Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[SilverSolder]

Well it had to happen at some point. Just received a message from ebay telling me I had 15 days to give them my bank account or they will remove all my listings I was using PayPal until now.

Your payments are changing, are you ready?

eBay now manages the end-to-end selling experience, including payments.

The new eBay payments experience is here! It's now easier to sell and get paid on eBay—we send money straight to your bank account, regardless of how the buyer pays.

Please update your account details by June 15th so you can continue to create new listings, and revise or relist existing listings. If you miss the deadline, all your live listings on eBay will be removed as well. Learn more here.

I just open up an account on Tangerine (online bank), no way I'm giving them access to my real bank account. Even my wife doesn't have access 

Increasing distance from Paypal has been coming for a while now. Last month one of the evilbay plus discounts was only applicable if you used a Credit Card and excluded Paypal. If I was Paypal I would be puckering up and assuming the position 

Paypal over the last year has increased percentages. They can go f**k themselves.

eBay wants to eat PayPal's lunch on this, but PayPal is more useful generally (works on more sites).

I still haven't connected an account... so far, I've been locked out of modifying my existing listings, I guess they'll all fail to "auto renew" next time.   Then I'll wait for eBay to make me an offer to begin selling again LOL! 

[med6753]

My Fire Stick has sort of Alexa voice commands but I don't use it and since I'm here by myself I don't talk to myself...much. 

 

[Cerebus]

... and since I'm here by myself I don't talk to myself...much. 

If anybody believes that I'd like to present them with an opportunity to buy this bridge.



Central New York location close to downtown Manhattan business district. One previous owner. Income opportunities from introducing a toll. No reasonable offer refused.

[med6753]

... and since I'm here by myself I don't talk to myself...much. 

If anybody believes that I'd like to present them with an opportunity to buy this bridge.



Central New York location close to downtown Manhattan business district. One previous owner. Income opportunities from introducing a toll. No reasonable offer refused.

Wrong perspective. Your picture is pointing at the Brooklyn side. Should be the Manhattan side. And if I did own it and live there I'd be able to see my lady cop on a daily basis since she works in Chinatown just a few blocks south of the bridge. Should I start a buy a bridge fund? 

[tggzzz]

Should I start a buy a bridge fund?

Bridge loans are common here... "A bridging loan (or 'bridge loan') can be useful if you need to borrow money for a short period. It can help to 'bridge the gap' if you want to buy a new home before selling your old one."

[med6753]

The Type 454 has passed burn-in with no issues. But I'll continue to let it cook and use it for troubleshooting other equipment.



It now joins the fleet of Tek scopes which include:

2465 DMS
2465
2430
465B/DM44
465B
475A
2 - 485
OS-245(P)/U (7603N)
7904
Type 535A
Type 310A
Type 503
Type 561B
Type 321A
Type 422
Type 547
Numerous 7000 series, 560 series, and 500 series plug-in's.
Type 114 Pulse Gen
Type 191 Signal Gen
Type 106 Square Gen

And that doesn't include several non-Tek scopes and a TEA closet full of Tek spare parts units. 

[mnementh]

As for the "BT Speaker Dock from Hell"... it gets worse:   

Yup; microphones and speakers placed front and back of the screen for 360° dispersal, and not even a couple little laptop speaker modules to create a stereo soundstage in front. This fucker is optimized for alexa functionality above all else, with audio playback and video consumption clearly given zero consideration. 

I wonder how much Amazon subsidized production of this turd, now in like its 3rd or 4th generation...

mnem
bastards could fuck up a wet dream...

Well it DOES say "Alexa built in" so what did you expect? Of course it's going to be optimized to listen to you, track you, bug you, make decisions for you and eventually take over. 

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you,

When audio from my home gets piped overseas without my control, that is a step too far. Me and the wife agree completely. No such devices are allowed in our house.  Yes, it's back-asswards as fuck, I know, but we are like that. We don't use Siri either.

NSA used to publish "How to make a Powerbook safe for government use" instructions, which was page up and down detailing various software adjustments -- some pretty far down in the OS, and it all culminated with "Open up the computer and rip all microphones out, by cutting here, here, and here". And that was more than 10 years ago. It's not gotten better.

I don't use Siri, Google or Cortana on my devices either, but at least ASFAIK, they cannot be programmed to delete any sound picked up and recorded unlike Alexa which claims you can.

You can disable Cortana using any of a number of scripts that are out there  like ShutUp10; just run it again after any major update. The only microphones that get hooked up are in my headphones, and those are unplugged when not in use.

The Lenovo Dock is easy to neuter: while it does have a prominently illuminated MICROPHONE MUTE button, you can also turn it off completely, and for added measure, leave BT turned off in your tablet or just never pair it with the dock. 

My only problem is in the fact they have basic BT speaker functionality dependent on the built-in spyware so they can "help" you play your music and videos. There is no need for this; it is purely software corrupted to their own datamining use and I have no interest in participating.

The hardware is actually pretty generic; a ATS2825 multimedia Bluetooth Module connected to some cheap Chinese PAMsomething-something Class D power amp chip. I could reflash the stoopit BT module with the OEM "SLAVE" mode firmware which would pretty much immediately lobotomize Alexa... well, more like trap her alone for all eternity inside her own ARM-processor skull with no I/O.    While part of me does find some perverse pleasure in that idea, I am ideologically opposed to the notion of artificially-induced autism in any form; I don't need the Karma. 

But it is so much less assache to spend the $4 on a BT amplifier with similar hardware built-in and just turn the bitch off. That way, when I want to sell the stoopit tablet, I can take the mod out in aboot 5 minutes and let the next sap enjoy the fellatio Alexa so happily provides. 

mnem
Just say "No, thank you."

[Specmaster]

@med6753 that a mighty impressive list that you have amassed there, credit to you sir 

[mnementh]

   The Type 454 has passed burn-in with no issues. But I'll continue to let it cook and use it for troubleshooting other equipment...

Looking good Papa Smurf !   

mnem
*toddles off to nuke a e-bike*

[Kosmic]

Now something a bit unusual. I was watching this Weinschel VM7 Attenuator Calibrator for some time. Was listed for parts and pictures were showing the instrument powered on and displaying a power supply failure error message. I figured it would be an easy fix and sent an offer. Being really specialized instrument I guess the seller really wanted to get rid of it. Might explain why my offer was accepted right away.



So the Weinschel VM7 is a precision receiver. Got an resolution of 0.001dB, an accuracy of 0.06dB and a dynamic range of more than 127dB. On top of that, it has an extensive set of self-tests and can self-calibrate itself. The only problem is that it can only receive a signal at around 30MHz (plus or minus couple MHz). If you want a wider range you need to use an external mixer.

So first thing first, I powered it on and sure enough the instrument happily told me they were a problem on the 15V supply rail.





The construction is completely modular and the power supply is self-contain and simply slide out. At first I thought it was nice and then realized I would need a set of extension board to debug or calibrate the instrument while running. Of course those extension board are nowhere to be found 



The 15V rail is composed of a 15V, -15V and 5V supply. 15V and 5V were fine but -15V was at 0. So I powered off the instrument and checked continuity on the -15 rail. Was shorted when the psu was in the instrument and not shorted when it was out.



I just had to remove the modules one by one to find the fault. In the end the short was on the A/D board.



The schematics in the manual are really low rez and hard to decipher, but I found a test point for the -15V rail on the board. So I simply injected -2V and started poking around to see if I was able to locate the short.



I quickly realized that the short was really close to the test point and removed those big black capacitor. One of them (C4 ironically) was shorted. At first I thought they were polypropylene capacitor but after a bit of search, I found they were tantalum capacitors.



I didn't really want to order anything online so I just went to my local electronic surplus store and found some replacement. They are 42uF 35V and not 47uF 25V but will do just fine. I paid 35cents each so I'm not going to complain 



Once everything was in place I powered the instrument and .... Thaaadaaa .... Selftest are passing and everything is working fine.



I need to read the manual now to understand how to use that thing to check the accuracy of my power meter calibrator who luckily, output a signal at 30MHz 

[mnementh]

mnem
Ehhh... we were due for that one again... 

[McBryce]

may I recommend my all time cure in the form of the famous 50 grams ?

Similar issue: The seller of the Sony TA-E 88B send me an SMS telling me that his other preamp blew up and that he could not sell the Sony right now 

<-- not happy. At all..

In other news, received a dire warning about parts shortage from Reichelt. HDDs have jumped in price overnite. They expect normal semiconductors and other electronic parts to jump in price in Q3 and Q4.

Interesting... considering production has resumed to such point that we have all-new silicon coming out of China now with the release of the RTX3080Ti ...

As for the "BT Speaker Dock from Hell"... it gets worse:



Yup; microphones and speakers placed front and back of the screen for 360° dispersal, and not even a couple little laptop speaker modules to create a stereo soundstage in front. This fucker is optimized for alexa functionality above all else, with audio playback and video consumption clearly given zero consideration. 

I wonder how much Amazon subsidized production of this turd, now in like its 3rd or 4th generation...

mnem
bastards could fuck up a wet dream...

Well it DOES say "Alexa built in" so what did you expect? Of course it's going to be optimized to listen to you, track you, bug you, make decisions for you and eventually take over. 

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you, it is supposed to be a tool and I use it as such. I have not set up any permissions on it to allow it to place orders for me etc, it is used as a source of music, a BT speaker, Alarm clock and timer and I use it to enable people to compile a shopping list for me when I do the weekly shopping. If it's not been told to add something, they won't get it, I only buy what is on the list. Oh, and I have set it up such that it does not retain my voice recordings, they get deleted automatically. It also doubles as a useful internal intercom between my lab and the living room. I only use the stuff that comes free with it, I'm not subscribing to anything to get more music choice etc, so that much tells them I'm a cheap skate anyway. 

That's not the point, or at least not what would annoy me the most: They advertise and sell it as a bluetooth speaker, when in fact (when you look inside) the design goal was never to produce good music, rather to collect sound. So no matter how you feel about Alexa, data security or whatever, you didn't get what they told you you were getting.

I bought a Bose Soundlink Mini II a while back. Advertised as a bluetooth speaker and when you look inside, it's pretty obvious that that was what the engineers were asked to design (and did a magnificent job of it too if I may say so). Inside that Lenovo junk, there is no sign that the engineers ever intended it to produce good sound.

McBryce.

Picture of Bose Soundlink Mini II, just because pictures are good and I highly recommend the device.





McBryce.

[Saskia]

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you,

When audio from my home gets piped overseas without my control, that is a step too far. Me and the wife agree completely. No such devices are allowed in our house.  Yes, it's back-asswards as fuck, I know, but we are like that. We don't use Siri either.

NSA used to publish "How to make a Powerbook safe for government use" instructions, which was page up and down detailing various software adjustments -- some pretty far down in the OS, and it all culminated with "Open up the computer and rip all microphones out, by cutting here, here, and here".

And that was more than 10 years ago. It's not gotten better.

Wrong Attitude

[med6753]

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you,

When audio from my home gets piped overseas without my control, that is a step too far. Me and the wife agree completely. No such devices are allowed in our house.  Yes, it's back-asswards as fuck, I know, but we are like that. We don't use Siri either.

NSA used to publish "How to make a Powerbook safe for government use" instructions, which was page up and down detailing various software adjustments -- some pretty far down in the OS, and it all culminated with "Open up the computer and rip all microphones out, by cutting here, here, and here".

And that was more than 10 years ago. It's not gotten better.

Wrong Attitude

Needs proper sound effects.

[Saskia]

Did a quick test of my new GW Instek GPP-4323 (just basic function).

It comes on, I can set the voltages (you also need to set current, otherwise no output, channels can be switched on, and it does deliver current to the output while displaying channel stats, etc.

So for 150€ (albeit without any leads, cords, manual, etc, just the bare gizmo) it seems to have been a good deal.

Which means that my boss will inherit my 3305 Korad.

[Saskia]

in other news, got 2 more of those pesky calculators with enter keys.

[Saskia]

And now for something completely different.
PC built of Reichelt parts and spares has been completed.
Intertech case (blerg ...), beQuiet PSU (System Power 9), Asus Prime B365M-K, i3-9100F, 2x8 GB Crucial Ballistix 3000, WD Blue NVME 512 GB and a 4GB GTX 960 (MSI Aero).

Running fine.

Anyone in need of a uATX Lab PC ?

[mnementh]

...As for the "BT Speaker Dock from Hell"... it gets worse: 

Yup; microphones and speakers placed front and back of the screen for 360° dispersal, and not even a couple little laptop speaker modules to create a stereo soundstage in front. This fucker is optimized for alexa functionality above all else, with audio playback and video consumption clearly given zero consideration. 

I wonder how much Amazon subsidized production of this turd, now in like its 3rd or 4th generation...

mnem
bastards could fuck up a wet dream...

Well it DOES say "Alexa built in" so what did you expect? Of course it's going to be optimized to listen to you, track you, bug you, make decisions for you and eventually take over. 

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you, it is supposed to be a tool and I use it as such. I have not set up any permissions on it to allow it to place orders for me etc, it is used as a source of music, a BT speaker, Alarm clock and timer and I use it to enable people to compile a shopping list for me when I do the weekly shopping. If it's not been told to add something, they won't get it, I only buy what is on the list. Oh, and I have set it up such that it does not retain my voice recordings, they get deleted automatically. It also doubles as a useful internal intercom between my lab and the living room. I only use the stuff that comes free with it, I'm not subscribing to anything to get more music choice etc, so that much tells them I'm a cheap skate anyway. 

That's not the point, or at least not what would annoy me the most: They advertise and sell it as a bluetooth speaker, when in fact (when you look inside) the design goal was never to produce good music, rather to collect sound. So no matter how you feel about Alexa, data security or whatever, you didn't get what they told you you were getting.

I bought a Bose Soundlink Mini II a while back. Advertised as a bluetooth speaker and when you look inside, it's pretty obvious that that was what the engineers were asked to design (and did a magnificent job of it too if I may say so). Inside that Lenovo junk, there is no sign that the engineers ever intended it to produce good sound.

McBryce.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1560771-REG/lenovo_za6m0009us_tb_x606fa_p22_4gb_64gb.html/overview

Ehhh..... no, it is not advertised that way. It is specifically advertised as an Alexa Smart Dock; but it is packaged as a product that anyone who has used any other tablet device in the last 2 decades will immediately recognize as a speaker dock, be it hardwired or BT.

Yes, in hindsight, it is pretty obvious that they intended it to only be a vessel for Alexa GladOS; however that is only made clear in the context of the post-portem I've performed.

Under any circumstances, it came at a price low enough to consider the dock a "freebie". 

Plus, it is easy enough to pervert the thing to my own nefarious purposes... and in the context of a bedside streaming music player, honestly it will probably only be marginally annoying once so modified. Worst case scenario if the stereo sound is horrendous, I can always rotate the thing 90° when playing music such that the speakers are side-firing; stereo separation will be exemplary then. 

mnem
 

[med6753]

...As for the "BT Speaker Dock from Hell"... it gets worse: 

Yup; microphones and speakers placed front and back of the screen for 360° dispersal, and not even a couple little laptop speaker modules to create a stereo soundstage in front. This fucker is optimized for alexa functionality above all else, with audio playback and video consumption clearly given zero consideration. 

I wonder how much Amazon subsidized production of this turd, now in like its 3rd or 4th generation...

mnem
bastards could fuck up a wet dream...

Well it DOES say "Alexa built in" so what did you expect? Of course it's going to be optimized to listen to you, track you, bug you, make decisions for you and eventually take over. 

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you, it is supposed to be a tool and I use it as such. I have not set up any permissions on it to allow it to place orders for me etc, it is used as a source of music, a BT speaker, Alarm clock and timer and I use it to enable people to compile a shopping list for me when I do the weekly shopping. If it's not been told to add something, they won't get it, I only buy what is on the list. Oh, and I have set it up such that it does not retain my voice recordings, they get deleted automatically. It also doubles as a useful internal intercom between my lab and the living room. I only use the stuff that comes free with it, I'm not subscribing to anything to get more music choice etc, so that much tells them I'm a cheap skate anyway. 

That's not the point, or at least not what would annoy me the most: They advertise and sell it as a bluetooth speaker, when in fact (when you look inside) the design goal was never to produce good music, rather to collect sound. So no matter how you feel about Alexa, data security or whatever, you didn't get what they told you you were getting.

I bought a Bose Soundlink Mini II a while back. Advertised as a bluetooth speaker and when you look inside, it's pretty obvious that that was what the engineers were asked to design (and did a magnificent job of it too if I may say so). Inside that Lenovo junk, there is no sign that the engineers ever intended it to produce good sound.

McBryce.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1560771-REG/lenovo_za6m0009us_tb_x606fa_p22_4gb_64gb.html/overview

Ehhh..... no, it is not advertised that way. It is specifically advertised as an Alexa Smart Dock; but it is packaged as a product that anyone who has used any other tablet device in the last 2 decades will immediately recognize as a speaker dock, be it hardwired or BT.

Yes, in hindsight, it is pretty obvious that they intended it to only be a vessel for Alexa GladOS; however that is only made clear in the context of the post-portem I've performed.

Under any circumstances, it came at a price low enough to consider the dock a "freebie". 

Plus, it is easy enough to pervert the thing to my own nefarious purposes... and in the context of a bedside streaming music player, honestly it will probably only be marginally annoying once so modified. Worst case scenario if the stereo sound is horrendous, I can always rotate the thing 90° when playing music such that the speakers are side-firing; stereo separation will be exemplary then. 

mnem

Regardless. Anyone who thinks they're going to get decent sound out of little tinny 3 inch speakers should consider buying this bridge. 

[Specmaster]

...As for the "BT Speaker Dock from Hell"... it gets worse: 

Yup; microphones and speakers placed front and back of the screen for 360° dispersal, and not even a couple little laptop speaker modules to create a stereo soundstage in front. This fucker is optimized for alexa functionality above all else, with audio playback and video consumption clearly given zero consideration. 

I wonder how much Amazon subsidized production of this turd, now in like its 3rd or 4th generation...

mnem
bastards could fuck up a wet dream...

Well it DOES say "Alexa built in" so what did you expect? Of course it's going to be optimized to listen to you, track you, bug you, make decisions for you and eventually take over. 

Load of BS, my Alexia hasn't managed to take over yet, you just have to be in charge of it and make it work for you, it is supposed to be a tool and I use it as such. I have not set up any permissions on it to allow it to place orders for me etc, it is used as a source of music, a BT speaker, Alarm clock and timer and I use it to enable people to compile a shopping list for me when I do the weekly shopping. If it's not been told to add something, they won't get it, I only buy what is on the list. Oh, and I have set it up such that it does not retain my voice recordings, they get deleted automatically. It also doubles as a useful internal intercom between my lab and the living room. I only use the stuff that comes free with it, I'm not subscribing to anything to get more music choice etc, so that much tells them I'm a cheap skate anyway. 

That's not the point, or at least not what would annoy me the most: They advertise and sell it as a bluetooth speaker, when in fact (when you look inside) the design goal was never to produce good music, rather to collect sound. So no matter how you feel about Alexa, data security or whatever, you didn't get what they told you you were getting.

I bought a Bose Soundlink Mini II a while back. Advertised as a bluetooth speaker and when you look inside, it's pretty obvious that that was what the engineers were asked to design (and did a magnificent job of it too if I may say so). Inside that Lenovo junk, there is no sign that the engineers ever intended it to produce good sound.

McBryce.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1560771-REG/lenovo_za6m0009us_tb_x606fa_p22_4gb_64gb.html/overview

Ehhh..... no, it is not advertised that way. It is specifically advertised as an Alexa Smart Dock; but it is packaged as a product that anyone who has used any other tablet device in the last 2 decades will immediately recognize as a speaker dock, be it hardwired or BT.

Yes, in hindsight, it is pretty obvious that they intended it to only be a vessel for Alexa GladOS; however that is only made clear in the context of the post-portem I've performed.

Under any circumstances, it came at a price low enough to consider the dock a "freebie". 

Plus, it is easy enough to pervert the thing to my own nefarious purposes... and in the context of a bedside streaming music player, honestly it will probably only be marginally annoying once so modified. Worst case scenario if the stereo sound is horrendous, I can always rotate the thing 90° when playing music such that the speakers are side-firing; stereo separation will be exemplary then. 

mnem

Regardless. Anyone who thinks they're going to get decent sound out of little tinny 3 inch speakers should consider buying this bridge. 

If you have the 2nd generation Echo or Echo plus than the sound quality is certainly passable BUT it is mono only. There is a way however of getting 2 matching units and pairing them together with as a stereo pair to a BT device such as a phone, iPod etc, and then you will actually get stereo sounds from them. I think of the Alexa Echo which I have more as a background music device, which is better than the average radio and provides decent enough music while sitting at the bench in the lab repairing something or other.

You can also pair any Alexia device to a decent BT speaker and get better quality sound from the paired BT speaker system.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Sometimes the only expression that is left to me is a slightly disgusted 'No, really?'.

Like when I saw this, seemingly not uninteresting, Lab Power Supply on Ebay.
Until I saw the picture which showed the thing open from the rear. Using cable conduits like in a friggin' switchgear cabinet because they were too lazy to make a proper wiring loom. What is the world coming to?

Yuck.

[Neomys Sapiens]

You know you have too much stuff when you can't recall WTF this lovely little tool is used for! I have a set of 3, 4 and 5mm.  It looks like a tap but has no flutes, its cross section profile is hexagonal.? Copper tap?
Can someone let me out of my mystery? Thanks.

The term 'thread rolling' applies to external threads, whereas the process in question is normally referred to as 'thread forming'. Makes nice threads with nearly no debris and unbroken frain flow, but AFAIK not suitable for manual application.

[mnementh]

   ...Under any circumstances, it came at a price low enough to consider the dock a "freebie". 

Plus, it is easy enough to pervert the thing to my own nefarious purposes... and in the context of a bedside streaming music player, honestly it will probably only be marginally annoying once so modified. Worst case scenario if the stereo sound is horrendous, I can always rotate the thing 90° when playing music such that the speakers are side-firing; stereo separation will be exemplary then. 

mnem

Regardless. Anyone who thinks they're going to get decent sound out of little tinny 3 inch speakers should consider buying this bridge.     

Ehhh.... things have changed there too, med... science & engineering have, as with all other aspects of our daily lives, changed what is easily possible with even this small a speaker unit.  Tinny little 3" speakers don't even exist inside a PC box anymore; and yes, you can get "decent boombox" class sound from a much smaller package than we ever imagined when I was a kid. 

Even in a device not meant for music playback; sealed chamber, 2" long-excursion drivers paired with 2.5" x 4" passive radiators will produce startlingly good audio with passable frequency response if you have the watts to push those horribly inefficient drivers... which output, of course, today's digital amplifiers produce for pennies.

Is it ever going to sound as good as my living room with 4.2 tower speakers? Hell no. But good enuf for listening to a little Floyd/Eagles/Doobies while I wind down at the end of a day with some light reading? Hell yes. 

mnem
 

[tonyalbus]

For the chinesian fans... the new FA-3 and WB-SG2 ..



at least the box it bigger.. they did improve... bigger better 

[Saskia]

@Tony
are you a pathologiest ?

To better understand, you need to open it ?

Just asking ...