Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Urrrggghh... biohazardous hockey pucks. Those are best enjoyed as I'm doing right now... from the other side of a computer screen.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

Pray tell, because I'm actually curious, which part of the watch wearing life cycle is the most pressing biohazard?

Any band be it ring or watch is always a drag in hazard to anyone who plays with rotating mechanical devices, Metallic bands and Electrical are an obvious nono.

I'm well aware of these issues; watches and some work (kitchen, electrical, mechanical, medical) is an obvious no-no (and beekeeping, according to Tautech).

My reasoning is that I want something that is a detached-from-computing situational awareness device, and the analog-face watch is just enough of context for that.  My wedding band is suspended from a piece of string around my neck except for formal dress occasions (when I'm wearing a tie or bowtie, basically)

Well... I really didn't expect to stir up such controversy with my random comment born mostly of bedtime exhaustion...

   

Okay... the hockey puck part of the comment was pretty obvious; this is my idea of a "civilized" timepiece. 35mm diameter, 9mm thick. My dress watch, a Misfit command, really is just plain too big at 45mm diameter x 13mm thick. I'm ONLY comfortable wearing it out to dinner or meetings; as soon as I start doing stuff, I become acutely aware of its size & mass on my arm.

Really, the biggest thing I like aboot the Command, and the reason I put up with its conspicuous size is the fact it that it actually is a little timekeeping robot on my wrist; it is a smartwatch in that if you leave it connected via BTLE to your smartPwn it will automatically count your ergs and update the app, as well as vibrate to alert you of alarms and messages. But even standalone mode is different from the usual; the mini-dial constantly shows ergs for the day, and when you press the button the hands move to display Day/Date, then whatever alarms and timers you may have set. It literally is the anti-digital watch.

When I worked as a mechanic, I bought women's IronMan watches and put them on a men's ballistic nylon band; a big watch bothered me that much. But the current trend towards obnoxiously large watches actually does approach the size of a regulation hockey puck at 76mm dia x 25mm thick. Even big names are on the big watches bandwagon. Oh, and fucking loud. Like having a Big Ben tick-tocking on your wrist; I can literally hear it across the PolyCom during a conference. 

Seriously people,  are you thinking?

When I was growing up, the aspirational design cues for a men's watch were thin & quiet... you were not supposed to even know you were wearing the thing. A particularly well-noted example was a designer watch (Not sure if it was the LeJour or another one that was so very thin) popular when I was a kid which was machined out of a Walking Liberty silver dollar coin and 4 or 5mm thin. I had to go look it up to know what 4mm meant in 'murrican measures.

The biohazardous comment was sortof two-part; wristwatches collects gunge, and particularly noxious is the gunge that accumulates in the segments of a metal-banded watch. The bigger the watch, the more gunge. I hate that part of wristwatch maintenance. Just ewwww. And ironically, this kind of chain-link watchband is my most favorite, with the TPU band of the Shine a distant second.

But in all honestly, that comment was mostly directed at the toxic orange anodized face on the one watch. I have a Panasonic Lumix (Think ToughCamera companion to a ToughBook) camera in that color; I literally had to take it off my desk and put it in the drawer because that orange aluminum just constantly distracted me.

mnem
*idle thoughts of a idle dwagon*

This fruit one is fairly plain and not very obnoxious. It doubles as a Fitbit which is the main use case to be fair. Also because it syncs the alarms with the phone I don’t need to sleep next to the phone to wake me up. Also has a shut the fuck up mode. If it wasn’t free I wouldn’t have bought it though.

As for ticking watches they drive me absolute crazy insane. Can’t stand the things. If it ticks I will probably take great pride in smashing it to bits.

Edit: watch is smaller than it looks there. My arms have shrivelled up into a skeletal stage due to weight loss.

[Saskia]

I would indeed have spent 285 great white pesos for it. Even 300. Buttttt ...

In other news, Mira Furlan, beloved actor playing Delenn, has gone to a place where no shadows fall.

May she rest in peace.

[25 CPS]

Hand the current generation an analog clock and ask them to tell you what time it is. It's amazing that many of them can't.

Want real hilarity: give them a rotary phone and ask then to dial a number including the area code. 

I have a story from a couple of summers ago about that.  One of my friends in Toronto became a streetcar driver and he got to the end of the line which was in one of the subway stations, got out and went to stretch his legs etc. and there was a summer relief student cleaner working there who was in a panic because he was new on the job and had been told to call something in to transit control at a specific time using the internal phone system.  The summer student was getting stressed out because he was brand new to the job, was late making this call and asked for help because the internal phone system must've dated to when that part of the subway opened and he didn't know how to dial a rotary phone.

Apparently the TTC had enough problems with summer students (I imagine probably a good number of new full time employees as well by now) not knowing how to dial rotary phones which are still used in the internal telephone system that they now include rotary phone use in their training program.

[McBryce]

My everyday wristwatch (since 12 years now) is a Traser H3 BD PRO Blue:

Sexy watch indeed, anyway one I got my phone in my pocket with a clock on the display all the time.
I enjoy my wristwatch free life now.

The wedding ring is bothering me a little, just a little.

If you notice the ring getting tighter over the years, it's not you putting on weight, it's her grip on you! 

McBryce.

[BU508A]

Today the Tektronix AFG 1022 arrived.

I saw the parcel and I knew in an instant: crappy packing!
Really, why is it so hard to pack things properly? 
Even though I've asked the seller nicely to pack it properly and he said, that he will do... 



In this plastic bag was the AFG 



I couldn't see any mechanical damaging and there was also no rattling inside of the device. Uff...

Front- and backside of it:


This is the reason, why it hasn't powered up: a blown fuse (0.5A fast blow)


I've replaced it but first I did a little teardown, just in case.

This is an overview (clicking on the picture will give you a hi-res photo).
It passed the smell-test and luckily there aren't any RIFAs around.


The battery has 0,8V, I'll replace it.


The output circuits and the frontside BNC connectors;


Three full-bridge rectifiers. The capacitors are Rubycons iirc.


A real mains switch, not that softstart rubbish:


Backside mains input, no RIFA madness around:


Bottom side with some relay pr0n.


I've replaced the fuse, now look at this:


Winner winner, chicken dinner! (sort of)

Connected to my scope for some checkings. This revealed that CH2 is sometimes dead. I think, a relay is causing the trouble. If it is working, the output is spot on, like on CH1, which is working flawlessly.

The settings are all the same: 1V_pp, 1MHz, no offset
sine, square, noise and a FFT of the sine output



Will replace the battery next week and investigate, why channel 2 is failing occasionally.

Besides that, I'm a happy camper. 

[med6753]

My everyday wristwatch (since 12 years now) is a Traser H3 BD PRO Blue:

Sexy watch indeed, anyway one I got my phone in my pocket with a clock on the display all the time.
I enjoy my wristwatch free life now.

The wedding ring is bothering me a little, just a little.

If you notice the ring getting tighter over the years, it's not you putting on weight, it's her grip on you! 

McBryce.

The skin under my wedding band had changed color so much that it looked like I was still wearing one. It took years for that to recover.   

The emotional scars and marks never go away. 

[mnementh]

I've collected Breitling* automatic watches for years. I never leave the house without a watch. They're not for telling the time, they are jewellery. I also have a working Bulova Accutron Spaceview, just because it was the first watch with electronics inside

McBryce.

* If you think you need to hide the prices of your TEA acquisitions from SWMBO, try collecting watches!

Hell you aren't kidding, none of mine are as expensive as yours, the most expensive one I have, was about £800 and I kept it out of sight for years before she saw it and as I hadn't had any parcels delivered at the time for ages, told her it was an old one that I had for years. 

Good lord... I love my old Fossil Blues; I probably have a dozen or more of this product line that I've bought over the years and maybe 4 or 5 that I haven't beat to death. Even those add up to over a grand.

When you get into anything with any kind of cache... it's a matter of how much can you pull out your arse, not any other limit at all. There's a watch that's "worth" as much as any collectible car out there, FFS. 

The question then becomes one of whether they keep time appreciably better... and of course not. The error involved in setting and reading the watch is greater than is possible for a mechanical watch to display.

Yeah, yeah... pearls before swine. I'm totes down widdat.

mnem
*witchit-watchett*

[Cerebus]

The biohazardous comment was sortof two-part; wristwatches collects gunge, and particularly noxious is the gunge that accumulates in the segments of a metal-banded watch. The bigger the watch, the more gunge. I hate that part of wristwatch maintenance. Just ewwww. And ironically, this kind of chain-link watchband is my most favorite, with the TPU band of the Shine a distant second.

Well, wash yerself occasionally ya filthy pig and it won't get so gunky! 

I stick my watch into the ultrasonic cleaner every now and then with some warm water and a few drops of 10% SDS solution and after 2-3 minutes all is clean, sparkly and hygienic. I do the same for my specs too, no green nosepad gunk for me!.

[AVGresponding]

Heyho colleagues in the UK,

anybody willing to grab that active keysight probe for me and send it over to Germany ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Keysight-N2795A-1GHz-Active-Probe-Excellent-Condition/383909749386

(yes, I actually WANT it)

I'd be happy to receive and post it on, but the listing looks a bit dodgy to me. Low feedback, no TE sold, nothing sold in last year  and description seems odd.

eBay buyer protection should be enough if it is a dodgy item. It's certainly less than you'd expect to pay for one, but who knows how many people are lurking and waiting to snipe it?



@mnementh you might like Skagen watches if you like 'em thin.

[Robert763]

I've collected Breitling* automatic watches for years. I never leave the house without a watch. They're not for telling the time, they are jewellery. I also have a working Bulova Accutron Spaceview, just because it was the first watch with electronics inside

McBryce.

* If you think you need to hide the prices of your TEA acquisitions from SWMBO, try collecting watches!

Hell you aren't kidding, none of mine are as expensive as yours, the most expensive one I have, was about £800 and I kept it out of sight for years before she saw it and as I hadn't had any parcels delivered at the time for ages, told her it was an old one that I had for years. 

I bought the Breitling with part of a inheritence from a relative who liked clocks and watches (not expensive ones). That was before I met SWMBO. She is worse than me, bought me a half bar Omega Constellation as a dress watch. Last time I put the Aerospace in for a battery replacement they called when I was at work and "suggested" a refurbishment at £500    she said yes, I would not have. It did come back looking like new though. It's worth more now than I paid for it. The local agents made nice comments about it.

[mnementh]

The biohazardous comment was sortof two-part; wristwatches collects gunge, and particularly noxious is the gunge that accumulates in the segments of a metal-banded watch. The bigger the watch, the more gunge. I hate that part of wristwatch maintenance. Just ewwww. And ironically, this kind of chain-link watchband is my most favorite, with the TPU band of the Shine a distant second.

Well, wash yerself occasionally ya filthy pig and it won't get so gunky! 

I stick my watch into the ultrasonic cleaner every now and then with some warm water and a few drops of 10% SDS solution and after 2-3 minutes all is clean, sparkly and hygienic. I do the same for my specs too, no green nosepad gunk for me!.

Yeah, I've always been a sweaty ol' bastard... even when I was  kid. I shower almost compulsively as a result. I inherited that from my dad; the only guy I ever knew who could sweat while he was swimming.

Alcohol & a toothbrush on the watch body for me ever since I lost the second hand off a watch in the ultrasonic.  I do make it a habit to dismantle any new-used watch and put the case & band in the ultrasound tho. OP gunge a real ewww and a half thing. 

That's one of the things I like aboot the Shine; TPU band & anodized watch puck that pops out takes literally a minute with IPA on a towel to make spiffy-clean again. And I like the scars on the face; gives it character.

mnem
*bona-fide character*

[mnementh]

Today the Tektronix AFG 1022 arrived.   (SNIP)   I've replaced the fuse, now look at this:      Winner winner, chicken dinner! (sort of)

Connected to my scope for some checkings. This revealed that CH2 is sometimes dead. I think, a relay is causing the trouble. If it is working, the output is spot on, like on CH1, which is working flawlessly...

Pretty clear evidence that cause of death was connection to something live voltage on that channel. I hope you're lucky and it's something simple like a relay; but my gut sez you'll find a semi and/or maybe a MMLCC across a power rail causing an intermittent short which is repeatedly blowing the fuse. Not trying to be a wet-blanket dwagon... just damned unlikely anybody is gonna shit-can something that expensive without trying a new fuse first. 

I'd be looking for semis and SMD caps that are getting warmer than their counterpart in the working channel, either by touch or IR cam.

Good hunting!

mnem
 

[wolfy007]

Got this last week for a very good price and its already in pieces on the bench, still works but I saw a leaky cap...

I swear I was just going to upgrade the RAM. I think theres an SSD on there somewhere now also (maybe another CPU)... 

[Robert763]

I’ll argue with anyone these days. Fuck ‘em 

eBay listings done for the day. Thanks to specmaster for the £1 listing reminder. Only computer junk this week.

Your welcome, I still have mine to do, decided that going to let my 7150's go, I never really got on with the user interface compared to the others, even if they are 6.5 meters.

If you look at the specifications a 7150 is really only in the 5.5 digit class. The 6.5 digit averaging is useful for comparisons though.

[Robert763]

My everyday wristwatch (since 12 years now) is a Traser H3 BD PRO Blue:



I do really like it when I'm waking up in the middle of the night and want to know which time is it.
 Very good readable in the dark and no match to the usual phosphorescent markings.

Mine has also the blackened stainless steel bracelet.

It's only half as bright now then (Tritium half life is 12.5 years). I'm no radiophobe, I've several Curies of various isotopes, But would think twice about having a tritum source against my skin for hours at a time.

That is one of the reasons, why it is in service now: replacing the H3-thingies.

Regarding the radiation: I'm not worried. Tritium radiates electrons with an average energy of around 5.7keV which is very soft.
The radiation stops nearly at once in borosilicate glass and the amount of H3 used is very small. See also Tritium radioluminescence.

No, I'm not worried at all.

The beta radiation from the tritium does not penetrate the glass tube of the GTLS never mind the watch case. The hazard is leakage of the gas. This will escape the case if the GTLS leaks. It's a tiny amount of material but there is not really a good need to use radioactive material for this. It also has a limited life. I don't think it is real hazard, but its not ALARP simply because there are alternatives. The betas from Tritium are hard to detect at tha best of times. I have a small unsealled Tritium foil source (metal hydride) and only thin window detectors will detect it. There are no detectable betas from a GTLS a (I have some with 100 times the 1GBq activity allowed in a watch in germany) but I can detect the bremsstrahlung radiation generated by collisions in the glass tube. 

[Saskia]

ok, boss's update. He'll talk to my bossboss on Monday, will propose the architecture position to me, releave me of day to day operational stuff and dig into the FPGA stuff, plus move my currently external buddy into my current position to do the day to day handling of the translation stuff.

If it works out it'll be a very nice multiple win scenario.

[Specmaster]

Heyho colleagues in the UK,

anybody willing to grab that active keysight probe for me and send it over to Germany ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Keysight-N2795A-1GHz-Active-Probe-Excellent-Condition/383909749386

(yes, I actually WANT it)

I'd be happy to receive and post it on, but the listing looks a bit dodgy to me. Low feedback, no TE sold, nothing sold in last year  and description seems odd.

eBay buyer protection should be enough if it is a dodgy item. It's certainly less than you'd expect to pay for one, but who knows how many people are lurking and waiting to snipe it?



@mnementh you might like Skagen watches if you like 'em thin.

Except that they are only thin at the edges, they taper towards the edge, I know, I have one.

[Saskia]

@Robert bid placed. Hoping for ebay buyer protection if things fall apart.

[Saskia]

another lame joke:
oh, asterisk noodles ?
nope, my letter soup is password protected. D'oh.

[capt bullshot]

Today the Tektronix AFG 1022 arrived.

The battery has 0,8V, I'll replace it.

Looks like a rechargeable one.

[Robert763]

I’ll argue with anyone these days. Fuck ‘em 

eBay listings done for the day. Thanks to specmaster for the £1 listing reminder. Only computer junk this week.

You haven't got a mono 640x480 STN LCD stashed away by any chance?

[mnementh]

@mnementh you might like Skagen watches if you like 'em thin.   

Mmmmhmmm... I quite like that, even tho I've had titanium watches before which suffered pitting due to my sweaty arms. Reasonably priced, too & 40mm body is halfway between my Shine & my Command.

The one in space grey is quite nice, but one gives up that loverly blue face:   https://www.skagen.com/en-us/mikael-titanium-case-and-steel-mesh-watch-809xlttm

Except that they are only thin at the edges, they taper towards the edge, I know, I have one.

Yeah, "thin" watches have always made that little concession to reality. There's a limit to how thin you can actually make it and still get a battery in there.

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

another lame joke:
oh, asterisk noodles ?
nope, my letter soup is password protected. D'oh.

That's actually rather good

[bd139]

I’ll argue with anyone these days. Fuck ‘em 

eBay listings done for the day. Thanks to specmaster for the £1 listing reminder. Only computer junk this week.

You haven't got a mono 640x480 STN LCD stashed away by any chance?

Unfortunately nothing that exotic.

[URI]

Today the Tektronix AFG 1022 arrived.

I saw the parcel and I knew in an instant: crappy packing!
Really, why is it so hard to pack things properly? 
Even though I've asked the seller nicely to pack it properly and he said, that he will do... 



In this plastic bag was the AFG 



I couldn't see any mechanical damaging and there was also no rattling inside of the device. Uff...
[..]

I've replaced the fuse, now look at this:


Winner winner, chicken dinner! (sort of)

Connected to my scope for some checkings. This revealed that CH2 is sometimes dead. I think, a relay is causing the trouble. If it is working, the output is spot on, like on CH1, which is working flawlessly.

The settings are all the same: 1V_pp, 1MHz, no offset
sine, square, noise and a FFT of the sine output



Will replace the battery next week and investigate, why channel 2 is failing occasionally.

Besides that, I'm a happy camper. 

Oh, mei-oh-mei (packging)!   
Gladly it came undamaged.  Congrats that the main fault was only that dead fuse. 
Good luck repairing the second channel. I'm crossing fingers you're right and it's only a relay.