Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

DON'T DO IT!

do not get a shingles shot in one shoulder and a pneumonia shot in the other.  (or in swmbo's case shingles and tetanus)

one non-working arm is bad...... two is much much worse.  and you cannot sleep, because one side hurts and then you roll over on the side that hurts worse (over and over) until you give up and go watch old episodes of "cannon" and "barnaby jones" (or whatever flickering all night images you can find).

my head feels like someone hit me with a brick and swmbo is still carrying around a trash can for her dry heaves.

when the quack says get both shots......... run.   (or take one and offer to come back in two weeks for the other).  and when we get the shingles booster in 3-6 months i'm gonna' insist they give it in my butt cheek.  it took two of us to change the water bowls for the animals this morning because swmbo could not lift her arms to turn on the water.  to get out of bed i had to roll onto the floor and then crawl over and climb the dresser.

we are basket cases.

the covid shots were a walk in the park compared to this shit.

Several years ago SWMBO and I needed about 6 vaccinations for a trip to West Africa. This included yellow fever. When we went in for the first lot the Nurse said "when do you want to come back for the rest? SWMBO "can you do them now in the other arm?"
BIG mistake we were basket cases for two days (the weekend) and felt ill for a week.

[Andrew_Debbie]

Dana 5100 DMM update:

Low Voltage power supplies all appear to be OK.    The DC inputs are all slightly out of spec. high but I'm using a 5100AF manual  which is slightly different and our home voltage is often just over 240VAC.   The outputs are all within the tolerances on the manual.   My meter more or less flashes 00 when I'm checking for ripple  but the one I used isn't great at 10s of mV AC.  Part of the reason I bougth the 5100.

Well darn.   I was hoping for an easy fix.   I'll have to hook up a 'scope and check various waveforms against the manual.   

My gut tells me it is probably a dead  capacitor  but I will work through  troublshooting the fault rather than shotgun replacing everything that gives me a bad feeling.


-----

RAF Valley is on the other end of the island.    We have Beechcraft  T-6 Texan II's  and Hawks flying over all the time. (just not today)   They must be elsewhere. 
Occasionally we hear  other louder military AC.   -   Google Mach Loop if you are interested.


The Texans are fun to watch.  They often are doing aerobatics.

[Cubdriver]

USPS is a giant fail. Again, and as usual. There's no way this will be delivered today when it didn't leave the Newark, NJ distribution center last night. Not the first time a package sits without moving for several days at that same center. Springfield, Masshole is just as bad. 

I dunno.  Mine was quite efficient at turning around my misaddressed (house number AFTER street name, rather than before) package from Greece and getting it on its way back to the origin.  Shipped it back the same day they "couldn't" deliver it, as a matter of fact.

Jul 25, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 24, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 23, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 22, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 21, 2021 10:34am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 20, 2021 7:20pm Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 19, 2021 11:51am Vacant WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 8:03am Out for Delivery WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 7:52am Arrived at Post Office WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 7:28am Arrived at USPS Facility WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 5:15am Arrived at USPS Facility WATERBURY, CT

Jul 19, 2021 3:44am Departed USPS Regional Facility SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 18, 2021 2:02pm Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 17, 2021 7:34am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 16, 2021 7:26pm Processed Through Facility ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

Jul 15, 2021 2:21pm Processed Through Facility ATHENS AIR MAIL UNIT (AMU)

Jul 13, 2021 1:23pm Acceptance

Jul 13, 2021 10:43am Tracking number provided

I had actually been impressed with how quickly it had appeared to be coming.  In communication with the seller, he provided the correct address  when he entered it, but their system requires the number and street name to go in separate dialog boxes on the form, and it appears that in Greece the normal address format is street then number rather than number then street as it is here.  It also seems that my local P.O. has a different mail carrier (sometimes) that handles parcels, as they sometimes come around lucnh but regular mail is usually after 3 in the afternoon.  That said, I think that the parcel carrier should have had sense enough to decipher the flipped name/number thing, and failing that the damned P.O. should have held the package for at least a few days rather than marking it 'return to sender' and dispatching it literally that night.      This after on other occasions taking two weeks to deliver something from about 100 miles away as the crow flies.  Quick and efficient only when they're screwing things up. 

My efforts to get it redirected obviously did not work, and it's now apparently on a tramp steamer heading back across the Atlantic.

-Pat

[mansaxel]

Tripped over this. In line with the collections of display technologies that we all have lurking 

Electrolume is very cool. I keep wanting to build something with it. Apollo CM style.

[bd139]

Regarding couriers and postal services, they're all fucking shit.

Having trouble with UPS today...

[med6753]

USPS is a giant fail. Again, and as usual. There's no way this will be delivered today when it didn't leave the Newark, NJ distribution center last night. Not the first time a package sits without moving for several days at that same center. Springfield, Masshole is just as bad. 

I dunno.  Mine was quite efficient at turning around my misaddressed (house number AFTER street name, rather than before) package from Greece and getting it on its way back to the origin.  Shipped it back the same day they "couldn't" deliver it, as a matter of fact.

Jul 25, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 24, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 23, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 22, 2021 12:00am In Transit to Next Facility

Jul 21, 2021 10:34am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 20, 2021 7:20pm Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 19, 2021 11:51am Vacant WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 8:03am Out for Delivery WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 7:52am Arrived at Post Office WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 7:28am Arrived at USPS Facility WATERTOWN, CT

Jul 19, 2021 5:15am Arrived at USPS Facility WATERBURY, CT

Jul 19, 2021 3:44am Departed USPS Regional Facility SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 18, 2021 2:02pm Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 17, 2021 7:34am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Jul 16, 2021 7:26pm Processed Through Facility ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

Jul 15, 2021 2:21pm Processed Through Facility ATHENS AIR MAIL UNIT (AMU)

Jul 13, 2021 1:23pm Acceptance

Jul 13, 2021 10:43am Tracking number provided

I had actually been impressed with how quickly it had appeared to be coming.  In communication with the seller, he provided the correct address  when he entered it, but their system requires the number and street name to go in separate dialog boxes on the form, and it appears that in Greece the normal address format is street then number rather than number then street as it is here.  It also seems that my local P.O. has a different mail carrier (sometimes) that handles parcels, as they sometimes come around lucnh but regular mail is usually after 3 in the afternoon.  That said, I think that the parcel carrier should have had sense enough to decipher the flipped name/number thing, and failing that the damned P.O. should have held the package for at least a few days rather than marking it 'return to sender' and dispatching it literally that night.      This after on other occasions taking two weeks to deliver something from about 100 miles away as the crow flies.  Quick and efficient only when they're screwing things up. 

My efforts to get it redirected obviously did not work, and it's now apparently on a tramp steamer heading back across the Atlantic.

-Pat

Yep, total dip shits. And yes, my package is STILL at the Newark Distribution Center yet it will be delivered today. Yea, right. 

[med6753]

Regarding couriers and postal services, they're all fucking shit.

Having trouble with UPS today...

UPS did deliver package from Mouser on time today. As long as I order early in the week UPS is OK. But towards the end of the week they fail in 2 day delivery because they are too tired over the weekends. 

[Specmaster]

Good news:
my midway arcade arrived
Bad news:
box was repackaged with DHL tape

Ebay said: you need to open a return
I said: fix your global shipping program, the seller did not eff up, Pitney Bowes did and I expect them, not the seller, to uneff the situation.

Its been my experience with their global shipping program that they will indeed take care of it, I would just wait for them to resolve. Most people here who have had to raise a claim, have IIRC been given full refunds and no need to return the item either.

[mnementh]

And Now for something completely... ON TOPIC!



Another boring Wednesday... goodies from Bang-em-good!

A week or three ago I ordered some bits and bobs and components and kits off BG; these are what arrived first. Got some cheap minigrabbers so I could rebuild these, which have been well-used and I may have exceeded design current limits by a factor of "Oh, fuck, there's smoke!" a few times. 

   

As part of this order, I also bought some cheap test leads cuz, well... CAD$9 with shipping for two pairs. Normally I wouldn't gripe as these are pretty much a consumable supply anyways... except they were supposed to be these with the extra-fine needle points, and I already have a spare set of the regular point.

I've dropped a quick note with pics to customer support; I expect at least 2 or 3 back & forth with the usual "language barrier" BS from 3 different agents before it's resolved. We'll see if I get bored and wander off or if I actually get annoyed enough to follow through and make them send out the right ones. 

mnem

[tggzzz]

Put some offers on stuff because I’m bored. Let’s see if they bite…

Good luck; I'm surprised you found anything!

Found a few things. All offers rejected 

There's a school of bargaining which teaches that you should ignore someone's first offer, whatever it is.

[Specmaster]

Regarding couriers and postal services, they're all fucking shit.

Having trouble with UPS today...

At least ours have a ready excuse now, Covid shortage of drivers 

[duckduck]

That reminds me of the paid pen testers we had come in who stuck on Amazon jackets to get into the building and used a tape measure to unlock the security doors on a floor from the inside as they had really poor proximity detectors on them.

I used to leave a can of "canned air" tucked away in the elevator vestibule of a previous employer. If I forgot my badge I'd flip the can upside-down and stick the wand between the double doors aimed up towards the PIR sensor above the doors on the other side. Doors would unlock. That attack can be stopped by adding a push-bar door latch, among other things. Companies spend all this money trying to prevent hackers and then skip the basics. My current employer takes all this stuff seriously. Regarding defeating access controls to the server room the famous saying is "if you haven't got physical security, you haven't got security".

[tggzzz]

By the way, next time I start out on a project can someone please stop me if it looks like every debugging or verification step will take 24 hours minimum to do.

You should take up gardening, just to put quick turnaround times like 24h in perspective. 

Children are the same, but squared.

(I had a 12hour test cycle on my Tek485; that was bad enough, but the results are worth it!)

[med6753]

While waiting for the replacement vertical amplifier transistors to show up decided to continue with re-capping the cans. This is a 40uf/400V can that provides additional filtering on the unregulated +325V to the HV Oscillator.



47uf/400V installed on terminal strip. There are 2 cans left to do that provide additional filtering to the plug-in. Then all re-capping will be done.



Here's the HV assembly with the troublesome HV transformer on the right. Tek used an epoxy potting material that unfortunately absorbs moisture over time which can overload the oscillator causing it to shutdown or the transformer itself shorts. Older 500 series scopes like the Type 535/545 used a different potting compound that doesn't have this issue. There was someone I think in Florida who could re-wind the transformer but I'm not sure if they still offer it. Anyway, been lucky so far. HV is fine. And the scope shows no evidence of mildew or corrosion which indicates it was stored in a dry environment.



There's a sand state conversion as shown in this link which gets rid of the 5642 HV Rectifiers. The advantage to this conversion is that it lightens the load on the HV transformer by eliminating the tube filaments. For now I'm keeping mine as is but I may consider doing this at a later date.

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/547#/media/File:Tek_547_HV_Diodes.jpg 

 

[Specmaster]

Dana 5100 DMM update:

Low Voltage power supplies all appear to be OK.    The DC inputs are all slightly out of spec. high but I'm using a 5100AF manual  which is slightly different and our home voltage is often just over 240VAC.   The outputs are all within the tolerances on the manual.   My meter more or less flashes 00 when I'm checking for ripple  but the one I used isn't great at 10s of mV AC.  Part of the reason I bougth the 5100.

Well darn.   I was hoping for an easy fix.   I'll have to hook up a 'scope and check various waveforms against the manual.   

My gut tells me it is probably a dead  capacitor  but I will work through  troublshooting the fault rather than shotgun replacing everything that gives me a bad feeling.


-----

RAF Valley is on the other end of the island.    We have Beechcraft  T-6 Texan II's  and Hawks flying over all the time. (just not today)   They must be elsewhere. 
Occasionally we hear  other louder military AC.   -   Google Mach Loop if you are interested.


The Texans are fun to watch.  They often are doing aerobatics.

Yeh, its my understanding from what I have been told is that the RAF fast jets have been banned from using the Mach Loop now following an incident with a weapons officer holding up a banner for the benefit of the many photographers up on the hillsides of the loop snapping topside shots of them as they flew through the loop. So I believe that the only fast jets using the loop now are F15s from RAF Lakenheath and other visiting USA planes. RAF now go up to the lake district for their low flying exercises.

[mnementh]

To be fair this audit is not about using the template, which admittedly we had to write ourselves, but proving that we used the template to do the stuff

So, it is past the sed'ing and into "We 'ave a bloody rule book that says a manager needs to approve me going to the bog while you open the safe. Fuck that, I need to go."

Ah no it's evil this one. Much much worse. Sort of "so you have a security incident handling process - can you please run through the entire thing end to end with examples and show the documentation generated and that the resolutions were handled within your specified SLA window" 

They're doing physical security audit as well next which means they have to walk the person through the data centres remotely and show the physical security controls in place.


Edit: Big GPU spender today. Just nabbed a 2GB 1030 GTX for 70 quid. All it needs to do is drive a 4k desktop without the Intel graphics laggity hell and possibly run GTA V at 1080p

So is this one of those " 'Well, we approved the new security program 6 months ago, surely you have something to show for it...?" even tho the PHBs have been dragging their feet on approving the money for hardware, software dev and the man-hours needed to make either/both of those happen for the last 8 months...' "  situations...?

mnem
 

[med6753]

Yeh, its my understanding from what I have been told is that the RAF fast jets have been banned from using the Mach Loop now following an incident with a weapons officer holding up a banner for the benefit of the many photographers up on the hillsides of the loop snapping topside shots of them as they flew through the loop. So I believe that the only fast jets using the loop now are F15s from RAF Lakenheath and other visiting USA planes. RAF now go up to the lake district for their low flying exercises.

Well gee whiz....what is the weapons officer supposed to do when he's just along for the ride? Flip the bird at everyone? Someone in command has a serious bug up their arse. 

[mnementh]

to prevent this I recommend a Dillon Aero sentry coupled to a movement / face recognition system. Similar to a CIWS.

mnem
Cave Johnson is a god among... lesser WTF-evers.

[Specmaster]

Just had a Chinook come thundering past overhead. That they have got permission to fly in London controlled airspace is usually a sign of one of two things: (1) an air display I didn't know about, (2) trouble.

Stop playing with you ceremonial cutlery drawer, and you'll discover that they often fly along the Thames and then head north from about the Millennium Dome area' loosely following the A12, and over the top of my house and go to either RAF Wattisham or to the Stanford Ranges, You also get Apaches fly the same route usually at least twice a week.

[Specmaster]

Yeh, its my understanding from what I have been told is that the RAF fast jets have been banned from using the Mach Loop now following an incident with a weapons officer holding up a banner for the benefit of the many photographers up on the hillsides of the loop snapping topside shots of them as they flew through the loop. So I believe that the only fast jets using the loop now are F15s from RAF Lakenheath and other visiting USA planes. RAF now go up to the lake district for their low flying exercises.

Well gee whiz....what is the weapons officer supposed to do when he's just along for the ride? Flip the bird at everyone? Someone in command has a serious bug up their arse. 

No, I think it was one of the national newspapers got sight of the photo that was posted on one of the aviation forums and started stirring the pot accusing the RAF of fooling around etc, and it just snowballed from there. Hey, I've just noticed that I've just passed my 12,000th post already, gee don't time fly when you're having fun 

[mnementh]

A quick snapshot of the state of the GPSDO project. I'm finally getting the kind of stability figures I'd like to see.

 By the way, next time I start out on a project can someone please stop me if it looks like every debugging or verification step will take 24 hours minimum to do. The progess on this has been glacial becuase of how long you have to wait to see if what you've changed is good/bad or if you need an extra bit of information. Basically what might be a two minute test on the bench for anything sane becomes a 24 hour test for this.(SNIP)

Preliminary figures suggest that the innate drift for this OCXO is about 0.64 ppb/day.

Thanks for taking one for the team, buddy.

I've been vicariously enjoying your misery while I work on "iterative design" of new 18650 battery packs for my eBike and my lightsaber.   

mnem
FWIW, looks like you got somewhere close to a useful result a bit sooner than I...

[mnementh]

Tripped over this. In line with the collections of display technologies that we all have lurking 

So... sortof like OLED, only big enough that monkeys like us can do the "printed emitter" part by hand, mixed with multiple channels of high-voltage drivers...?

Oh, and cost of entry is in the "hundreds of dollars" range...?

What could possibly go wrong...?

mnem
tzzzt.

[med6753]

Yeh, its my understanding from what I have been told is that the RAF fast jets have been banned from using the Mach Loop now following an incident with a weapons officer holding up a banner for the benefit of the many photographers up on the hillsides of the loop snapping topside shots of them as they flew through the loop. So I believe that the only fast jets using the loop now are F15s from RAF Lakenheath and other visiting USA planes. RAF now go up to the lake district for their low flying exercises.

Well gee whiz....what is the weapons officer supposed to do when he's just along for the ride? Flip the bird at everyone? Someone in command has a serious bug up their arse. 

No, I think it was one of the national newspapers got sight of the photo that was posted on one of the aviation forums and started stirring the pot accusing the RAF of fooling around etc, and it just snowballed from there. Hey, I've just noticed that I've just passed my 12,000th post already, gee don't time fly when you're having fun 

Well of course. Can't have no tomfoolery in the Queen's army. That would be so unseamly. Stiff upper lip and all that rubbish.

Considering how pissed you guys got over some tea overboard I'm not surprised.   

[mansaxel]

Can't have no tomfoolery in the Queen's army.

I'd be very surprised if those fliers were Army. After all, Royal Air Force is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, separate air forces -- a concept that did not dawn on Pentagon until there actually was a Pentagon -- the USAF is a post-war construction.

/Nit-pickingly 

[Specmaster]

Yeh, its my understanding from what I have been told is that the RAF fast jets have been banned from using the Mach Loop now following an incident with a weapons officer holding up a banner for the benefit of the many photographers up on the hillsides of the loop snapping topside shots of them as they flew through the loop. So I believe that the only fast jets using the loop now are F15s from RAF Lakenheath and other visiting USA planes. RAF now go up to the lake district for their low flying exercises.

Well gee whiz....what is the weapons officer supposed to do when he's just along for the ride? Flip the bird at everyone? Someone in command has a serious bug up their arse. 

No, I think it was one of the national newspapers got sight of the photo that was posted on one of the aviation forums and started stirring the pot accusing the RAF of fooling around etc, and it just snowballed from there. Hey, I've just noticed that I've just passed my 12,000th post already, gee don't time fly when you're having fun 

Well of course. Can't have no tomfoolery in the Queen's army. That would be so unseamly. Stiff upper lip and all that rubbish.

Considering how pissed you guys got over some tea overboard I'm not surprised.   

Quite rightly so, we had every right to be pissed, I take it by that comment then that you wouldn't mind if we tossed your 547 overboard