into service real soon. 

@bitseeker have your fuses arrived yet so you apply some gentle power to yours so we can see if its working without blowing those blasted rifas? 

[Specmaster]

Having worked in the defence sector that is the status quo. As you probably know I don’t work in that sector any more. No one with half a clue does because the money is so much better elsewhere. So much so that the first job I had out of the defence sector was basically server bitch and my salary doubled overnight from “grade F salary with grade C job” to “wow I can actually afford to eat suddenly”.

What that leaves is old people who have managed to clock up incremental holiday entitlement so it’s worth holding onto the job for 3 months of holiday a year. Those guys need someone to turn their PC in the morning. There are a few stallwarts who without them the place would fall like a house of cards but they are only in command of the ubiquitous idiot. I suspect the latter had their hand in “IoT for military” as you so elegantly describe it.

I heard one describe layered security as “we need to add more code around this code”. I ran away quick.

Scarey when all it could take to cripple a nations defence is a piece of dodgy code, an uploaded virus or a dirty bomb

[bd139]

It's not even usually that vector. What happens is someone comes across it and toasts the firmware via an external interface. Then you've got a brick with wings.

Nice one on the Teac. I am amazed that survived. Big success story.

Just made up a powerpole splitter and that's me done for the day

[GregDunn]

Having worked in the defence sector that is the status quo. As you probably know I don’t work in that sector any more. No one with half a clue does because the money is so much better elsewhere. So much so that the first job I had out of the defence sector was basically server bitch and my salary doubled overnight from “grade F salary with grade C job” to “wow I can actually afford to eat suddenly”.

I worked for the Navy for almost 25 years in the civilian sector.  Our facility was staffed with lifers like you describe, plus a batch of pretty capable young engineers who jumped at the opportunity to build some near state-of-the-art gear.  Surprisingly, the combo gave us the ability to be pretty efficient at what we did; our labor rate was low and our successes at building working, easy to maintain gear was as good as anyone in the command. [brief aside: my group built 4 full-spec airborne countermeasures pod prototypes with spares and support for under $3M - probably less than it would have cost to merely build one of them in production at the time.  I flew with one of them installed under the wing of the target plane and our customer was really happy with the results.  It could be done.]  But our efficiency was costing other, more "profitable" work centers business so they closed us down over 20 years ago and moved all the work to an east coast facility which charged considerably more for their work.  It all got farmed out to contractors - sound familiar?  Certain admirals who invested in land on the east coast near their facility made out like bandits.

I got into the telecom business just in time for AT&T to start firing or retiring all the knowledgeable people who kept the business afloat for decades; watching the company implode was not pleasant.  They started sending all of our proprietary network info and support for the internal databases overseas to people making far less money than we were.  Of course, profits soared and customer service plummeted.  I retired before the inevitable axe descended.

So not only the government but also the telephone system has been sacrificed to the god of profit; I wouldn't trust the equipment/software of either one to be safe from intrusion by people who want to disrupt our infrastructure.

[Specmaster]

Start work on the second Teac tomorrow.

[mnementh]

   Well.... Aren't YOU a big fella...

It appears my HP 3478A has been delivered; as soon as I clear away the latest wave in the sea of tax paperwork I'll put it up on the bench and cut it open.

mnem
*Off to pick up the kiddles*

Well that is good news, sort that blasted tax papers out and lets have a report on your latest toy, fingers crossed it will spring to life and be in calibration so you put it into service real soon. 

Some progress. Finished sorting all the loose scraps of paper in the bottoms and backs of drawers; all that remains is... DUNN-DUNN-DUNN... THE SHOE BOX. 

mnem
Dewski time.

[Specmaster]

Some progress. Finished sorting all the loose scraps of paper in the bottoms and backs of drawers; all that remains is... DUNN-DUNN-DUNN... THE SHOE BOX. 

mnem
Dewski time.

Its scary to think that you have to retain all those receipts and in a safe manner and those till receipts are so often printed on thermal paper as I know to my horror can oh so easily turn into a totally black piece of paper if your unlucky. What would happen if you had a major problem like a fire or a tornado flattened your house and scattered everything to the four winds??

[bd139]

Some progress. Finished sorting all the loose scraps of paper in the bottoms and backs of drawers; all that remains is... DUNN-DUNN-DUNN... THE SHOE BOX. 

mnem
Dewski time.

I hate tax - need to do my return actually and I owe them a rather large sum this year and my accountant got himself killed in a donorcycle accident earlier this year

Having worked in the defence sector that is the status quo. As you probably know I don’t work in that sector any more. No one with half a clue does because the money is so much better elsewhere. So much so that the first job I had out of the defence sector was basically server bitch and my salary doubled overnight from “grade F salary with grade C job” to “wow I can actually afford to eat suddenly”.

I worked for the Navy for almost 25 years in the civilian sector.  Our facility was staffed with lifers like you describe, plus a batch of pretty capable young engineers who jumped at the opportunity to build some near state-of-the-art gear.  Surprisingly, the combo gave us the ability to be pretty efficient at what we did; our labor rate was low and our successes at building working, easy to maintain gear was as good as anyone in the command. [brief aside: my group built 4 full-spec airborne countermeasures pod prototypes with spares and support for under $3M - probably less than it would have cost to merely build one of them in production at the time.  I flew with one of them installed under the wing of the target plane and our customer was really happy with the results.  It could be done.]  But our efficiency was costing other, more "profitable" work centers business so they closed us down over 20 years ago and moved all the work to an east coast facility which charged considerably more for their work.  It all got farmed out to contractors - sound familiar?  Certain admirals who invested in land on the east coast near their facility made out like bandits.

I got into the telecom business just in time for AT&T to start firing or retiring all the knowledgeable people who kept the business afloat for decades; watching the company implode was not pleasant.  They started sending all of our proprietary network info and support for the internal databases overseas to people making far less money than we were.  Of course, profits soared and customer service plummeted.  I retired before the inevitable axe descended.

So not only the government but also the telephone system has been sacrificed to the god of profit; I wouldn't trust the equipment/software of either one to be safe from intrusion by people who want to disrupt our infrastructure.

Lucky you. No one know what state of the art gear was where I worked. Literally sod all clue. Literally as I was bailing out of the door there was an "anti FPGA resistance movement" starting. Literally Xilinx had dropped the Vertex-2's with PPC core which is basically an excuse not to have to sit there and plug out big, heavy, expensive discrete and CPU based designs usually on m68k. Now I had the job of testing some of that shit. ugh. Interestingly was also in the "ECM" space albeit the friendlier side of interrogation

Outta there like a roadrunner though.

I know someone who's job is active defence on a large mobile telco here. They are constantly under attack 24/7 from all over the world including local actors.

I slightly envy you for at least getting a look in at AT&T. Some of the most interesting stuff happened there with the trunk and carrier development. I had a couple of Ciscos running T1 from one side of the house to the other and my own PBX once  (another geeky hobby I had back in the early 00's apart from collecting old Sun kit).

[mnementh]

   Some progress. Finished sorting all the loose scraps of paper in the bottoms and backs of drawers; all that remains is... DUNN-DUNN-DUNN... THE SHOE BOX. 
mnem
Dewski time.

Its scary to think that you have to retain all those receipts and in a safe manner and those till receipts are so often printed on thermal paper as I know to my horror can oh so easily turn into a totally black piece of paper if your unlucky. What would happen if you had a major problem like a fire or a tornado flattened your house and scattered everything to the four winds??

I'd say "Fuckitt" and just take the standard deduction against the 1099s downloaded from my WO platforms. Win-Win. 

mnem
I argue with myself for days over that EVERY. GAWDDAMN. YEAR. 

[URI]

Keysight has accepted me as a customer for my service request (DSOX3034A) finally!   

Ok, some of their emails got stuck in my spam filter because one of the first emails I got from Keysight was a html-only promo-email that triggered the filter..   

After I assured not to sell or export the scope to foreign countries (hey, I want to keep it, working..!) I got an RMA number.
Along with that I received a Keysight paper how to pack it the right way for shipping.   
I think I'll point future ebay-sellers to that paper.   

In fact I'm struggling a bit to fulfil all requirements myself..   
Thinking of buying a can of expanding foam and some plastic bags..   

[mnementh]

And the award for most egregious abuse of recycled bubble wrap goes to... 

mnem
*Shameless tease*

[bd139]

lol "quick shove whatever we've got lying around in it"

Keysight has accepted me as a customer for my service request (DSOX3034A) finally!   

Ok, some of their emails got stuck in my spam filter because one of the first emails I got from Keysight was a html-only promo-email that triggered the filter..   

After I assured not to sell or export the scope to foreign countries (hey, I want to keep it, working..!) I got an RMA number.
Along with that I received a Keysight paper how to pack it the right way for shipping.   
I think I'll point future ebay-sellers to that paper.   

In fact I'm struggling a bit to fulfil all requirements myself..   
Thinking of buying a can of expanding foam and some plastic bags..   

That sounds like it might be a win to me. Fingers crossed for you 

[Specmaster]

Keysight has accepted me as a customer for my service request (DSOX3034A) finally!   

Ok, some of their emails got stuck in my spam filter because one of the first emails I got from Keysight was a html-only promo-email that triggered the filter..   

After I assured not to sell or export the scope to foreign countries (hey, I want to keep it, working..!) I got an RMA number.
Along with that I received a Keysight paper how to pack it the right way for shipping.   
I think I'll point future ebay-sellers to that paper.   

In fact I'm struggling a bit to fulfil all requirements myself..   
Thinking of buying a can of expanding foam and some plastic bags..   

Things are looking a little less bleak now then, hopefully it will come back to you fully working with nothing to pay 

[mnementh]

Shi*... Shi*... Shi*... Where the FU** IS IT?!?





 Oh... okay... there it is...

mnem
SQWEEEEEE!!!

[bd139]

It's better wrapped than mine came. Mine came with that light layer of bubble wrap you have at the current state of unwrapping inside a postal bag with some tape around it 

Was fine though. Phew

[Specmaster]

Where do the UK lads buy their Isopropyl Alcohol from? I could have sworn I got my last bottle from my local chemist but today they told me that they don't stock it and what's more, can't get it either. 

I thought it was used in the medical world as an antiseptic , good for cleaning wounds etc. What they offered me was Acetone! 

[Cubdriver]

Dang.  I never thought about using a ultrasonic cleaner for electronics boards.  Hmmm.  That is cool.  I don't even have to acquire more TEA!!  I have a Quantrex 650 6.5 gallon in my garage left over from my days as a Gunsmith.

https://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/professional-cleaning-systems/ultrasonic-cleaning-kits/quantrex-650-ultrasonic-cleaning-lubrication-system-prod24817.aspx

Damn, that thing's a beast!!  I got one of the Crest units from Louis a while back, but have yet to use it.  I recently got a ton (almost literally) of old gear from a friend's basement (pics to follow at some point; it's all ancient boat anchory stuff), though, so perhaps the time has come to fire it up.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

Yeah, those 3478A's are built like bloody tanks as long as there are wrapped up in enough bubble wrap to absorb most knocks on its journey it should be fine. Especially if it is the model with the metal bezel as opposed to the horrible plastic one at the front.

[bd139]

Where do the UK lads buy their Isopropyl Alcohol from? I could have sworn I got my last bottle from my local chemist but today they told me that they don't stock it and what's more, can't get it either. 

I thought it was used in the medical world as an antiseptic , good for cleaning wounds etc. What they offered me was Acetone! 

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/precision-cleaners-degreasers/0567890/

Comes in a massive great big box with hazchem stickers and a half inch thick chunk of hazardous chemical info on it 

Edit: 99.7% pure. They do 2.5L can for about £18 as well.

[Cubdriver]

Where do the UK lads buy their Isopropyl Alcohol from? I could have sworn I got my last bottle from my local chemist but today they told me that they don't stock it and what's more, can't get it either. 

I thought it was used in the medical world as an antiseptic , good for cleaning wounds etc. What they offered me was Acetone! 

Acetone will certainly aid in finding any wounds you didn't realize you had!!  I thought IPA was a common antiseptic, too.

-Pat