Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[wolfy007]

I lost one of my tools, it's a cheap endoscope camera.
The concept I bought it with my hard work money and then I can't put my hands on it simply drive me 100% nuts.

Surely hidden in one of those boxes on the floor.

Don't know about you, but I can't do anything else until I find the lost one...

Matthew 18:10-14

  afasdfhlasjhflasjdfhlasjfhlasjdhflasjhfljashdlfkjahsldfkjhasldfjh 

Or you could do what I do, buy another one and I guarantee you the old one will show up....   

[Cubdriver]

I lost one of my tools, it's a cheap endoscope camera.
The concept I bought it with my hard work money and then I can't put my hands on it simply drive me 100% nuts.

Surely hidden in one of those boxes on the floor.

Don't know about you, but I can't do anything else until I find the lost one...

Matthew 18:10-14

  afasdfhlasjhflasjdfhlasjfhlasjdhflasjhfljashdlfkjahsldfkjhasldfjh 

Or you could do what I do, buy another one and I guarantee you the old one will show up....   

But not until you’ve opened the new one and discarded the packaging, or the return window has closed.

-Pat

[bd139]

ordered a particle accelerator. Will try to attain 1050 m/s ...

C4? CRT/Valve? Rocket?

I think that Tautech is right on target with his assumption (pun intended).

Yep the gal is a gun nut too.
What will be interesting is how heavy the particle is she's attempting to accelerate to 1050m/s. 

 

Oh hell that just gave me flashbacks to glycerin suppositories.

HP 427A cable parts arriving today. Might make some progress on that if I get some time.

[Robert763]

Won a couple of R&S CRM33radio test sets at the Ramco auction yesterday. Main aim is to get one complete kit for myself and flip the other two for a profit. Seems another winning bidder at the Ramco auction is very keen for a quick flip. They have listed two already using the imges from the Ramco auction 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439750554?
The images are from lot 959
https://auctions.ramco.uk/auctions/8182/ramco-10386/lot-details/f9278371-1396-42bc-b153-ae8e0079c47c

EDIT: He has a couple of spectrum analysers too www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439729625

Listed as used but he can't even have them to hand yet. Bit naughty really.

[tggzzz]

Won a couple of R&S CRM33radio test sets at the Ramco auction yesterday. Main aim is to get one complete kit for myself and flip the other two for a profit. Seems another winning bidder at the Ramco auction is very keen for a quick flip. They have listed two already using the imges from the Ramco auction 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439750554?
The images are from lot 959
https://auctions.ramco.uk/auctions/8182/ramco-10386/lot-details/f9278371-1396-42bc-b153-ae8e0079c47c

EDIT: He has a couple of spectrum analysers too www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439729625

Listed as used but he can't even have them to hand yet. Bit naughty really.

Also states "UK NEXT DAY DELIVERY FOR ORDERS PLACED BEFORE 2 PM".

I've asked him if I can pick it up today, before the long weekend

That's a vendor to avoid.

[Specmaster]

Not as creepy as the Amazon supermarket that opened near me recently. You walk into it, scan your phone app, put stuff in a basket and walk out and it charges you later. It does this using cameras and ML to see what you put in your basket. I suspect when uncertainty occurs that it subcontracts the decision as to what you took to some poor dude in an Indian sweatshop behind Amazon Mechanical Turk.

And no I won't use it. The engineer and IT guy in me knows where this leads.

It should be difficult to spend money. Even debit and credit debt cards are a step in the wrong direction.

Most of my transactions are either a card on my Savings account*, or by Online Banking on the same account, using a system called BPay.
* I hesitate to call it a debit card, as most "debit cards I have seen advertised require you to put a set amount into it, rather than to access your main account.
I have a Paypal account I have used exactly once!

All that easy stuff & I still have "short arms & long pockets"!

Hmm... I won't even use one of those self scan tills if I can possibly avoid it, I object to being complicit in putting more money into some fat cats pocket at the expense of someone's job. Our local Asda and Sainsburys have now almost done away with manned tills FFS. They might have been low paid jobs but they did provide some support to some people.

[Robert763]

Won a couple of R&S CRM33radio test sets at the Ramco auction yesterday. Main aim is to get one complete kit for myself and flip the other two for a profit. Seems another winning bidder at the Ramco auction is very keen for a quick flip. They have listed two already using the imges from the Ramco auction 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439750554?
The images are from lot 959
https://auctions.ramco.uk/auctions/8182/ramco-10386/lot-details/f9278371-1396-42bc-b153-ae8e0079c47c

EDIT: He has a couple of spectrum analysers too www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439729625

Listed as used but he can't even have them to hand yet. Bit naughty really.

Also states "UK NEXT DAY DELIVERY FOR ORDERS PLACED BEFORE 2 PM".

I've asked him if I can pick it up today, before the long weekend

That's a vendor to avoid.

I asked the same question. Surprisingly he has 100% feedback dispite apparently knowing little about the products. I guess he does good returns or is very lucky.

[Specmaster]

Won a couple of R&S CRM33radio test sets at the Ramco auction yesterday. Main aim is to get one complete kit for myself and flip the other two for a profit. Seems another winning bidder at the Ramco auction is very keen for a quick flip. They have listed two already using the imges from the Ramco auction 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439750554?
The images are from lot 959
https://auctions.ramco.uk/auctions/8182/ramco-10386/lot-details/f9278371-1396-42bc-b153-ae8e0079c47c

EDIT: He has a couple of spectrum analysers too www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439729625

Listed as used but he can't even have them to hand yet. Bit naughty really.

Also states "UK NEXT DAY DELIVERY FOR ORDERS PLACED BEFORE 2 PM".

I've asked him if I can pick it up today, before the long weekend

That's a vendor to avoid.

More than likely say yes to your request and then proceed to give you the address of Ramco (if you paid) 

[Specmaster]

Oh hell that just gave me flashbacks to glycerin suppositories.

Just need the one of those to cure you permanently 

[med6753]

Oh hell that just gave me flashbacks to glycerin suppositories.

Just need the one of those to cure you permanently 

They were that big? 

[bd139]

Not as creepy as the Amazon supermarket that opened near me recently. You walk into it, scan your phone app, put stuff in a basket and walk out and it charges you later. It does this using cameras and ML to see what you put in your basket. I suspect when uncertainty occurs that it subcontracts the decision as to what you took to some poor dude in an Indian sweatshop behind Amazon Mechanical Turk.

And no I won't use it. The engineer and IT guy in me knows where this leads.

It should be difficult to spend money. Even debit and credit debt cards are a step in the wrong direction.

Most of my transactions are either a card on my Savings account*, or by Online Banking on the same account, using a system called BPay.
* I hesitate to call it a debit card, as most "debit cards I have seen advertised require you to put a set amount into it, rather than to access your main account.
I have a Paypal account I have used exactly once!

All that easy stuff & I still have "short arms & long pockets"!

Hmm... I won't even use one of those self scan tills if I can possibly avoid it, I object to being complicit in putting more money into some fat cats pocket at the expense of someone's job. Our local Asda and Sainsburys have now almost done away with manned tills FFS. They might have been low paid jobs but they did provide some support to some people.

Self service tills are fine if you ask me. As are reducing the number of people in work with jobs.

The elephant in the room is we don’t need everyone to work so we need to get out of the mindset that work is the only value you have in life and that not working is criminal in some way. Start issuing universal basic income, fund education properly and crush poverty. If only 10% of people get out of menial work that exists for the sake of it existing and are given the freedom to be educated then we’re in a much better place as society.

My complaints on the amazon shops were mostly about the non-determinism of being charged after the fact about their interpretation of what you bought. If anything goes wrong you have to argue with them. Which is insane.

[bd139]

Oh hell that just gave me flashbacks to glycerin suppositories.

Just need the one of those to cure you permanently 

They were that big? 

Felt like it 

[Specmaster]

I may just pop back on the bench later that monitor, following advice from another forum member (different forum), the PWM chip that I replaced could also be faulty, suggested that I probe the output pin to see if it is attempting to start the SMPS or not.

[tautech]

I may just pop back on the bench later that monitor, following advice from another forum member (different forum), the PWM chip that I replaced could also be faulty, suggested that I probe the output pin to see if it is attempting to start the SMPS or not.

2 tricks for these.....check its VCC pin reaches normal operating voltage after being mains powered and that it's not in UVLO mode. This might point to a failed flyback diode or stuffed VCC cap.
Check for output waveform when powered by a PSU and not mains.

[nixiefreqq]

"Eggs... They're from a chicken's arse!" ~grand-dad

The old man knew how to make us kids clean our plates at breakfast, all right...

mnem
"And don't you dare waste a bite of that pig-butt, or I'll bite your butts!"  Okay, maybe that bit wasn't as funny as I remember... 

Say, any connection???   

Grand-dad usedta joke that a Polack uses every bit o' the pig except the squeal; however even he preferred them a little better cooked than that. 

mnem
also smoked & salted.

'every bit of a pig' reminded me of the following:
There is a German sweet pastry called a 'Schweinsohr' (Pig's ear).
I once told a young girl which had just started to work at a bakery which I frequented regularely that it is an established custom to answer every customer who demands a Schweinsohr with the sentence 'Why? You already have two of them!'

ahhhhhh.  you gave me a flashback.

every morning a carload of us would leave kelley barracks and head for patch barracks. 
there was a bakery half way between that was an obligatory stop.
no pastry made it thru the gate at patch.  have a memory that when i turned in the rental car at the airport they charged me extra for crumb removal.

stuttgart.........what a great town.

[bd139]

Quick 427A check out. Mostly works once the crusty trimmers were exercised.

Battery option eviscerated. However the thing pops up at 63 volts across the regulator board on power up which is quite a bit higher than I was expecting. Not sure if that is normal based on the usual 22.5V battery required so will tread carefully here.

I am considering actually replacing the whole mains side with a USB hole, charger IC, Li-ion back and boost converter to 22.5V.

Edit: looking at the SM the main filter cap is rated 40V so that ain’t right 🤣

[nixiefreqq]

"we need to get out of the mindset that work is the only value you have in life and that not working is criminal in some way. Start issuing universal basic income, fund education properly and crush poverty. If only 10% of people get out of menial work that exists for the sake of it existing and are given the freedom to be educated then we’re in a much better place as society"



eloi and morlocks.    you know where that leads.

[bd139]

eloi and morlocks.    you know where that leads.

Have you lived in America recently? 

[med6753]

Type 1A4 troubleshooting.

Vince, pay attention. 

From yesterday..........

Problem 2: There's a weird relationship with channel 1 and 2 trigger. If I select channel 2 trigger it forces channel 1 trace off screen. But channel 1 trigger select has no affect on channel 2. Channels 3 and 4 do not play these games. Should be fun tracking that down.


When in doubt. RTFM. You never know. The answer just might be contained within those hallowed pages. And wouldn't you know it. It is! Under step 16 "Adjust Trigger Selector DC Balance". But the manual states to insure Step 15 is performed first. "Adjust Variable Balance". So we followed the instructions and lo and behold.....no more dancing traces on the screen when switching the trigger selector. There is however much interaction between those adjustments. But we finally got it. 




Here are the trigger DC balance pots starting with channel 1 at the rear.



All four traces accounted for and despite the noisy vertical position pots are stable as long as you don't fiddle with them. A four channel plug-in is overkill for me anyway. I rarely need more than 2 channels.



Left to do: check and adjust the compensation on all four channels. Should be routine but if something unusual rears it's ugly head I'll post it. 

[Saskia]

"we need to get out of the mindset that work is the only value you have in life and that not working is criminal in some way. Start issuing universal basic income, fund education properly and crush poverty. If only 10% of people get out of menial work that exists for the sake of it existing and are given the freedom to be educated then we’re in a much better place as society"

This does not work as long as
- the rulers have no interest in educating people
- we are fed propaganda to further some agendae (mostly stalinist or excessively liberal)
- a fraction of the population is shouldering the load to actually generate revenue but taxed to a degree where they are sucked dry
- pension entry age for the aforementioned group is raised (again and again) to where you are working until you drop dead and those who do not work profit from that (that's called exploitation)

Example: I am handicapped, Hubby is handicapped. I work up to 10 hours/day, do not get regular lunch breaks. I am paid well, but I keep 2 families afloat. I am getting absolutely NO state or government subsidies or benefits of any kind. My health is deteriorating. Now people want me to support even more folks that have never worked and ask me to work until I drop dead. All under the pretext that I am white and therefore intrinsically racist. Why should I support his ?

but let us not deep dive into that. This will only lead to atonality .

[BU508A]

Please, could we leave the politics outside here?

Thanks.

[Saskia]

this is what I said. I did not start it, and politics will only lead to discord.

[bd139]

And on that note...

Am currently reverse engineering the HP 427A charger and power supply...

[Cerebus]

Hmm... I won't even use one of those self scan tills if I can possibly avoid it, I object to being complicit in putting more money into some fat cats pocket at the expense of someone's job. Our local Asda and Sainsburys have now almost done away with manned tills FFS. They might have been low paid jobs but they did provide some support to some people.

I used to say that, but in all good conscience I can't really claim to any more. I used to queue for the tills on the basis it kept people in work. In the case of people like the Lovely Linda who works on the tills in our 'local'* Sainsburys and has a very mild form of Down's syndrome it might be the difference between a reasonable job and a shit job or even none. Sadly I've been seduced by the ease and calmness of using one of the store's portable scanners, packing my shopping calmly in the right place in the right bag as I go, and when I've finished walking around the store I simply pay and walk out.

I've had a battle with myself about it and resisted for a long time. On the one hand there's the Lindas, and on the other hand there's the Sharons and Darrens who throw my goods at me as they scan them, destroy any order in which I've put them on the conveyer belt mixing frozen food with biscuits, and hard tins with fragile crisps and generally make using a full service checkout something to avoid. So when out of curiosity I finally once tried the scanners you carry around the store with you I was converted. I realised that I could skip the last and most unpleasant 20 minutes of the supermarket experience and haven't looked back. I'm afraid that on this occasion minor selfishness, in the form of an abhorrence of Sharons and Darrens mucking up my carefully organised shopping, has won out over social responsibility.

* local meaning nearly three miles away

[Cerebus]

Oh hell that just gave me flashbacks to glycerin suppositories.

That pictured is more like a nitro-glycerin suppository.