Thick As a Brick

[Mr Simpleton]

Thats me today... could have had the leading role in "Dumb Dumber" 

I was trying to order a circular bayonet connector for some equipment at work... so turned to PEI Genesis, and found what I needed....
CA3106E18-10S to me this is a ITT-Cannon circular bayonet with 18-sized shell and 10 layout for the sockets.... but to my surprise there is a
CA3106E18-10SB listed at a higher price, and checking the configuration docs the B is not listed as an option. This had me puzzled. So I shot a e-mail to PEI support, which responded quickly... B stand for bayonet! Ehhh wait a minute, the CA-connector family is specified as circular bayonet, why the B?? One more e-mail to the support... Answer was the the bayonet is apparently available in threaded version too and if one is have a bayonet type you better specify B
Doh Why would I ever think that a bayonet connector family would be bayonet as standard Me = Dumb  

Earlier today a collegue needed my help, he tried to power an active antenna using the coax to send up the DC, no biggie but the supply he used was a cheapo switch-mode and of course caused all sorts of fun signals... so he asked me to find a linear ps. Now to my surprise linear power supplies are almost like hens teeth, very rare. But after looking at Mascot I saw a model that would do the trick Mascot 6823... Enter in Google and see that RS components do stock this very model... not cheap ~€100 but still available. But wait, there appears to be another model listed 6823 000111 at ~€60. Mascot shows nothing about this number, so "Hello RS tech support" and a quick reply tells me that they are almost identical but the 000111 comes with UK 3 pin mains connector vs. EU 2 pin mains at a €40 difference.     

[MasterBuilder]

Pricing on RS makes very little sense to me. Today I was looking at type K thermocouple connectors for 50 bucks, when identical looking one are also available for 20 bucks on the same page. Pricing seems to be based on how much stock is available for that part number or some black art.

Ordering, part numbers and pricing is to be avoided if at all possible, its a thankless painful job to be passed on to "juniors"