Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[GreyWoolfe]

Wait... what...? Where's the booty-fab? That looks entirely too nice! 

J/K... nicely done. 

mnem
"If you fix it, they will ogle." ~grand-dad

Booty? OK.....your wish is my command.  (Careful what you ask for)

Holy Sh!t, Batman!  I bet she can crack walnuts with those cheeks.

[bd139]

OK the BBC fake news channel article said they didn't want to be identified, but they must have been happy to tell the story to a grotty tabloid paper (Sun), apparently the second-hand TV was a 16" Bush flat-screen model, so not that old. I guess anything made over 6 months ago is old to those overpaid BBC morning news presenters.
Why they told the paper they disposed of it in a builder's skip I don't know (if that is the truth), clearly neither the owner or journalist are bothered that it hasn't been sent for proper disposal under the WEEE regs.  Maybe the WEEE police will send them a nice fine. 
Also we will never know if it was faulty or missing interference filtering components.

David

Nailed it.

If it's the turd I think it is, it probably wasn't even the TV that was wonky. There is a standard 19V power brick for them which was probably made by the lowest bidder.

I hope they didn't keep the PSU then, those are the kind of thing that gets saved and chucked in a box for future use.

David

Credit to mnem for this one:

[Specmaster]

We're a long way from the days of the likes of Tommy Flowers, sadly.

I had a friend, Rick, who used to work at Martlesham Heath who retired in the mid to late 90s. He died back in 2007 and I'm just having one of those "That long ago? Where the heck does the time go?" moments.

Had one of them the other day as well. A accidentally stumbled on an obituary of a former colleague and friend of mine back in the mid 1990s at my first "proper job". Turned out he died in a car accident in 2017. I shall quote him here:

"One day we'll all have ARM supercomputers in our pockets that can do anything"

Someone bet him £20 that wouldn't happen. I hope the fuck he cashed that in before he popped it.

Edit: random one. I was so damn busy today untangling wads of shit that I actually ate dinner twice  . Looks like I'm going to be a fat bastard again 

Why does that conjure up this memory for me I wonder?

[Cubdriver]

I gave in to an attack of lunacy last night and ordered this:


It's due in a few days; not sure what I've gotten myself into with this Tek model, as I've never seen one in the flesh.

-Pat

[25 CPS]

CAD$179:   https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1522100956

mnem
 

From the address, it looks like that scope is being sold by Electronic Surplus Industries on Sheffield St.  Have you check out that place? 

I used to work in the area 18 years ago and it's been rapidly gentrifying (read: condos) so I don't know how long the remaining businesses like that are going to be able to hold on for.  It was a much different area, the whole Caledonia and Castlefield are, when I started a job at a small factory around the corner back in 2002 before it became "Design District" and condo developers moved in.

[mansaxel]

PuTTY makes everything your bitch. 

mnem
Please make me a sandwich. sudo make me a sandwich.

To my astonishment, the bog-standard Windows 10 comfusors I maintain for some of the children are equipped with a real OpenSSH client, and I didn't put it there. It is worthy of testing as an alternative. PuTTY always struck me as a getting a cake in prison. It's good, compared to the surroundings, but you're still trapped.

And, for the record, I hate sudo. I much prefer to log in as root, over the network, using GSSAPI with my root principal.

[Neomys Sapiens]

@capt bullshot: A LT calculator? sales gift from bygone times or did you make that up?

[bd139]

PuTTY makes everything your bitch. 

mnem
Please make me a sandwich. sudo make me a sandwich.

To my astonishment, the bog-standard Windows 10 comfusors I maintain for some of the children are equipped with a real OpenSSH client, and I didn't put it there. It is worthy of testing as an alternative. PuTTY always struck me as a getting a cake in prison. It's good, compared to the surroundings, but you're still trapped.

And, for the record, I hate sudo. I much prefer to log in as root, over the network, using GSSAPI with my root principal.

It’s slowly turning into Unix. But with a desktop that isn’t a piece of shit 

Try windows terminal next (in the store).

[Neomys Sapiens]

I gave in to an attack of lunacy last night and ordered this:
(Attachment Link)

It's due in a few days; not sure what I've gotten myself into with this Tek model, as I've never seen one in the flesh.

-Pat

You are aware that they are next to useless for non-repetitive signals?
Sampling rate is worse than a 2430!

[BU508A]

Hello TEA folks,

this is a follow-up to my Rohde & Schwarz UGZ BN 1100 voltmeter.
Today, this manual showed up at my doorstep:



It is in a very good condition, given it's age. The colouring of the top cover is a bit worn out and yellow-ish.
The paper in the inside has also this yellow-ish colour but the paper itself is really thick! I'd estimate
something around 100g/m²!

I'll do a proper scan of all pages but this could be a bit difficult because some pages are significantly bigger
than my A4-sized scanner. I think, gimp could merge the results electronically but I have to find out first
how to do that. In the meantime here are some examples of the inside as hi-res pictures.

Sorry, the manual is completely in German but I hope you'll get meaning of it.

Let's start with the specifications of this meter. Here are the data-sheets:


Fault tolerance: +/- 0.02% from the measured value and +/- 0.01% full scale.
Not bad for a meter from 1958!
Edit: sorry, mixed this up with my R&S counter. The UGZ is from 1962/63.

This was a big advantage back in the days: once the meter has been calibrated, it doesn't need to be calibrated again!


This is a description of the display and which lamp does illuminate which digit/symbol.


The manual contains a lot of reasoning and explanations about how it is working. Here we have a desription of one
of the core parts: the so called "binary potentiometer". If you are looking at the schematics one can see at "Z" another
core part implied: the chopper amplifier.


While looking through the parts lists, this caught my attention: three silicon transistors have been used in this unit
from the late 50's! A BDY10, a BSY52 and a BFY19. Wow, I didn't thought that they were that old.


This is the block diagram and as you can see on the lower right, the meter has been synchronized with the 50Hz mains.


This is one of two timing diagrams, this one is for calibration.


As mentioned before, there has been used a chopper amplifier in the UGZ. This is the schematics of it.
It is made with a nuvistor (7895) which I've ordered two of them right away, because the manual states,
that these nuvistors should be replaced after some time.


A lot of flip-flops have been used in this meter. This is one of the counter modules and I think the flip-flops are set up as a shift-register.


And last but not least, the module with the voltage reference, made by two Ge-zeners (the two black blocks on the left).


When I've done the scanning of this manual I'll upload it to KO4BB's website for easy access.

Hope, you've enjoyed this update, now I'm off, have to read a manual.   

[mnementh]

   CAD$179:   https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1522100956

mnem
 

Ahh that can fuck off with its horrid power supply. I have spent tooooo much of my life having the shit scared out of me by exploding MOSFETs in the 2235 

OK the BBC fake news channel article said they didn't want to be identified, but they must have been happy to tell the story to a grotty tabloid paper (Sun), apparently the second-hand TV was a 16" Bush flat-screen model, so not that old. I guess anything made over 6 months ago is old to those overpaid BBC morning news presenters.
Why they told the paper they disposed of it in a builder's skip I don't know (if that is the truth), clearly neither the owner or journalist are bothered that it hasn't been sent for proper disposal under the WEEE regs.  Maybe the WEEE police will send them a nice fine. 
Also we will never know if it was faulty or missing interference filtering components.

David

Nailed it.

If it's the turd I think it is, it probably wasn't even the TV that was wonky. There is a standard 19V power brick for them which was probably made by the lowest bidder.

LOL... I KNOW. That's why the WEG.

I figured THAT too. Which is why I pegged it as SMPS noise, NOT SHINE.

mnem
As a matter of fact, I DO know shit from SHINE-ola.

[mnementh]

   CAD$179:   https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1522100956

mnem
 

From the address, it looks like that scope is being sold by Electronic Surplus Industries on Sheffield St.  Have you check out that place? 

I used to work in the area 18 years ago and it's been rapidly gentrifying (read: condos) so I don't know how long the remaining businesses like that are going to be able to hold on for.  It was a much different area, the whole Caledonia and Castlefield are, when I started a job at a small factory around the corner back in 2002 before it became "Design District" and condo developers moved in.

It's on my to do list. Credit to Kosmic for alerting me; just been busy with lawnmowery stuffs.

mnem
 

[SilverSolder]

From the address, it looks like that scope is being sold by Electronic Surplus Industries on Sheffield St.  Have you check out that place? 

I used to work in the area 18 years ago and it's been rapidly gentrifying (read: condos) so I don't know how long the remaining businesses like that are going to be able to hold on for.  It was a much different area, the whole Caledonia and Castlefield are, when I started a job at a small factory around the corner back in 2002 before it became "Design District" and condo developers moved in.

It's on my to do list. Credit to Kosmic for alerting me; just been busy with lawnmowery stuffs.

mnem

Small engines can really keep you busy...  I'm religious about preservatives and stabilizers in the fuel, knock on wood my 5 small engines all start easily despite standing idle for much of the time.  The oldest one a Briggs 5hp on a leaf blower from 1979  (Craigslist find) - I like it the most!  It sounds like a Harley...  and the best thing about that engine, is the HUGE exhaust pop, complete with belching fire, that it 100% reliably gives when you turn it off!  Wakes up the entire neighbourhood...

[mnementh]

PuTTY makes everything your bitch. 

mnem
Please make me a sandwich. sudo make me a sandwich.

To my astonishment, the bog-standard Windows 10 comfusors I maintain for some of the children are equipped with a real OpenSSH client, and I didn't put it there. It is worthy of testing as an alternative. PuTTY always struck me as a getting a cake in prison. It's good, compared to the surroundings, but you're still trapped.

And, for the record, I hate sudo. I much prefer to log in as root, over the network, using GSSAPI with my root principal.

Welll... yeah... I PREFER lasagna, but sometimes I have to "make do" with pork roast. 

C'est la vie!

It’s slowly turning into Unix. But with a desktop that isn’t a piece of shit 

Try windows terminal next (in the store).

I sortof figured this was precisely where they were headed with PowerShell; only it has custom hooks for managing AD. Honestly, it feels like the smartest thing they've done in decades... 

mnem
Bruce!!!Don't bring me down...!!! suDon't bring me down...!!!

[SilverSolder]

[...]
Try windows terminal next (in the store).

Isn't that RDP?

[mnementh]

The real worry is how long I can keep bringing home new orders with my current SUV before I need get a bigger one !  Best effort so far is 26 DSO's and a bit of other stuff all in one load.    No room for passengers ! 

   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G4Z5J0/   I highly recommend one of these; tripled the cargo space (behind the back seats) in our Rav4.

Get the biggest Pro (60 x 24" base) model; the 18gal Rubbermaid Roughneck totes fit 4 wide, and the 136L (35Gal) ones fit 2 the long way or even on top of the 4. Also get the cargo net; 1 for each layer you plan to stack (so 1 or 2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BTLL99G/

My cost ( I already had the hitch) was US$150 for the carrier, $US140 for all 6 totes ( I pad premium brick & mortar prices so I could measure first) and another $30 for the nets. they kept EVERYTHING (And a ginormous suitcase) very securely in place all the way from Tejas to Toronto.

My Draw-Tite 75235 Class III receiver hitch was US$130 from Uhaul; they were cheapest by far at the time.

mnem
 

Putting a hitch on my old Escape was one of the smartest things I ever did - it comes in handy so often.  Surprisingly the most common use case has been towing other people out of snow drifts etc.! 

Here's my wife's Rav4 with the fanny pack in place; earning its keep this afternoon. Picked this up and zipped it home before the guy came to his senses, just beating all the rush hour traffic. 

Given that I just saved several hundred pesos on the lawncare equipment buying fixer-uppers and fixing them up, I decided to splurge when I found this like-new Craftsman/Ariens machine going much too cheap on Kijiji; decided to get the one that I could just plug & start and was 100% ready to go to work, so I wouldn't be trying to beat the cold weather fixing a machine that I'd never seen run right.

mnem
Choose your battles.

[tautech]

Small engines can really keep you busy... I'm religious about preservatives and stabilizers in the fuel, knock on wood my 5 small engines all start easily despite standing idle for much of the time.  The oldest one a Briggs 5hp on a leaf blower from 1979  (Craigslist find) - I like it the most!  It sounds like a Harley...  and the best thing about that engine, is the HUGE exhaust pop, complete with belching fire, that it 100% reliably gives when you turn it off!  Wakes up the entire neighbourhood...

Tell me about it ! They were my life some 40 years ago.

Backfires in those old models might be a symptom of early stages of a burnt exhaust valve or possibly the wrong sparkplug heat range with something still crispy red enough to ignite the fuel mix after ignition is turned OFF.

[tautech]

The real worry is how long I can keep bringing home new orders with my current SUV before I need get a bigger one !  Best effort so far is 26 DSO's and a bit of other stuff all in one load.    No room for passengers ! 

   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G4Z5J0/   I highly recommend one of these; tripled the cargo space (behind the back seats) in our Rav4.

Get the biggest Pro (60 x 24" base) model; the 18gal Rubbermaid Roughneck totes fit 4 wide, and the 136L (35Gal) ones fit 2 the long way or even on top of the 4. Also get the cargo net; 1 for each layer you plan to stack (so 1 or 2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BTLL99G/

My cost ( I already had the hitch) was US$150 for the carrier, $US140 for all 6 totes ( I pad premium brick & mortar prices so I could measure first) and another $30 for the nets. they kept EVERYTHING (And a ginormous suitcase) very securely in place all the way from Tejas to Toronto.

My Draw-Tite 75235 Class III receiver hitch was US$130 from Uhaul; they were cheapest by far at the time.

mnem
 

Putting a hitch on my old Escape was one of the smartest things I ever did - it comes in handy so often.  Surprisingly the most common use case has been towing other people out of snow drifts etc.! 

Here's my wife's Rav4 with the fanny pack in place; earning its keep this afternoon. Picked this up and zipped it home before the guy came to his senses, just beating all the rush hour traffic. 

Given that I just saved several hundred pesos on the lawncare equipment buying fixer-uppers and fixing them up, I decided to splurge when I found this like-new Craftsman/Ariens machine going much too cheap on Kijiji; decided to get the one that I could just plug & start and was 100% ready to go to work, so I wouldn't be trying to beat the cold weather fixing a machine that I'd never seen run right.

mnem
Choose your battles.

They wouldn't be allowed over here without additional signal lighting as they protrude too far beyond the rear of the vehicle. A trailer and tarp would be easier for us.......and more useful. 

[Specmaster]

The real worry is how long I can keep bringing home new orders with my current SUV before I need get a bigger one !  Best effort so far is 26 DSO's and a bit of other stuff all in one load.    No room for passengers ! 

   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G4Z5J0/   I highly recommend one of these; tripled the cargo space (behind the back seats) in our Rav4.

Get the biggest Pro (60 x 24" base) model; the 18gal Rubbermaid Roughneck totes fit 4 wide, and the 136L (35Gal) ones fit 2 the long way or even on top of the 4. Also get the cargo net; 1 for each layer you plan to stack (so 1 or 2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BTLL99G/

My cost ( I already had the hitch) was US$150 for the carrier, $US140 for all 6 totes ( I pad premium brick & mortar prices so I could measure first) and another $30 for the nets. they kept EVERYTHING (And a ginormous suitcase) very securely in place all the way from Tejas to Toronto.

My Draw-Tite 75235 Class III receiver hitch was US$130 from Uhaul; they were cheapest by far at the time.

mnem
 

Putting a hitch on my old Escape was one of the smartest things I ever did - it comes in handy so often.  Surprisingly the most common use case has been towing other people out of snow drifts etc.! 

Here's my wife's Rav4 with the fanny pack in place; earning its keep this afternoon. Picked this up and zipped it home before the guy came to his senses, just beating all the rush hour traffic. 

Given that I just saved several hundred pesos on the lawncare equipment buying fixer-uppers and fixing them up, I decided to splurge when I found this like-new Craftsman/Ariens machine going much too cheap on Kijiji; decided to get the one that I could just plug & start and was 100% ready to go to work, so I wouldn't be trying to beat the cold weather fixing a machine that I'd never seen run right.

mnem
Choose your battles.

They wouldn't be allowed over here without additional signal lighting as they protrude too far beyond the rear of the vehicle. A trailer and tarp would be easier for us.......and more useful. 

I also think that would be illegal here as well for the same reason and also might be way to much overhang from the back of the vehicle to comply with British law?

[mnementh]

NOT on the bench tonight: Craftsman 24" Snowblower

      

YALBOA: I was looking for a fixer-upper in this size range; found mostly smaller ones ready to use but showing wear going around $350-$400. This guy bit on a $450 offer, so I scooted on down to see if it really was as good as it looked in pictures. It had all the features I wanted; wide-track tires so I could drive it across the backyard from the shed, electric start, slightly oversize engine for the auger width (nowadays they try to push a 27in machine with the same 6.5HP OHV engine in this one), vario drive and dash-mounted chute control.  So I made a crazy low offer and he took it!

When I got there it really was better than advertised; aside from a little wear on the skags and a scuff or two on the paint, it looked like it just came off the floor at Sears. Green paint tells me it was prior to the collapse; everything they sell now is MTD red.  I felt the block; it was stone-cold when he started it on the first pull. We tested the electric start, auger and vario in FW/Rev, and everything smooth and remarkably quiet with that huge muffler.

So now that's one less concern; I can finish the lawnwork and building my 2nd shed without having to worry that the snow season is just around the corner and WTF AM I GONNA DO?!?

That peace of mind is def worth ~US$340 to me... glad I was able to shop it now instead of a month from now, when you won't be able to touch anything that runs for less than a grand.

mnem
"Ouchies, Mister Sqweek..."

[SkyMaster]

Here's my wife's Rav4 with the fanny pack in place; earning its keep this afternoon. Picked this up and zipped it home before the guy came to his senses, just beating all the rush hour traffic. 

Given that I just saved several hundred pesos on the lawncare equipment buying fixer-uppers and fixing them up, I decided to splurge when I found this like-new Craftsman/Ariens machine going much too cheap on Kijiji; decided to get the one that I could just plug & start and was 100% ready to go to work, so I wouldn't be trying to beat the cold weather fixing a machine that I'd never seen run right.

mnem
Choose your battles.

They wouldn't be allowed over here without additional signal lighting as they protrude too far beyond the rear of the vehicle. A trailer and tarp would be easier for us.......and more useful. 

I also think that would be illegal here as well for the same reason and also might be way to much overhang from the back of the vehicle to comply with British law?

I do not know in which province mnementh is living, but in the province of Quebec the limit is one meter. When exceeding one meter, a red flag is required, and during the night a red light is required. mnementh snowblower is filling the basket and I doubt his "new" snowblower is that wide, even when taking into account the distance between the vehicle and the basket.

So, probably legal but since the average driver is not looking very far past the hood of his car; adding lights could be is a good idea.

 

[mnementh]

   Here's my wife's Rav4 with the fanny pack in place; earning its keep this afternoon.

Picked this up and zipped it home before the guy came to his senses, just beating all the rush hour traffic. 

Given that I just saved several hundred pesos on the lawncare equipment buying fixer-uppers and fixing them up, I decided to splurge when I found this like-new Craftsman/Ariens machine going much too cheap on Kijiji; decided to get the one that I could just plug & start and was 100% ready to go to work, so I wouldn't be trying to beat the cold weather fixing a machine that I'd never seen run right.

mnem
Choose your battles.

They wouldn't be allowed over here without additional signal lighting as they protrude too far beyond the rear of the vehicle. A trailer and tarp would be easier for us.......and more useful. 

I also think that would be illegal here as well for the same reason and also might be way to much overhang from the back of the vehicle to comply with British law?

Much less than one meter; 32" from the bumper. The oval rings built into the frame are for lights if you're anal about such things; the lights steal away approx 3.5 inches of cargo depth, which would interfere with my totes. As my original setup with totes does not interfere with the stock lights, I wrapped the entire periphery in reflective tape strips for safety's sake.

mnem

[mnementh]

They wouldn't be allowed over here without additional signal lighting as they protrude too far beyond the rear of the vehicle. A trailer and tarp would be easier for us.......and more useful. 

The primary value of the thing is just how much of a PITA it isn't.  It lets me get things I normally would want my pickup for, but stays neatly away in the corner of the garage taking up only a few inches of real estate against the back wall. Hooking it up takes 90 seconds; and most of that is fiddling with the lock on the pin.

Also... I can leave the damn thing on there if I need to use it a couple days in a row, and my wife will still drive it without bugging me to take it off 6 times a day. 

I HAD a nice 5' x 8' trailer... I got rid of it when we moved and bought this thing. Absolutely ZERO regrets. 

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

I think Tautech's primary concern would be "How many spare sheep can I get into this?". 

[mnementh]

mnem
Now I remember why I keep coming back here... and it's not just for my daily dose of abuse...