Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

[bd139]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

So basically they made a shit bike, a shit boat and a shit camper in one unit 

Edit: add alestorm

[xrunner]

IT'S THE SAME COLOR AS THAT CHEAP SCOPE YOU GUYS WERE TALKING ABOUT!

 

[Specmaster]

IT'S THE SAME COLOR AS THAT CHEAP SCOPE YOU GUYS WERE TALKING ABOUT!

 

Better get used to it, that's the new TE colour   

[tggzzz]

It takes a lot of time and planning to do even a 5 minute video.

Even for straightforward topics where you don't have to generate the source material (such as front-line war reports), John Simpson reckoned an hour post-processing the material gave you a minute of content.

[tggzzz]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

So basically they made a shit bike, a shit boat and a shit camper in one unit 

That was always one problem with cars that fly. The other is to meet the regulations for both.

[bd139]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

So basically they made a shit bike, a shit boat and a shit camper in one unit 

That was always one problem with cars that fly. The other is to meet the regulations for both.

The problem with cars that fly is that idiots that drive are bad enough. Flying idiots would be even worse.

Edit: although I think flying idiots is better than self driving cars.

[BU508A]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

So basically they made a shit bike, a shit boat and a shit camper in one unit 

That was always one problem with cars that fly. The other is to meet the regulations for both.

The problem with cars that fly is that idiots that drive are bad enough. Flying idiots would be even worse.

Edit: although I think flying idiots is better than self driving cars.

[Specmaster]

Should anyone be remotely interested, in my bathroom refit, the main ripping out, and the installation of the new suite and fan was completed in 2 days, leaving the shower, plastering, tiling, flooring bath panelling and decoration to be done. When they did the survey, I was asked if I needed grab handles etc to be fitted to aid using the bath, I said no, however after using it over the weekend, I quickly changed my mind after I got in and discovered how bloody slippery the new bath actually is. As I climbed in and went to sit down, my feet slid away from me, leaving me hurtling downwards and backwards at a rate of knots, sending a huge tidal wave of water splashing out the back end of it as my arse came crashing down  .

Then came the issue of getting back out, the same problem, the bath was not allowing me to get enough grip to allow me to rise to my feet, so I had to slither about and roll over onto my stomach in order to get on my knees to climb out, very dignified. So today I have said that I wanted the handles after all 

When I told my family about it, they fell about in fits of laughter and told me that if I called them for assistance, I'd had been on my own, yeah, thanks for your support 

[med6753]

Should anyone be remotely interested, in my bathroom refit, the main ripping out, and the installation of the new suite and fan was completed in 2 days, leaving the shower, plastering, tiling, flooring bath panelling and decoration to be done. When they did the survey, I was asked if I needed grab handles etc to be fitted to aid using the bath, I said no, however after using it over the weekend, I quickly changed my mind after I got in and discovered how bloody slippery the new bath actually is. As I climbed in and went to sit down, my feet slid away from me, leaving me hurtling downwards and backwards at a rate of knots, sending a huge tidal wave of water splashing out the back end of it as my arse came crashing down  .

Then came the issue of getting back out, the same problem, the bath was not allowing me to get enough grip to allow me to rise to my feet, so I had to slither about and roll over onto my stomach in order to get on my knees to climb out, very dignified. So today I have said that I wanted the handles after all 

When I told my family about it, they fell about in fits of laughter and told me that if I called them for assistance, I'd had been on my own, yeah, thanks for your support 

So that's what that strange crash was over the weekend. 

[Brumby]

The problem with cars that fly is that idiots that drive are bad enough. Flying idiots would be even worse.

Edit: although I think flying idiots is better than self driving cars.

I think you got it right the first time around.  I would be far more fearful of flying idiots!

[m k]

Well the intermittent display fault has returned to my HP 54615B, trouble is after the second power up, the Hsync/Cal signals don't stay borked for long enough, to see if they are failing at the same time as the display, the signals are correct before the CRT fully warms up and the picture appears. 

Hsync & cal signals measured, before they quickly corrected themselves to 19.72kHz (Hsync) & 1.2kHz (probe cal).


I can't find the "any" key. 


David

Is there warmer than usual?

Our freezer has removable shelves.
Pretty optimal for cooling bigger things.

80Mhz clock and 1/4 slower sync.
How is this clock generated?

A far fetched.
Sort of direct lines out of the machine, says xDevs 54600A schematics.
Pages 22-23/125 there have +5VF_Core, its buddy +5VF_Pad is clipped but component numbers are still present.
Can you show your version of them some cold spray?

[mnementh]

Well, I finally got one! The fabled true 50ohm 1% Tektronix '012-0482-00' coax cable for my SG503. 
Courtesy of a seller in Kyiv, Ukraine (Yep, apparently the Ukraine postal service is making a point of still running!)
Found it for the cheapest price I've seen so far (but still too much, considering it's just a coax cable...), and still new in bag! 

Congrats! I ordered mine from the US and it wasn't very cheap (150 bucks IIRC). Damn you, Zenwizard Studios... you got me into this!   
Integral piece of calibration equipment.

1976 catalog price for this cable was like $16   (approx. $82 in 2022)   

What is so special about it? Electrical length? It can't be that stable as it uses BNCs. I can't see whay any 36" good quality cable could not be used.

According to a posting from Alan W2AEW at TekScope Groups, it's just a "good quality" 36" RG58-type cable, no magic involved.
I've performed some measurements with NanoVNA V2 Plus4 in comparison to a 40" RG58 cable. The cable has a very low SWR at 225 MHz (maybe because of the SG503 operating range?), besides that... 50 +/- 4 Ohm

Shameless self-promotion: https://physik.co-i60.com/2022/01/new-addition-to-the-lab-nanovna-v2-plus4/

       

My guess would be tuned vs length and velocity factor of the specific cable for the specific application. The specific cable was probably chosen for a specific dielectric constant such that a few mm one way or the other didn't make a lot of difference based on expected operating frequency. This would make reasonable allowances for volume manufacturing by a 3rd party.

That's my wild-ass "finger in the air guess", anyways.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Curious Marc has been at it again, this time real TEA content:

Curious Marc is just about the only YT channel left that isn't a total shite pile

AvE/BOLTR: https://www.youtube.com/c/arduinoversusevil2025

mnem
Canada's most valuable export.

[mnementh]

The Signal Path for example.

If I had half his knowledge I'd be dangerous. 

You're dangerous enough without it. 

mnem
*Thanks Ifni for small blessings*

[mnementh]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

What the fuck did I just watch...?   

mnem
That thing looks like the playhouse/race car/school bus I made out of a refrigerator box when I was 8... 

[Zucca]

Shameless self-promotion: https://physik.co-i60.com/2022/01/new-addition-to-the-lab-nanovna-v2-plus4/

And here I am still asking again myself why I am not buying a NanoVNA in the next 10 minutes

[TERRA Operative]

Curious Marc has been at it again, this time real TEA content:
youtube.com/watch?v=6HlSyW0pijQ

Curious Marc is just about the only YT channel left that isn't a total shite pile

Heeeyyy, I resemble that remark! 

[bd139]

And here I am still asking again myself why I am not buying a NanoVNA in the next 10 minutes

In my case it's because it's difficult to find one that isn't a shitty Chinese low ball version. They have TERRIBLE supply chain and cloning issues and half the official resellers are shipping junk ones out. The fake ones used to fail cal but they now load in firmware which ignores that cal step  .

[mnementh]

The problem with cars that fly is that idiots that drive are bad enough. Flying idiots would be even worse.

Edit: although I think flying idiots is better than self driving cars.

I think you got it right the first time around.  I would be far more fearful of flying idiots!

Hmmmm... a car driven by artificial intelligence vs an aircraft piloted by natural stupidity...

Yeeeah, even with today's self-driving tech, the AI car is still gonna be safer by a mile. Or kilometer.  -ever.

mnem
"Can I have my money back on that idea...?"

[mnementh]

And here I am still asking again myself why I am not buying a NanoVNA in the next 10 minutes

In my case it's because it's difficult to find one that isn't a shitty Chinese low ball version. They have TERRIBLE supply chain and cloning issues and half the official resellers are shipping junk ones out. The fake ones used to fail cal but they now load in firmware which ignores that cal step  .

The ones direct off the TINDIE are still all legit, right...?  https://www.tindie.com/stores/hcxqsgroup/

Even for 2 bills... seems a helluva lot of bang/buck.  What's THIS? NanoVNA V2 Plus4 Pro $329...? 

Hardware revisions

You can check your hardware revision by selecting CONFIG > VERSION in the menu. Please see https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-versions.html

          Name                          Release Date   Remarks

• V2 Plus4 Pro (V2.4)     2022              4 inch display. Up to 90dB dynamic range. Adjustable bandwidth for measuring narrowband devices. 6x faster sweep (0.16s per sweep). Note: V2 Plus5 has been renamed to V2 Plus4 Pro.
• V2 Plus4 (V2.4)          2020/10          4 inch display. Up to 90dB dynamic range. 4x faster sweep (0.25s per sweep).
• V2 Plus (V2.3)            2020/10          2x faster sweep (0.5s per sweep). Noise improvements. PCB text still indicates "V2_2".
• V2.2                          2019               The earliest version of the V2 hardware. No longer sold. V2.2 has been discontinued since October 2020, and all V2.2 versions still on the market are clones. To ensure you get a supported hardware version, look for V2 Plus and Plus4 versions only.

https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-v2.html

https://nanorfe.com/images/V2Plus4_Manual_NC4BR.pdf

https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-v2-user-manual.html

https://groups.io/g/NanoVNAV2


mnem
*drops back & punts*

[Cerebus]

... In our case we have anti affinity measures so we deploy at least ...

Argh, one of my pet hates there, computer nerdlings with a poor grasp of English expropriating an inappropriate word as a label for something and thereby forcing everybody else to mangle the language to use it.

Because some semi-literate nerk has misused "affinity" (which properly express the idea of "penchant for", "liking for", "preference for" or "predilection towards") you're forced to abuse English and create a clumsy neologism "anti-affinity" when there are perfectly good antonyms for "affinity" in existence - "aversion", "antipathy" "dislike" - but using them immediately exposes the weakness of using "affinity" to mean "required to associate itself with instances using a particular computer resource" or in the anti- case "required to disassociate itself from instances using a particular computer resource".

And then the bastards go and add injury to insults to the language by not even making it work properly.

However it turns out that kubernetes doesn’t see the state change where hypervisor nodes disappear as something [which should cause it to be]  rebalancing load. It just doesn’t do anything and 1/3 of your capacity goes offline. And thus we learn the failure modes of a cluster platform written by amateurs on crack backed with marketoids.

Moral of the story, never trust people who treat language in an ugly way to be elegant or correct in implementing anything. The more buzzwords and neologisms, the less likely it is to work.

[Cerebus]

On the subject of fat in cooking, in this country where I am at the moment, they fry their pommes frites in duck fat.

Everything but vegetable fat. Makes them taste as if they had been cooked in dishwater. 

Real Belgian frites are cooked in beef fat.

My grandmother cooked her chips in beef fat.

She died of heart failure at 72. I think her blood was probably lumpy 

My father occasionally gave me something he had as a kid. A slice of bread with beef dripping.

Back then farmers won prizes for animals with the most fat.

When I were a lad we used to have two brown pots in the fridge. One contained beef dripping (complete with a layer of jelly and some crispy bits) collected from Sunday roasts, the other contained fat poured out of the bacon pan (with a few crisp bits for good measure). I hardly ever roast a joint of beef so I only have one little brown pot in the fridge.

[Cerebus]

Hey BD, I think I have found the ultimate mode of transport for you, it gives you a bike, a boat, a camper and it even has space for picking up your local TE purchases and shopping, and it's electric, what do you all think?

https://betriton.com/

Hmm. I think somebody got carried away with their 3D printer ...

[Cerebus]

It takes a lot of time and planning to do even a 5 minute video.

Even for straightforward topics where you don't have to generate the source material (such as front-line war reports), John Simpson reckoned an hour post-processing the material gave you a minute of content.

Back in my Journo days we used to reckon that for long form written articles (3k words and up) it took about a day to research and write a thousand words, with a rough logarithmic relationship for shorter pieces. So, a good 200 word piece was half a day's work, 500 words a whole day, 1k words 2 days, until you got to 3k words where it settled down to a flat output of 1k words/day. Unfortunately rates for freelancers were set at a fixed £/1k words rate, so the feature writers used to do much better than the people who contributed short pieces.

For context: newsreaders tend to speak at around 160 words per minute, the average reader will read at 200 words per minute.

[126 words, FBSR]