Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

Heads-up for you RF guys...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/283163572740
Programmable Step Attenuator 24 VDC 50 dB 20GHz +

Why that one in particular?

[Cerebus]

Another ebay listing that caught my eye. This is one for the 'young players' to attempt to identify, older hands will immediately recognise this.

Of itself it's a little bit of nostalgia for the more seasoned practitioner, but it's the seller's location that caught my eye "Loveland, California". Some will recognize that as the home of the HP group that did all the high end instrument design (and still does under Keysight). It's from a dealer called "megasalvage" and I can't quite help but wonder if (1) this was scrapped out of HP Loveland, (2) whether that's a regular source of stock for these guys and thus worth keeping an eye on. Looking at their stock they definitely have some interesting, old HP kit.

[med6753]

Yep, scope camera and uses polariod B/W film. 

Was I not supposed to answer the question since I'm an old fart?

[Cerebus]

Yep, scope camera and uses polariod B/W film. 

Was I not supposed to answer the question since I'm an old fart?

You could at least wait a respectable distance off and let the young whippersnappers have a crack at it first.

[Berni]

So where do you stick in the USB drive to get the photos off it?

[med6753]

Yep, scope camera and uses polariod B/W film. 

Was I not supposed to answer the question since I'm an old fart?

You could at least wait a respectable distance off and let the young whippersnappers have a crack at it first.

It's a dog eat dog world. 

[Cerebus]

It's a dog eat dog world. 

Odd, I thought we'd decided that it was a tiger eat alligator world?

[mnementh]

    I never was very good at choosing... though I am partial to deep prrrple.
We'll see what I find when my HP 3478A gets here on Thursday; I may attack its lack of backlight in similar fashion. 

Well, if you're really indecisive, you could always install RGB LEDs and change the color on a whim.

     I was making a joke that I thought would be self-evident to anyone in this crowd... 

I toyed with the idea of including this pic at the time, but decided the post was already too bloated and assumed it was just pointing out the incredibly obvious.  ASS|U|ME, etc... 

Heads-up for you RF guys...     https://www.ebay.com/itm/283163572740

Programmable Step Attenuator 24 VDC 50 dB 20GHz +

That seems like a good deal. However, the guy's feedback rating is sooo low for a US seller. Although there are many factors to consider when evaluating a seller, I generally avoid domestic ones that fall below 99.8%. Even so, I've run into some bad apples. C'est la vie.

No, you're absolutely right about the seller's FB. I should have done my homework better before posting in here.    

Heads-up for you RF guys...  https://www.ebay.com/itm/283163572740
Programmable Step Attenuator 24 VDC 50 dB 20GHz +

Why that one in particular?

It seemed ridiculously cheap given the bandwidth. But as bitseeker so rightly pointed out, seller has atrocious feedback.    If I were desperate for such an item I might still buy it; but only because I live close enough to make an attitude adjustment in person if need be.

I've gone back and edited original post to make it a warning rather than recommendation.

Yep, scope camera and uses polariod B/W film.     Was I not supposed to answer the question since I'm an old fart?

You could at least wait a respectable distance off and let the young whippersnappers have a crack at it first.

https://youtu.be/jdL_zHmZKUw

Remember when THIS GUY was our definition of "lovable rogue"?   

mnem
*p00t!*

[mnementh]

It's a dog eat dog world. 

Odd, I thought we'd decided that it was a tiger eat alligator world?

It's a dragon eat everybody world. Move along, morsel. err, mortal. 

mnem
How do you eat a tiger...? Same as anything else; one bite at a time. But first, can you come help me let go of his tail? 

[Brumby]

Doesn't scare me.

Here in Oz you can get your feet crushed by a wombat, your head chewed out by a drop bear while a kangaroo kicks you to the kerb (literally).  Then, when you sit down to recover, a redback will take a piece out of your backside while you try to fend off a funnel web.

Just another day in sunny Oz.

[mnementh]

Sounds like just another day at work in IT...   

mnem
Calling it something else doesn't make it any less IT; they just think it means they can pay you less.   

[bd139]

Tell me about it.

Everything is on fire today apart from my arse and that's happening later as I had curry for lunch 

[mnementh]

LOL... at my last gig, working for an ISD in Texas, we called the WO ticketing program "Fire Control". The entire purpose of the system was to triage a ticket's importance based on overall network impact vs individual client's position in the hierarchy.

As you may imagine, tickets had to be manually reniced (both directions) constantly; we were instructed to flag any ticket we saw (assigned to us or not) that appeared incorrectly triaged for management to reevaluate.

mnem
"Yes sir... we're currently trying to work around cut fiber downtown; 4 campuses are completely offline. But we'll get someone up there ASAP to replace your dim monitor."

[bd139]

Yeah this current gig has a human that does that, of course between cigarette breaks and going down the pub for a way too long lunch time and coming back totalled. I've only seen graphic designers smoke more.

Ticket tennis it is indeed.

No TEA for me today. Boo hiss. Got more powerpoles (to build a distribution block) and an antenna in the post though so toys later perhaps.

[Cerebus]

Yeah this current gig has a human that does that, of course between cigarette breaks and going down the pub for a way too long lunch time and coming back totalled. I've only seen graphic designers smoke more.

Oh. So John has left el Reg and is working at your current gig then? 

[Cerebus]

Tell me about it.

Everything is on fire today apart from my arse and that's happening later as I had curry for lunch 

Last week a mate of mine dropped me a note and said "Let's catch up over a beer. Oh and BTW the contract I'm working on needs some more bodies, might interest you.". We duly had a beer last Thursday and as of this afternoon I'm set up for a new gig on Monday and I'm running around like a blue arsed fly as I don't have any of the usual contracting stuff in place. I fear that tomorrow may be "buy an off-the-shelf company day". Gonna have to have a word with my mate and see who he used. So, yeah, everything is on fire here too.

[Specmaster]

I'll be playing with my TEA toys when I get back tonight, had a broken stereo delivered today so I can use me toys[emoji106]

[bd139]

Yeah this current gig has a human that does that, of course between cigarette breaks and going down the pub for a way too long lunch time and coming back totalled. I've only seen graphic designers smoke more.

Oh. So John has left el Reg and is working at your current gig then? 

Hahaha. This guy is far too incompetent

Last week a mate of mine dropped me a note and said "Let's catch up over a beer. Oh and BTW the contract I'm working on needs some more bodies, might interest you.". We duly had a beer last Thursday and as of this afternoon I'm set up for a new gig on Monday and I'm running around like a blue arsed fly as I don't have any of the usual contracting stuff in place. I fear that tomorrow may be "buy an off-the-shelf company day". Gonna have to have a word with my mate and see who he used. So, yeah, everything is on fire here too.

I wish you luck slaying the IR35 dragon  ... I think I'm on my 11th directorship now. Need to move to another country quick.

[nixiefreqq]

you brits had better forget about tea and spend your weekend battening down the hatches.

look at the position forecast for matthew on monday!

no,  it is not photoshopped.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/152003.shtml?cone

[bd139]

Bit of wind. Meh.

Ice is what we have problems with

https://youtu.be/nuDHQ8Gp6_g

[nixiefreqq]

Bit of wind. Meh.

Ice is what we have problems with

ok....now that there did make me laugh out loud.

but still...….can't help picturing you next tuesday getting into your little mr bean car and driving to the local mega-lo-mart only to find empty shelves where the milk, oj, and tp used to be.

don't wanna' hear any bitching, because I did warn ya'.


ps  I also picture you wearing a cap and saying "I don't beeeeliiiieeve it"

[bd139]

I live in London. I can buy an onion at 3am on Christmas Day just by walking over the road.

[bitseeker]

    I never was very good at choosing... though I am partial to deep prrrple.
We'll see what I find when my HP 3478A gets here on Thursday; I may attack its lack of backlight in similar fashion. 

Well, if you're really indecisive, you could always install RGB LEDs and change the color on a whim.

     I was making a joke that I thought would be self-evident to anyone in this crowd... 

I toyed with the idea of including this pic at the time, but decided the post was already too bloated and assumed it was just pointing out the incredibly obvious.  ASS|U|ME, etc... 

Since both of our replies included a post about the radio backlights, that was the primary focus of my RGB comment. It's cool that the RC control's screen already does that. I haven't seen it done in a ham shack rig, yet.

[bd139]

FT-817ND + FT-818ND

Quick video. Ambient light is off but it goes blue, orange, purple. Blue requires least current.

https://youtu.be/IKcoXP6Aim4

More colours would be good.

[bitseeker]

Regarding workbenches, shelves, and whatnot. In case you missed it, you have to check out Jim's project in the workbench/lab thread. The drawers that are currently in it can be swapped out for rack-mounted gear.