Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14556947 times)

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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18200 on: October 16, 2018, 12:23:47 am »
Related to our recent discussions....
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18201 on: October 16, 2018, 12:35:12 am »
They were selling those Haynes plane service manuals at my local airfield recently in support of the Air Ambulance which operates from the airfield. The manual is a spoof, it is infact a book about the plane and is full of just general information about the plane.
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18202 on: October 16, 2018, 01:44:57 am »
...
Was how shall we say "maximum overkill". Glass was found 200m away and the explosion...

"MAXIM 37: There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'reload.'"
"Maxim 61: Don't bring a big grenade into a small room."
 
also,

"MAXIM 14: 'Mad Science' means never stopping to ask 'What's the worst that could happen?' "


*Sigh*

Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. They expect to close over 100 of the remaining 700 stores immediately, and probably will be lucky to survive as a business entity through the holidays. In fact, the upcoming holiday is the only reason creditors allowed the restructuring; so that they could try and make a little more profit for THEM.  :palm:

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/10/business/sears-timeline/index.html

I grew up in a Sears "build by numbers" home in Burlington, New Jersey.

mnem
Another casualty of "Trump's America".

 ::) ::) ::) ::)

Oh spare me this ridiculous hyperbole.  Sears has been circling the drain for decades.  They COULD have been what Amazon now is, but lacked the foresight.  Their customer service has been abysmal for years, and they'd been going ever cheaper quality wise on their tools for a long time.  Their power tools were once among the finest; for at least the past ten-fifteen years they've been crap.  (A Craftsman bench grinder my father bought and that is older than I am runs smooth as silk, and you can about shut it off, run upstairs, wash your hands and return before it has completely stopped turning.  A more recent version we had at work sounded like a worn out cement mixer full of empty beer cans, and would about walk the table around the room as it ran.  A cordless drill barely held a charge from the time it was new; I have a 20 year old Makita that still uses one of its original battery packs.)  Their hand tools in recent years were following suit with the 'made in China' rough edges quality slide, and I say this as one who used to almost exclusively buy their hand tools.  Now when I need something, I seek out SK, Wera, Armstrong, Wiha and the like.

And the creditors - would those be the entities that Sears OWES MONEY TO?  Yeah, can't understand why they might want to try and get at least some of it back....   :palm:

It's very unfortunate, but based on the decisions made by Sears management, I found myself with fewer and fewer reasons to go there, considering that the main things I purchased from them were tools, and I like to buy GOOD tools.  If you stop selling good tools, then I've no reason to buy tools from you.

Sears is a casualty of their own mismanagement, not "Trump's America", and this bankruptcy has been many years in the making.

-Pat

You need to get around more.

"Trump's America" is not declaration of ownership, but rather current common shorthand in many circles for the fundamental problems with American Society that ALLOW people like Trump to flourish, instead of being in Leavenworth or someplace like it for the last 20 years like he should have been for hundreds of cases of felony fraud that his daddy's money and connections got him out of. The witless Cheeto squatting in the White House is only a side-effect of that decay.

The fact he can literally brag in print about engaging in millions of dollars worth of business contracts with no intention of paying the bill (the above-mentioned felony fraud) and still be walking the streets is what is wrong, and why that shorthand exists... named not only after him, but his father before him. Trumps have been screwing this country since before I was born; they and their cronies are both the product of and catalyst for our current state of blatant wholesale corruption. Woody Guthrie sang a protest song about the old man's slumlord douchebaggery back in the 60s; that's how far back that particular bribery & corruption trail goes.  :palm:

YOU are the one making it into ridiculous hyperbole, by taking such affront. ;)

Like everything, the Sears cautionary tale is a LOT more complicated than one simple, single sentence can describe; there's a reason folks like me wax poetic about the loss of such a historic artifact; it's the HISTORY involved.

No, Sears isn't ONLY a casualty of their own mismanagement; they, like most of the American brick & mortars that have been beaten out of existence over the last few decades, are first and foremost a casualty of NAFTA and the back-room deals that made it possible, and which continue with the TPP that is, surprise-surprise, also still alive and quite well.

Sears' primary "mismanagement" lay in continuing to operate under the assumption that somehow we as a nation would wake up and start manufacturing at home again rather than continuing to buy everything from overseas... they are more a victim of idealism and misguided belief that somehow, "family values" would pull them out of the fire.

And for the loss of that history, I do mourn; there are only so many cornerstones. America as a whole is diminished by the loss of that heritage.

Cheers,

mnem
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« Last Edit: October 16, 2018, 02:18:11 am by mnementh »
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18203 on: October 16, 2018, 02:13:53 am »
OK, line drawn. This is getting WAY to political and off topic and can only degrade into the mud  :-- :--

Everyone take a deep breath, get a good night's sleep, and back on TEA in the morning.

And I warn you....I work all night and I can monitor goings on here.....so no funny stuff or I'll slap you silly.  :-DD :-DD
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18204 on: October 16, 2018, 02:14:01 am »
Is this silly enough? Or you need to slap me around a little more?   :-DD

Holy crap bd139! How many "watch lists" are you on?  :o   ;D

Or is this really you they just got the name wrong?  :-DD :-DD :-DD

   
Wow... looks like we found Scumbag Steve's long-lost bruddah...

mnem
"No, you can't borrow a beer, Steve."
« Last Edit: October 16, 2018, 02:16:59 am by mnementh »
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Offline GregDunn

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18205 on: October 16, 2018, 03:27:12 am »
Everyone take a deep breath, get a good night's sleep, and back on TEA in the morning.

For me, TEA time will be Sunday.  Two more hamfests to attend this year; I struck out at the last one, so maybe the next one will bring goodies home?
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18206 on: October 16, 2018, 03:37:39 am »
Is this silly enough? Or you need to slap me around a little more?   :-DD

Holy crap bd139! How many "watch lists" are you on?  :o   ;D

Or is this really you they just got the name wrong?  :-DD :-DD :-DD

   
Wow... looks like we found Scumbag Steve's long-lost bruddah...

mnem
"No, you can't borrow a beer, Steve."



 :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18207 on: October 16, 2018, 04:35:51 am »
SNAAAARRRRFFF!! :-DD :-DD :-DD

Thank you sir, may I have another?

mnem
*Toddles off to ded*
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Offline Berni

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18208 on: October 16, 2018, 05:16:18 am »


Working hard does pay off  :-/O Also got 3 500MHz probes and a 250MHz probe for this. They were literally stashed away in a bomb shelter. Now the downsides: It's a LeCroy, the touch screen seems bust and the rotary encoders seem to skip some beats  :-BROKE

Anyone happen to have a service manual for a LeCroy WavePro 7100 running Windows 2000 NT?



Also got some help to organize my rack. Man, these things a way too heavy to work with alone.



Nice rack there! :-+

Yeah some of the heavier gear can be quite the workout to lift and slide into the top locations on a full sized rack.

As for your scope i'm pretty sure some contact cleaner into the encoders will fix them, as long as you can easily figure out how to get the front panel opened up. As for the touchscreen that could be many things, could be the ribbon cable or even the windows drivers (I had problems with those on my Agilent DSO9000). If it is the flex cable from the touchscreen then hopefully its in the FFC connector, but what can also happen is that the bond from the flex cable to the glass panel gets lose. The way to test that is to press the cable against the glass with something and see if it starts working properly. A proper fix for that is sadly a new touchscreen, but you can still try a quick fix of sticking some paper between the case and the cable to press it on, or sometimes heating and pressing it on at the same time can repair the conductive glue bond. You can use a soldering iron with a big tip and set to a pretty low temperature to do that.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18209 on: October 16, 2018, 07:42:34 am »
SNAAAARRRRFFF!! :-DD :-DD :-DD

Thank you sir, may I have another?

mnem
*Toddles off to ded*

You certainly can



There fixed it for you  :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD
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Offline Ero-Shan

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18210 on: October 16, 2018, 10:03:20 am »
To add to the list of recommended parcel services.

This screenshot was taken a few minutes ago.

 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18211 on: October 16, 2018, 10:18:11 am »
OK, I don't read Deutsch but I think it says the package was supposed to be delivered this past Saturday, 13 October?

Yes? No?  :-//
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Offline Ero-Shan

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18212 on: October 16, 2018, 10:25:23 am »


Working hard does pay off  :-/O Also got 3 500MHz probes and a 250MHz probe for this. They were literally stashed away in a bomb shelter. Now the downsides: It's a LeCroy, the touch screen seems bust and the rotary encoders seem to skip some beats  :-BROKE

Anyone happen to have a service manual for a LeCroy WavePro 7100 running Windows 2000 NT?




Sorry, I have no manual. But the LeCroys I know of don't use real rotary encoders, but tandem potentiometers and an ADC (all potentiometers/switches generate analog signals that are then multiplexed and sent to a single ADC). As long as the potentiometers are good, this works well. But once they're worn, they're almost unusable).

That said, I like LeCroys. When we evaluated DSOs in the late 80's (give or take a few years, my memory is hazy), they blew away their competition. While others offered 1024 points storage, they had  64 ki points, something very important to us as we wanted to analyze serial bit streams. And very easy to use!
We all loved them!

I remember decoding tons of telegrams of a cheapernet cable (manchaster encoding is quite simple to read).

I had 2 of these old LeCroys, but managed to allow - after days of repairing and cleaning - the picture tube a breath of fresh air.  |O |O |O

Time to look after my second, now only, one.
 

Offline Ero-Shan

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18213 on: October 16, 2018, 10:41:56 am »
OK, I don't read Deutsch but I think it says the package was supposed to be delivered this past Saturday, 13 October?

Yes? No?  :-//

Yes. Even today they try to tell me it will arrive in the past. At some point the software might have noticed that this is getting extremely unlikely to happen.
It sits there since the beginning of Saturday waiting for ... what?
Can't they find it evermore?
Or is it just me? This particular service is employed by Amazon as well. Books that a few years ago (when they used DHL) took one or two days now take two weeks, usually with a sticker 'Irrläufer' (misrouted). :palm:

I'd not really recommend them.
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18214 on: October 16, 2018, 11:10:31 am »
OK, I don't read Deutsch but I think it says the package was supposed to be delivered this past Saturday, 13 October?

Yes? No?  :-//

Yes. Even today they try to tell me it will arrive in the past. At some point the software might have noticed that this is getting extremely unlikely to happen.
It sits there since the beginning of Saturday waiting for ... what?
Can't they find it evermore?
Or is it just me? This particular service is employed by Amazon as well. Books that a few years ago (when they used DHL) took one or two days now take two weeks, usually with a sticker 'Irrläufer' (misrouted). :palm:

I'd not really recommend them.

They must use the same software as the USPS. I once had the post office tell me a package would be delivered in the past. It turns out the package had the correct street address, the correct town, and the correct state but WRONG zip code. So it was sent to the post office of that zip code. When they found out they couldn't deliver it rather than taking 2 minutes to look up the correct zip code they instead returned it to sender as undeliverable. Freaking clowns.  :palm: But overall I have to say that the USPS does do a decent job....usually.

But this Hermes outfit sounds like a bunch of losers. Glad we don't have them here. Besides....."Hermes" sounds too much like "Herpes" which is something I don't want to catch.  :-DD
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Offline pansku

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18215 on: October 16, 2018, 11:36:57 am »
Sorry, I have no manual. But the LeCroys I know of don't use real rotary encoders, but tandem potentiometers and an ADC (all potentiometers/switches generate analog signals that are then multiplexed and sent to a single ADC). As long as the potentiometers are good, this works well. But once they're worn, they're almost unusable).

That said, I like LeCroys. When we evaluated DSOs in the late 80's (give or take a few years, my memory is hazy), they blew away their competition. While others offered 1024 points storage, they had  64 ki points, something very important to us as we wanted to analyze serial bit streams. And very easy to use!
We all loved them!

I remember decoding tons of telegrams of a cheapernet cable (manchaster encoding is quite simple to read).

I had 2 of these old LeCroys, but managed to allow - after days of repairing and cleaning - the picture tube a breath of fresh air.  |O |O |O

Time to look after my second, now only, one.

Thanks for the pointers about the potentiometers. That seems like quite an odd solution for the HMI  :o

They also got this for our lab long time ago for the memory. This one also has like 10M per channel. Sometimes in our work we have to wait even days for a trigger so we want to grab as much data as we can. In the end this got the boot as it's lacking in channels (often need more than 6 analog). Now we mostly use Yokogawa DLM4000 for that purpose.

Unfortunately the UI is very annoying to use for anything but complex analysis. My older collegues said that this thing is more annoying to deal with than even the Yokogawas which they said are "designed by engineers for engineers". These days we have a mixture of Keysight, R&S, Tektronix and Yokogawa with Tek MDO4104 being my personal favourite even if there is absolutely no use for the SA in our lab (wonder why they got it in the first place  :-// )

We actually had LeCroy application engineer and a guy from our distributor come and demo the MDA800A and the WavePro HD the other week. I don't think that anyone really got interested in these scopes as many of the viewers are more knob-guys rather than wanting to use the scope with a mouse or touch screen.

But enough of my rant about LeCroys  :blah:  These UI thing are so personal that people could go on for days about stuff like Keithley vs. HPAK and such. Good thing that I also finally got my cables and adapters so I can finish testing my QSD project from that old ARRL series  :-+
 

Offline tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18216 on: October 16, 2018, 01:10:20 pm »
But this Hermes outfit sounds like a bunch of losers.

IIRC they screw their employees in every way they can. Not a good starting point.

There are others like that, and I'm sure there are equivalent outfits everywhere.

Quote
Glad we don't have them here. Besides....."Hermes" sounds too much like "Herpes" which is something I don't want to catch.  :-DD

Except when they toss the delivery over a wall :)
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18217 on: October 16, 2018, 01:20:02 pm »
And I warn you....I work all night and I can monitor goings on here.....so no funny stuff or I'll slap you silly.  :-DD :-DD

Cerebus would like to remind you that under the demarcation agreement drawn up with the Guild of Mercenaries, Thugs, Nonnas-in-black and Big Blokes Called John that 'slapping' is an agreed reserved specialism of said union members. Ergo, as a fully paid up member, Cerebus gets first dibs on any contract for slapping. I'm sure you understand, or would you prefer if Cerebus discussed it with you?
 :)
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18218 on: October 16, 2018, 01:27:18 pm »
That said, I like LeCroys. When we evaluated DSOs in the late 80's (give or take a few years, my memory is hazy), they blew away their competition. While others offered 1024 points storage, they had  64 ki points, something very important to us as we wanted to analyze serial bit streams. And very easy to use!
We all loved them!

To paraphrase what someone once said to me. When all the oscilloscope manufacturers started making DSOs, most of them went down the route of making another CRO that happened to have an ADC inside it somewhere, whereas LeCroy went about making a digitizer that happened to have an oscilloscope wrapped around it.

Edited to remove brain fade.
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18219 on: October 16, 2018, 01:36:21 pm »
... usually with a sticker 'Irrläufer' (misrouted). :palm:

I'm due a business trip to Düsseldorf sometime in the near future and, given my normal experiences with air travel, 'Irrläufer' might make a good T-shirt to have printed up for when I arrive looking crumpled and lost at the far end.  :)
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18220 on: October 16, 2018, 01:37:29 pm »
But this Hermes outfit sounds like a bunch of losers.

IIRC they screw their employees in every way they can. Not a good starting point.

Their employees are paid their worth I understand. Unfortunately that's not a lot.



 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18221 on: October 16, 2018, 01:38:50 pm »
And I warn you....I work all night and I can monitor goings on here.....so no funny stuff or I'll slap you silly.  :-DD :-DD

Cerebus would like to remind you that under the demarcation agreement drawn up with the Guild of Mercenaries, Thugs, Nonnas-in-black and Big Blokes Called John that 'slapping' is an agreed reserved specialism of said union members. Ergo, as a fully paid up member, Cerebus gets first dibs on any contract for slapping. I'm sure you understand, or would you prefer if Cerebus discussed it with you?
 :)

OK, agreed. But is ass kicking covered under these covenants too or am I given free reign?  :-// :-DD
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18222 on: October 16, 2018, 01:44:29 pm »
The old Heath V-5 VTVM needed some TLC. The meter movement was dancing around with no input and even with the test leads shorted together. Checking quickly showed that the B+ was also dancing around. The filter cap that I had replaced about 20 years ago had gone leaky. So out with the 10uf/150V and in with a 15uf/150V. Stable now.

Tweaked the cal. 10VDC on the 30V range.



1VDC on the 3V range.



0.1VDC on the 3V range. Good for another 60 years.   

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18223 on: October 16, 2018, 01:50:07 pm »
Looking good  :-+
 
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #18224 on: October 16, 2018, 01:54:41 pm »
And I warn you....I work all night and I can monitor goings on here.....so no funny stuff or I'll slap you silly.  :-DD :-DD

Cerebus would like to remind you that under the demarcation agreement drawn up with the Guild of Mercenaries, Thugs, Nonnas-in-black and Big Blokes Called John that 'slapping' is an agreed reserved specialism of said union members. Ergo, as a fully paid up member, Cerebus gets first dibs on any contract for slapping. I'm sure you understand, or would you prefer if Cerebus discussed it with you?
 :)

OK, agreed. But is ass kicking covered under these covenants too or am I given free reign?  :-// :-DD

"Big John?"
"Ug."
"We have someone having difficulty reading the agreement. Help him would you."
"Ug!"
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