Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Martin.M]

fried resistor

[Martin.M]

red red gold gold means 2,2 Ohms?

[Cubdriver]

red red gold gold means 2,2 Ohms?

Yep! 2.2 ohms, 5% tolerance.

-Pat

[med6753]

Decided I was never going to be that person. Now up at 6AM every morning, shower, clothes on, do the spreadsheet and todo list for the day.

I hear you. Same here except I still need to get a consistent sleep pattern. My to do list is in my head. I keep it short, don't want to suffer from overload. 

The DC-DC converter showed up and what do I do? Drop the damn thing on the hardwood floor!  Got lucky, it still works.  Tomorrow finish building the 500VDC reference (See, short to do list. Always tomorrow  )

[SilverSolder]

I still need to get a consistent sleep pattern.

Big glass of milk before bedtime.  Works for me!

[bd139]

Decided I was never going to be that person. Now up at 6AM every morning, shower, clothes on, do the spreadsheet and todo list for the day.

I hear you. Same here except I still need to get a consistent sleep pattern. My to do list is in my head. I keep it short, don't want to suffer from overload. 

The DC-DC converter showed up and what do I do? Drop the damn thing on the hardwood floor!  Got lucky, it still works.  Tomorrow finish building the 500VDC reference (See, short to do list. Always tomorrow  )

Whoops. Done that before. Day I got my iPhone XR I dropped it on a hardwood floor. Poo nearly came out. Was ok though

I still need to get a consistent sleep pattern.

Big glass of milk before bedtime.  Works for me!

Not for me. That would be like going to Dignitas. Joy to lactose intolerance.

[Mr. Scram]

Whoops. Done that before. Day I got my iPhone XR I dropped it on a hardwood floor. Poo nearly came out. Was ok though

How about dropping a nicely aged voltage reference?

[bd139]

Ugh. No amount of money can replace time there. That’s true.

[med6753]

I still need to get a consistent sleep pattern.

Big glass of milk before bedtime.  Works for me!

It's going to take more than a glass of milk. I worked graveyard shift for 10 years. So my world was completely 180 degrees out from everyone else. Work all night, sleep during the day. And here I am trying to go back. Not working too well and despite the fact that I'm tired I go to bed in the evening and don't sleep. Or sleep for 2 hours then wide awake. And even forcing myself to stay awake during the day like right now. This used to be my prime sleeping time. It's been a month and not getting better so I may be forced to medication for a while to turn things around.     

[bd139]

I did nights for a few weeks once. I just stayed awake after the last shift as long as I could. Finished work on Thursday at 09:00, went to sleep on sat about 22:00 and woke up on Monday at 06:00 and it was sorted. Felt like I’d been in a car crash for a couple of days though.

Trick was to drink way too much red bull on Thursday morning

[mnementh]

Gee, I'm already a scope-nut and volt-nut. You want me to become RF-nut too? I may lose all my marbles, and my money. 

It's been 1 month retired and I'm loving it.  Not bored and keeping busy on my own terms. Haven't gained weight and haven't let myself go to pot. I still shower everyday and don't stink.  I see these other retirees out and about that look all disheveled, matted hair, wearing pajama bottoms for pants. That's not me. The only problem I have is getting back on a normal sleep schedule. That's been real tough and it's not getting any better. I may ask the doc for a week's supply of sleeping meds to force my body back to normal schedule but I don't really want to go that route. Other than that, life is good not working. 

By nature, I'm a "night owl". Up until 0200-0300. If I don't force myself to get up at the butt-crack of dawn, make coffee and eggs, and sit down and eat a breakfast or similar "start of day" ritual to wake myself up, I'll slip into that routine as I've done recently since my dental visit. Last night I passed out at 4am; got up today at 1pm. 

Problem is, my body wants the daylight... serotonin levels drop, I get head-achy and cranky, lose my sense of humor and even my wife & kids don't wanna be around me. So now comes the battle back to normal hours again... dentist should have my scrip ready, so I'll be able to get to sleep for a change rather than succumbing to exhaustion.

When I'm fighting my way back to normal, I usually use Unisom or a generic doxylamine-based equivalent. But you have to pay attention with the stuff; it will make you very drowsy for a brief period, and you need to go to sleep right then or it's completely ineffective. But the good part is you'll slip into a deep sleep quickly if you do.

Benadryl-based sleeping aids have never worked for me; they just make me pee all night. Doxlyamine will make you pee too, sometimes.

mnem
Fuck... I so need coffee right now.

[tautech]

Good point about repairability. That Tek SA is probably trash if it goes wrong.

On VNA front, as I'm sure tautech will pop up and say, Siglent do a reasonably affordable option. For me, I'm not sure I'd extract the full value from it so I went with the slightly crappy option. I only care about simple cases of VSWR / return loss, power gain and some classes of input matching problems up to VHF so I built a simple power meter and use an MFJ-259B impedance analyser (second hand). Seems to do enough and allows me to produce sound designs which is the main thing. That cost 12% of Siglent's offering 

It would be rude if I didn't. 

SVA1015X, a fully fledged SA and capable VNA for the price of a DSA815.....what's not to like ? 

[bd139]

Still can’t get the bloody thing from UK reseller

[Specmaster]

Gee, I'm already a scope-nut and volt-nut. You want me to become RF-nut too? I may lose all my marbles, and my money. 

It's been 1 month retired and I'm loving it.  Not bored and keeping busy on my own terms. Haven't gained weight and haven't let myself go to pot. I still shower everyday and don't stink.  I see these other retirees out and about that look all disheveled, matted hair, wearing pajama bottoms for pants. That's not me. The only problem I have is getting back on a normal sleep schedule. That's been real tough and it's not getting any better. I may ask the doc for a week's supply of sleeping meds to force my body back to normal schedule but I don't really want to go that route. Other than that, life is good not working. 

By nature, I'm a "night owl". Up until 0200-0300. If I don't force myself to get up at the butt-crack of dawn, make coffee and eggs, and sit down and eat a breakfast or similar "start of day" ritual to wake myself up, I'll slip into that routine as I've done recently since my dental visit. Last night I passed out at 4am; got up today at 1pm. 

Problem is, my body wants the daylight... serotonin levels drop, I get head-achy and cranky, lose my sense of humor and even my wife & kids don't wanna be around me. So now comes the battle back to normal hours again... dentist should have my scrip ready, so I'll be able to get to sleep for a change rather than succumbing to exhaustion.

When I'm fighting my way back to normal, I usually use Unisom or a generic doxylamine-based equivalent. But you have to pay attention with the stuff; it will make you very drowsy for a brief period, and you need to go to sleep right then or it's completely ineffective. But the good part is you'll slip into a deep sleep quickly if you do.

Benadryl-based sleeping aids have never worked for me; they just make me pee all night. Doxlyamine will make you pee too, sometimes.

mnem
Fuck... I so need coffee right now.

I had to chuckle reading this, I pictured you sleeping and peeing yourself and made me remember that back in the 60's we used to have a brand of vegetables (I seem to remember that were dried?) and they were called "Surprise" and it was a standing joke at the time, Q) What do you get with surprise peas? A) Chapped Legs 

[tautech]

Still can’t get the bloody thing from UK reseller

Of course you can.....you mean they don't have any in stock.

[Martin.M]

that`s it    with the X : = 0,1 Ohms 

[bd139]

Still can’t get the bloody thing from UK reseller

Of course you can.....you mean they don't have any in stock.

“Coming soon”

[tautech]

Still can’t get the bloody thing from UK reseller

Of course you can.....you mean they don't have any in stock.

“Coming soon”

Email in your inbox with some further confidential info. 

[Mr. Scram]

By nature, I'm a "night owl". Up until 0200-0300. If I don't force myself to get up at the butt-crack of dawn, make coffee and eggs, and sit down and eat a breakfast or similar "start of day" ritual to wake myself up, I'll slip into that routine as I've done recently since my dental visit. Last night I passed out at 4am; got up today at 1pm. 

Problem is, my body wants the daylight... serotonin levels drop, I get head-achy and cranky, lose my sense of humor and even my wife & kids don't wanna be around me. So now comes the battle back to normal hours again... dentist should have my scrip ready, so I'll be able to get to sleep for a change rather than succumbing to exhaustion.

When I'm fighting my way back to normal, I usually use Unisom or a generic doxylamine-based equivalent. But you have to pay attention with the stuff; it will make you very drowsy for a brief period, and you need to go to sleep right then or it's completely ineffective. But the good part is you'll slip into a deep sleep quickly if you do.

Benadryl-based sleeping aids have never worked for me; they just make me pee all night. Doxlyamine will make you pee too, sometimes.

mnem
Fuck... I so need coffee right now.

Just throw a tarp on the bed. Problem solved. I thought you folks were the engineering type?

[bd139]

Still can’t get the bloody thing from UK reseller

Of course you can.....you mean they don't have any in stock.

“Coming soon”

Email in your inbox with some further confidential info. 

Good good. Thank you 

[Mr. Scram]

It would be rude if I didn't. 

SVA1015X, a fully fledged SA and capable VNA for the price of a DSA815.....what's not to like ? 

Wasn't there a higher bandwidth model coming up?

[tautech]

It would be rude if I didn't. 

SVA1015X, a fully fledged SA and capable VNA for the price of a DSA815.....what's not to like ? 

Wasn't there a higher bandwidth model coming up?

Yep but zero details are available yet. 
SVA3000X series is about all we know so presumably 2.1 and 3.2 GHz models but no surprises for guessing they won't be at a similar price point. 

Currently SVA1015X and SSA3021X are same price. (without options)

[Inverted18650]

I've got about 5 more pages of reading to catch up but wanted to hop on and say the DMM7510 is here and getting warmed up. I aggravated an old Army injury and spent the last 36 hr laying in the bed with my feet elevated trying to get right again. I was in a IED blast back in 2011 and it messed up a back pretty good, so itll bite me about once a year and put me out of commission. Between moving all the gear, packing all the boxes, and pulling my trucks fuel tank, I must have pissed it off, so it slapped me back into place; an old man who need to stop doing that kinda shit...lol.

The "new" Fluke 5200A is here as well. Sold as DOA so it should be a fun project. Looking forward to catching up and getting back to business as usual. Plenty of 7510 pics and, graphs, and data on the way.

[med6753]

I've got about 5 more pages of reading to catch up but wanted to hop on and say the DMM7510 is here and getting warmed up. I aggravated an old Army injury and spent the last 36 hr laying in the bed with my feet elevated trying to get right again. I was in a IED blast back in 2011 and it messed up a back pretty good, so itll bite me about once a year and put me out of commission. Between moving all the gear, packing all the boxes, and pulling my trucks fuel tank, I must have pissed it off, so it slapped me back into place; an old man who need to stop doing that kinda shit...lol.

The "new" Fluke 5200A is here as well. Sold as DOA so it should be a fun project. Looking forward to catching up and getting back to business as usual. Plenty of 7510 pics and, graphs, and data on the way.

Let me say first.....Thank you for your service!    And I'm sorry to hear that you have a disability as a result of it. You vets need all the support we can possibly give and I also hope that the VA does right by you.

I never served in the military but sometimes I wish I had. But I've always had a passing interest in military hardware and tactics. When I turned 18 in 1971 Vietnam was still raging full blast. Along with all the anti-war and anti-military agendas. The draft (Selective Service) was still in full effect back then and in the yearly "lottery" my birth date came up 330 out of a possible 365. If your number was about 150 or below you better pack your bags. So I was classified "1-H" on my draft card and never called up. At the time I was over joyed that I wouldn't get called.

Unfortunately the guys my age that did serve got a raw deal coming home. Tagged "Baby killers" and all that crap. No parades, no welcome home. In retrospect it was extremely sad.       

Edit...I got your PM.

[Inverted18650]

edit: i thought we were on a email mate, i wont post that stuff here..back to electronics.