Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[gfmucci]

My first piece of test gear, the Tekton 16...

[Specmaster]

Geez, I go out for a day and on my return 3 whole pages to catch on  I went to Lakenheath and Mildenhall today and once I've transferred my photos off the camera to the PC, I'll put post for those interested. Traffic was light this morning on the outward leg but heavier coming home tonight. My trusty Superb managed 52.7mpg tonight but this morning a staggering 61mpg 

[Cerebus]

@zucca if you don't mind big corporate brother watching you: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns I would trust google to take security seriously.

Security.... mmmhmnmm... yes. But I don't know that one could count on the impartiality of their tables, particularly by region.

mnem
 

This is DNS, not search. There is no room for partiality, there's no alternatives to pick from (except possibly for anycast DNS and that's a function of network routing via BGP announcements, not DNS itself per se). You either deliver a correct lookup or fail. The only possibility is outright fraud by substitution of a wrong result, and for that we have DNSSEC.

[BU508A]

I know, that some TEA members have bought a NanoVNA 2.

A few minutes ago I've found this email in my inbox:

(You are receiving this email because you've ordered a NanoVNA V2 from
our store on Tindie).

Hi, we've recently seen a large amount of ePacket shipments take over
60 days to arrive. We are in contact with China Post, who said that
that packages are slow to leave Shanghai airport due to lack of
flights. We would greatly appreciate your patience at this time, and
apologize for the inconvenience caused. China Post has assured us that
your shipments are not lost, they are just waiting for a flight.
Following Aliexpress's moves we will be extending the order protection
time to 120 days. If your order does not arrive within 120 days of
shipment, or if tracking shows that the package has been returned,
please contact us and we will be sure to give you a resolution.

If you have any questions please use the nanovna-v2 support forum,
which we check regularly:
https://groups.io/g/NanoVNA-V2/topics

Thanks
- HJ

Just in case, if you are curious where your NanoVNA 2 is. 

[mnementh]

@zucca if you don't mind big corporate brother watching you: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns I would trust google to take security seriously.

Security.... mmmhmnmm... yes. But I don't know that one could count on the impartiality of their tables, particularly by region.

mnem
 

This is DNS, not search. There is no room for partiality, there's no alternatives to pick from (except possibly for anycast DNS and that's a function of network routing via BGP announcements, not DNS itself per se). You either deliver a correct lookup or fail. The only possibility is outright fraud by substitution of a wrong result, and for that we have DNSSEC.

There's a LOT of room for mucking about with the invalid query response, and it's long been a problem with third-party resolvers that politics plays a huge part in what they categorize as a valid query. It is as important to know that your resolver is NOT hiding parts of the internet from you because Big Brother or other "Powers That Be" decide you don't get to see what's there just because of where you live or which ISP owns the blocks of IP addys the request originates from.

This was the subject of many long debates back in the day, and I see no reason why things would be any different now, when there are exponentially more layers of obfuscation to hide such skullduggery.

What is "NOT THERE" is one of the biggest reasons for ordinary citizens to actually bother enabling DNSSEC validation.

mnem
Please forgive any terms I may have mangled. My NetAdmin studies were decades ago, and if you don't use it you lose it.

[sb42]

I feel for you bd,

I setup the entire afternoon a OpenVPN server in my pfSense box. Finally I won!

Now the next problem, my shit Win10 workhorse after the install of a Seagate Ironwolf 8TB Disk sporadically take 5-10 minutes to shut down. 

Could it be that your 8TB drive uses SMR? If so you can expect spikes in write latency in some circumstances, mostly when rewriting large amounts of data. I expect Win10 will be syncing the filesystem on shutdown, causing the drive to flush its PMR cache into the slower SMR storage, which might explain the delay.  Or it could be doing a quick 5-10 minute telemetry upload to the mothership.

Some interesting reading about SMR: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/sneaky-marketing-toshiba-seagate-wd-smr-drives-without-disclosure

[mnementh]

Rack of ribs has been rubbed with Montreal Steak seasoning, seared both sides & slathered in a layer of the good stuff; now for the "Texas Crutch" : Seal it all up in aluminum foil and roast at 275-295°F. In a couple hours should be fall off the bone tender and ready for the final coats of sauce.

mnem
yummeh.

[mnementh]

    eBay auction: #173302672924

Something I tripped over while noodling around one of my favorite China-Direct hobby vendors. I remember a time when anything that even approached this power output cost easily 4x as much, and ONLY offered non-telemetry PWM control.

Technical Parameters:
Operating voltage: 12V to 24V (DC) (this means that either a 12V or any voltage between 24V can be used)
No-load rotational current: <500mA
Rotation angle: 300 ° MAX, meaning that the maximum stroke of 300 degrees (0 to 300 ° adjustable electronic limit)
Input modes: pulse signal (remote control, multiple servo controller, microcontroller) or analog voltage signal (potentiometer)
Pulse signal input range: 0.5ms-2.5ms fits all "multi-channel servo controller", "1ms-2ms model aircraft remote control", "SCM", and so on;
Voltage signal input range: 0V to + 5V
Control accuracy: 0.32 °
Weight: 530g
Gear Material: Steel
Dimensions: 95.5mm X 60.5mm X 102.6mm
 
ASMC-04A Servo
Maximum torque: 110kg.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
1078N.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
55kg.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
539N.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
Angular speed: 0.12s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 0.5s), 24V time;
0.24s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 1.0s), at 12V time;
 
ASMC-04B Servo:
Maximum torque: 180kg.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
1764N.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
90kg.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
882N.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
Angular speed: 0.5s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 0.5s), 24V time;
1.0s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 1.0s), at 12V;

Those of you who always wanted to make a RC Power Wheels, we have a winner. 

mnem
*tzzzzt*

[Wolfgang]

Rack of ribs has been rubbed with Montreal Steak seasoning, seared both sides & slathered in a layer of the good stuff; now for the "Texas Crutch" : Seal it all up in aluminum foil and roast at 275-295°F. In a couple hours should be fall off the bone tender and ready for the final coats of sauce.

mnem
yummeh.

its a consolating thought that you can eat food like this even if all your teeth are gone. 

[mnementh]

... or rented. 

mnem

[Neomys Sapiens]

I'm pondering whether I will give my layouter a very alarmed call tomorrow. He has made two paralleled drivers work with a totally unneccessary difference of around 50ps! 
I doubt that it will make my flanks look bad, as it is a 100ms pulse, but obviously he did just not care.
(And the pulse width was not specifically stated, although it is a PPS signal).

[drussell]

@mansaxel Thnx for the insightful remarks on DNS. It's been a while since I actively ran domains on my own. I may pick it up again, though, and just configure something on Freebsd or netbsd to be on the safe side (I don't trust Linux, and I trust Windows even less).

The default in FreeBSD now it to not include full BIND, but rather a simpler set of utilities like UNBOUND for local resolver without all the public-side stuff, though you can still easily set up an internal one for your own machines to have hostnames, meld with your DHCP, etc. 

Works great.

[Zucca]

The default in FreeBSD now it to not include full BIND, but rather a simpler set of utilities like UNBOUND for local resolver without all the public-side stuff, though you can still easily set up an internal one for your own machines to have hostnames, meld with your DHCP, etc. 

Works great.

Now take an excellent OS like FreeBSD and slap it on a raspi, like this. After that my legs start to shake.

[bd139]

Try booting it on an M600... /-\|/-\|/-\ ... hmm hang 

NetBSD boots fine on it.

[xrunner]

Anyone know how to restore carbon button contacts?

I cleaned all these once when I got this Agilent 54622D and now it seems some buttons need to be pressed "hard" to get a response. I measured a resistance of ~ 300 - 800 ohms when pressing on the pad hard with a DMM. Do I need to "scruff up " the pads with something? All the PCB contacts look clean and I just cleaned them again with alcohol.

If anyone else has one can you verify same or different response than mine? 

[mnementh]

Clean the carbon pads by rubbing GENTLY with a Q-tip soaked in IPA. A little carbon rubbed off is okay (enough to see a shadowy smear); if you rub off enough to turn the Q-tip black, too hard or try a different solvent.

I've cleaned membrane touchpads like this in this manner for decades; only damaged a few that were already crumbly and had left bits of carbon on the PCB.

If they're well & truly FUBAR, you could try a carbon pad repair kit like this one: eBay auction: #174200669357   

Good luck,

mnem
 

[beanflying]

UPS continues to be a WOFTAM with their 'Priority' Joke service.  I would hate to see how slow they can go. This is my six small boards from OSHPark and not a TEA Anchor 

This is cool shame it doesn't come in R/C sized pack capacities  https://www.redbubble.com/i/throw-pillow/Forbidden-Li-on-Pillow-by-snwball/40944007.5X2YF

[Cerebus]

Clean the carbon pads by rubbing GENTLY with a Q-tip soaked in IPA. A little carbon rubbed off is okay (enough to see a shadowy smear); if you rub off enough to turn the Q-tip black, too hard or try a different solvent.

I've cleaned membrane touchpads like this in this manner for decades; only damaged a few that were already crumbly and had left bits of carbon on the PCB.

If they're well & truly FUBAR, you could try a carbon pad repair kit like this one: eBay auction: #174200669357   

Good luck,

mnem
 

Ah, the NASA "space pen" answer. An alternative is to go all Russian and use a pencil. In this case, a nice soft pencil and just touch up the surface of the pads by giving them a good scribbling. Just blow off any loose graphite after you're finished. It may not be clever, it may not be pretty, but it's worked for me in the past. I have very soft artist's graphite 'crayons' handy (no wood, just a very thick 'lead' with a paper wrapper) so I can't offer too much useful guidance on what grade of pencil to use, but I reckon that a 4B would be a fair starting point.

Found a 4B pencil. Fuck it, I'll try it:

[beanflying]

    eBay auction: #173302672924

Something I tripped over while noodling around one of my favorite China-Direct hobby vendors. I remember a time when anything that even approached this power output cost easily 4x as much, and ONLY offered non-telemetry PWM control.

Technical Parameters:
Operating voltage: 12V to 24V (DC) (this means that either a 12V or any voltage between 24V can be used)
No-load rotational current: <500mA
Rotation angle: 300 ° MAX, meaning that the maximum stroke of 300 degrees (0 to 300 ° adjustable electronic limit)
Input modes: pulse signal (remote control, multiple servo controller, microcontroller) or analog voltage signal (potentiometer)
Pulse signal input range: 0.5ms-2.5ms fits all "multi-channel servo controller", "1ms-2ms model aircraft remote control", "SCM", and so on;
Voltage signal input range: 0V to + 5V
Control accuracy: 0.32 °
Weight: 530g
Gear Material: Steel
Dimensions: 95.5mm X 60.5mm X 102.6mm
 
ASMC-04A Servo
Maximum torque: 110kg.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
1078N.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
55kg.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
539N.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
Angular speed: 0.12s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 0.5s), 24V time;
0.24s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 1.0s), at 12V time;
 
ASMC-04B Servo:
Maximum torque: 180kg.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
1764N.cm (24V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
90kg.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
882N.cm (12V) (measured, non-theoretical value)
Angular speed: 0.5s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 0.5s), 24V time;
1.0s / 60 ° (60 degrees of rotation required 1.0s), at 12V;

Those of you who always wanted to make a RC Power Wheels, we have a winner. 

mnem
*tzzzzt*

I got one a while ago to use as an air gate opener on my coffee roaster. The gearbox is not a thing of precision but bang for $ really handy for light industrial uses.

[0culus]

I should have my .6A slow blow fuses tomorrow from Mouser...then will be the moment of truth on whether that 184 actually works or not. The seller offered me a partial refund, but I haven't gotten any reply on a proposed amount...

[BU508A]

Anyone know how to restore carbon button contacts?

I cleaned all these once when I got this Agilent 54622D and now it seems some buttons need to be pressed "hard" to get a response. I measured a resistance of ~ 300 - 800 ohms when pressing on the pad hard with a DMM. Do I need to "scruff up " the pads with something? All the PCB contacts look clean and I just cleaned them again with alcohol.

If anyone else has one can you verify same or different response than mine? 

When I had to repair these carbon buttons I used in the past some gold foil. Worked nicely but a little bit tricky to handle. Don't! Breathe!

Example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/142409530819

[Zucca]

Try booting it on an M600... /-\|/-\|/-\ ... hmm hang 

NetBSD boots fine on it.

I am sooo glad to see I am not the only one to stay up at night to check if all my toys are working.
PS: Well yesterday night I had just finished my COD United Offensive session with my clan.

[McBryce]

Anyone know how to restore carbon button contacts?

I cleaned all these once when I got this Agilent 54622D and now it seems some buttons need to be pressed "hard" to get a response. I measured a resistance of ~ 300 - 800 ohms when pressing on the pad hard with a DMM. Do I need to "scruff up " the pads with something? All the PCB contacts look clean and I just cleaned them again with alcohol.

If anyone else has one can you verify same or different response than mine? 

I just took some old remote control and used a blade to remove the carbon pad from a rarely used button. I then removed the non-working carbon pad and glued the "new" one on.

McBryce.

[Zucca]

I setup the entire afternoon a OpenVPN server in my pfSense box. Finally I won!

And here at work in my office does not work on my Android Phone. Well I can connect but no internet connection from my home.

My tunnel VPN Network is 10.103.8.0/24

The DHCP Wifi VPN at Work gives me as following:
IP: 10.180.22.103
Gateway: 10.180.0.1
Prefix: 17 (255.255.255.128.0)

In the past I had just to change my VPN Tunnel to 192.168.150.0/24 and boom everything was ok.
Now I want to understand why:

1) Tomorrow I take my private laptop at work and will give it a test.
2) Outside my "office VPN Network" everything works fine.

I tought I understood the IP jazz dance ... 

[bd139]

Oh VPN. Don't even go there. Major sore point. First there was MS VPN server, which sucked. Then someone decided to replace this with a Fortigate, which sucked just as much. Then there was an "experiment" with OpenVPN which written off as an inadequate product but I suspect was mostly inability to understand it. now Palo Alto GlobalProtect is product of the hour. Each time, 400 people, about 50% non-technical have to be migrated. Oh also this was done half way through and office move just before covid hit and everyone is suddenly VPN'ing in working from home.  . They seemed to have pulled the last attempt off pretty well but the end user story is not great (it never is) and mostly consists of people on low ball ISPs (virgin in particular) trying to VPN in from the other side of their house, dropping 20% of packets. Poor guys are 24/7 looking after that. I think they bought a box of long ethernet cables in the end and are just mailing them out 

On my home network / test gear networking plans; postponed due to some inconvenient SWMNLBO activity. I'm out of action for a bit.