Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Well if anyone is thinking of making an offer on that 34401A meter, grubby as it is, I asked the seller to take some photos of it powered up to make sure that the display was not knackered, which he has now done and posted on the listing. I can tell you now that a shitty offer is not going to be accepted, I have made 3 offers, and they have all been rejected instantly, the highest was £95 and I refuse to go any higher as while the case looks like it might well clean up OK with plenty of elbow grease and TLC, there is still uncertainty about its overall condition and will it all work ok? Is it one of these meters that has for instance the AC Volts as an add-on option etc, does it calibrating and so the list goes on.

So I'm out of it now, I reached my limit for a gamble, over to you now, but I suspect that like me, many of you will walk away as the price for an unknown state other than it powers on is already too high.

[Mr. Scram]

Jesus fucking Christ. Not usually one to post stuff like this but this was one hell of an explosion https://mobile.twitter.com/BNONews/status/1290678928093454336

Does anyone know where Saskia is?

[Specmaster]

Here is how Channel reported the explosion in Beirut.

[Specmaster]

Jesus fucking Christ. Not usually one to post stuff like this but this was one hell of an explosion https://mobile.twitter.com/BNONews/status/1290678928093454336

Does anyone know where Saskia is?

It was not her, it was way more than her famous 50grams of C4 anyway.   

[Mr. Scram]

Well if anyone is thinking of making an offer on that 34401A meter, grubby as it is, I asked the seller to take some photos of it powered up to make sure that the display was not knackered, which he has now done and posted on the listing. I can tell you now that a shitty offer is not going to be accepted, I have made 3 offers, and they have all been rejected instantly, the highest was £95 and I refuse to go any higher as while the case looks like it might well clean up OK with plenty of elbow grease and TLC, there is still uncertainty about its overall condition and will it all work ok? Is it one of these meters that has for instance the AC Volts as an add-on option etc, does it calibrating and so the list goes on.

So I'm out of it now, I reached my limit for a gamble, over to you now, but I suspect that like me, many of you will walk away as the price for an unknown state other than it powers on is already too high.

The display looks nice and bright but it's probably the old display driver model. I can understand why 95 quid is refused, though. It'd surprise me if it goes for anywhere near 100 or even 200. Those 34401As are still in hot demand.

[bd139]

I reckon it’ll hit about 200 at auction. Too much of a gamble for me.

In that condition I’d probably stuff 75 on it.

Cal will cost you £100 at least. Repairs unknown. So it’s parts only as far as I’m concerned.

[Saskia]

sorry, I misread and thought buy it now for 100.
I would have paid those, but that is my absolute limit.

I'm out.
And talking about Beirut: I have an alibi. Even though I have a permit for stuff that can blow up this goes way beyond what I could afford or what I would do.

It's a shit show for anybody affected, and on second thought I would assume that Israel would not want that many collateral casualties on their conscience (they denied any involvement already, normally they just neither confirm nor deny). I still think a Hezbollah ammo dump blew up.

[mansaxel]

Anyone want a crust-o-meter 34401a?

"May not post to Sweden"

[Robert763]

Re explosion, As soon as I saw video I knew it was almost certainly a Ammonium Nitrate fertiliser explosion. low brissance, no significant supersonic shock wave and finally a big cloud of orange Nitrogen Dioxide smoke. No fuel, just decomposing AN.

[duckduck]

Anyone want a crust-o-meter 34401a?

Jeebus! That thing looks like it was stored outside.

[Specmaster]

I reckon it’ll hit about 200 at auction. Too much of a gamble for me.

In that condition I’d probably stuff 75 on it.

Cal will cost you £100 at least. Repairs unknown. So it’s parts only as far as I’m concerned.

Yep, that was my opening offer and it was to coin AVGresponding terminology, ista-declined 

[Specmaster]

I thought, if I won that 34401A, I could try cleaning it with a 12Bar jet of water from the pressure washer. If that didn't clean it, it would certainly move the meter thats for damn sure 

[kleiner Rainer]

Ammonium nitrate:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

The Oppau explosion was already mentioned:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion

AZF Toulouse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZF_(factory)


Greetings,

Rainer

BTW got a nice Fluke 893A...

[med6753]

Lost internet for a few hours and it just came back. Power stayed on but flickered a few more times. Looks like worst is over. Rain has stopped and sun is out. But still windy. That should ease later tonight. 

[mnementh]

Anyone want a crust-o-meter 34401a?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174379420503

I’m almost tempted to make a shit offer 

Ifni's sake... that thing looks like it survived your "fireworks... nudge-nudge, wink-wink  " explosion... 

mnem
And it already has a bid of 100 quid...

[0culus]

Yeah that wasn’t fireworks. Looked like an ammo dump.

Edit: currently reckoned to be stores of ammonium nitrate. Yeaaaah bollocks. It’s what it was mixed with that’s interesting. Probably stored with a whole lot of fuel oil.

Anyone peddling that it was fireworks is full of it. That was ordnance going off.

[Cerebus]

There's no evidence that it was ordnance and explosions of ammo dumps don't tend to go up like that, all in one explosion. Hunt for some video of acknowledged explosions of ammo dumps and you'll typically see many separate detonation events and something that goes on for quite some time.

Here's one:


There's no real reason to believe that it was anything other than the 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate known to be stored there. That's the equivalent in explosive energy to 1.155 kilotonnes of TNT (about 1/13 of the Hiroshima blast). How and possibly why it got detonated is open to debate, but there's a simple and highly plausible explanation of what got detonated - it's been in common use as a basic/the basis for fertilizers for a very long time.

[TERRA Operative]

I read somewhere a fire started from workers welding on/in the building where this ammonium nitrate was (improperly) stored for the last half-decade or more.
They may not have even known it was there, or the dangers of hot work near the stuff.

[drussell]

I've probably got an 8" floppy tucked away somewhere for old time's sake, rather like I have a few 80 col. cards.

Not only do I have 8" floppy disk media, I have a whole stash of Shugart 850 and 851 DRIVES to read or write them in

[drussell]

we called the 3,5 a discette and 5,25 a floppy because of its flex

you alsohad those 12” once black and rond andthey produce music 

Originally, the terms technically were the 8" was a floppy, the 5¼" was a mini-floppy and a 3½" (and smaller) were a micro-floppy...

[Zucca]

Anyway HP34401a is still a very sexy machine.
I had four of those puppies back in those days, now I got fooled by touch UI and USB stuff.

I miss a HP34401a on my bench like my old and trusty dog.

PS: also dreaming about a chepo HP34410a, one day...

[Specmaster]

There's no evidence that it was ordnance and explosions of ammo dumps don't tend to go up like that, all in one explosion. Hunt for some video of acknowledged explosions of ammo dumps and you'll typically see many separate detonation events and something that goes on for quite some time.

Here's one:


There's no real reason to believe that it was anything other than the 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate known to be stored there. That's the equivalent in explosive energy to 1.155 kilotonnes of TNT (about 1/13 of the Hiroshima blast). How and possibly why it got detonated is open to debate, but there's a simple and highly plausible explanation of what got detonated - it's been in common use as a basic/the basis for fertilizers for a very long time.

Totally agree, it was not ammo dump going, the visible colour of the smoke are all hallmarks of it being Ammonium Nitrate, there are loads of examples of this going up all over the internet. Looking closely at the various pieces of footage of the sad incident it would seem that the warehouse or a building close to it was on fire, then if look closely, you can see the fireworks going as bright-coloured twinkles, e.g., rockets going off and then a few moments later the massive blast. That certainly also supports the early news that its was either a fireworks factory or warehouse used for storing them that was on fire. Then maybe, some fireworks landed on the Ammonium Nitrate, setting that off.

There is zero evidence currently of there being any secondary and ongoing explosions the searing heat ignited things like RPG's, artillery shells, bullets etc sending them skywards as can be seen the given example. Either way I feel deeply saddened for those got up in all of this, many have lost their lives and many thousands injured and homeless right now, and they need massive international help in rescuing others from the piles of rubble and massive amount of relief aid needs to be pouring into help many victims find some form of shelter and food etc.

[tonyalbus]

  but he took my (i think) lowball offer 

[Specmaster]

but he took my (i think) lowball offer 
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Nice gear, you really have a thing about counters don't you 

[tonyalbus]

but he took my (i think) lowball offer 
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Nice gear, you really have a thing about counters don't you 

Yes 2955 above counters , counters above voltagemeters - voltage meters above signalgenerators, oh where go the powersuppies i have so many ;-)