Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Not sure if I'll be on Discord later today. Going to start painting this morning and if I'm at a point where I can stop I'll be on. You don't fully realize how much crap you have until you have to move it. 

There is nothing in the world I hate more than painting.  I would rather shave the hair off my derriere with a rusty butter knife using alcohol as a soothing agent than painting.  The last room in the house we need to deal with for now is the master bedroom/bath.  The bathroom is only 5 X 8 but the master is 13 X 22 with lots of crap, ahem furniture in it.  Every time Mrs GreyWoolfe brings up that we need to paint, I try to collapse in on my self, no mean feat as I am a bigger bastard than Mnem.

Absolutely.     

Maybe not necessarily the old buzzard's but definitely the cranky old bastard's club.  Though I am less cranky now that Mrs GreyWoolfe and I are empty nesters and everyone is far enough away that they can't easily drop in.   I have been wanting to stop my mood stabilizer meds but she says not just yet.  Wonder if she is trying to tell me something.

Crusty ol' dragon here.  But I do claim honorary membership; I mean, somebody's gotta keep the riff-raff out. Errr... in? Ummm... WhuhhWeTalkin'Aboot...?

As for painting vs butt-defoliation... try duct-tape rolled up inside-out and a swift pulling motion. Gets rid of unwanted hair on your pants AND under 'em; and it only hurts like hell.

mnem
*currently plotting revenge against my 3DP*

[Mr. Scram]

Sadly he came back of his own volition, I think he enjoys making us suffer. We can always send him back to you. Trust me, once you've got Piers Morgan, you're stuck with him, we're not having him back again.

Not scared yet? We'll throw in Simon Cowell and a free Boris Johnson. Behave yourself and we'll keep 'em here.

Sending the bad folks to the colonies, eh? Could've sworn I heard that one before.

[Mr. Scram]

Already got a 5900X in the budget. That’ll run a fuck load of VMs 

The 5900X is definitely looking interesting. I get the feeling AMD is intent on making it the new popular option, shifting the higher end status quo from 8 to 12 cores to put even more pressure on Intel and their monolithic designs.

[med6753]

   

https://youtu.be/5uWXfoX1x3A

Looks like my current liquid-cooled CPU & GPU will be worth about half as much in a month or so. But hey... Big Navi! FINALLY!!!

mnem
At least I'll be able to keep my 570 MB... 

Already got a 5900X in the budget. That’ll run a fuck load of VMs 

Bintches... you and Linus. 

mnem
Remember, remember the fifth of November...   

Yawn. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. 

[med6753]

Not sure if I'll be on Discord later today. Going to start painting this morning and if I'm at a point where I can stop I'll be on. You don't fully realize how much crap you have until you have to move it. 

There is nothing in the world I hate more than painting.  I would rather shave the hair off my derriere with a rusty butter knife using alcohol as a soothing agent than painting.  The last room in the house we need to deal with for now is the master bedroom/bath.  The bathroom is only 5 X 8 but the master is 13 X 22 with lots of crap, ahem furniture in it.  Every time Mrs GreyWoolfe brings up that we need to paint, I try to collapse in on my self, no mean feat as I am a bigger bastard than Mnem.

I am certainly no fan of painting and I'd rather avoid it but I do enjoy the results once complete. I've gained a lot of experience over the years and while I'm no where near a pro I have developed tricks and shortcuts that make the job go quickly (in relative terms) and efficiently. The biggest issue I have here in the living room is not the painting itself but moving all the crap. And cleaning. Some of the stuff hasn't been moved in at least 7 years and all kinds of dust monsters are lurking.  I can't move everything at once because there's too much of it. So I have to do it piece meal which is a royal PITA but I have no choice. 

[tggzzz]

P.S. This years ham radio surplus event at Hack Green Secret Bunker re-scheduled for next Sunday has just been cancelled again, no surprise.

Yeah that doesn't surprise me. I'm betting that it'll be Harwell being the next one that'll actually be open.

https://www.g3pia.net/radio-electronics-rally/

It doesn't do too much harm to be optimistic, I suppose.

[bd139]

Fixed the 6205b. Switch cleaner worked. The 20/40 switch was intermittent.

[tggzzz]

Sadly he came back of his own volition, I think he enjoys making us suffer. We can always send him back to you. Trust me, once you've got Piers Morgan, you're stuck with him, we're not having him back again.

Not scared yet? We'll throw in Simon Cowell and a free Boris Johnson. Behave yourself and we'll keep 'em here.

Sending the bad folks to the colonies, eh? Could've sworn I heard that one before.

The traditional snark is that it improves the averages at both ends of the journey

[Saskia]

Not sure if I'll be on Discord later today. Going to start painting this morning and if I'm at a point where I can stop I'll be on. You don't fully realize how much crap you have until you have to move it. 

There is nothing in the world I hate more than painting.  I would rather shave the hair off my derriere with a rusty butter knife using alcohol as a soothing agent than painting.  The last room in the house we need to deal with for now is the master bedroom/bath.  The bathroom is only 5 X 8 but the master is 13 X 22 with lots of crap, ahem furniture in it.  Every time Mrs GreyWoolfe brings up that we need to paint, I try to collapse in on my self, no mean feat as I am a bigger bastard than Mnem.

I am certainly no fan of painting

[K0ELB]

P.S. This years ham radio surplus event at Hack Green Secret Bunker re-scheduled for next Sunday has just been cancelled again, no surprise.

Yeah that doesn't surprise me. I'm betting that it'll be Harwell being the next one that'll actually be open.

https://www.g3pia.net/radio-electronics-rally/

If anyone is wondering about Hack Green Secret Bunker, you may like this.

Interesting video. Here in Kansas, there's several old missile silo sites that have been abandoned since the '80s. I've been in a few, but sadly they've all been stripped of everything valuable by the government. Some are getting bought up and converted to "doomsday shelters" for those with a ton of money and no brains.

[Cerebus]

There is nothing in the world I hate more than painting.  I would rather shave the hair off my derriere with a rusty butter knife using alcohol as a soothing agent than painting.  The last room in the house we need to deal with for now is the master bedroom/bath.  The bathroom is only 5 X 8 but the master is 13 X 22 with lots of crap, ahem furniture in it.  Every time Mrs GreyWoolfe brings up that we need to paint, I try to collapse in on my self, no mean feat as I am a bigger bastard than Mnem.

I have a 14 cuft/min compressor. Last time I had to do it, the actual painting bit of painting the living room took 30 minutes per coat. Started with an empty room at late morning on Christmas Eve and was finished with the bookshelves back up, everything screwed to the walls that should be, cleaned up and the furniture back in by 6 pm in time to go out for a celebratory pizza.

[Specmaster]

There is nothing in the world I hate more than painting.  I would rather shave the hair off my derriere with a rusty butter knife using alcohol as a soothing agent than painting.  The last room in the house we need to deal with for now is the master bedroom/bath.  The bathroom is only 5 X 8 but the master is 13 X 22 with lots of crap, ahem furniture in it.  Every time Mrs GreyWoolfe brings up that we need to paint, I try to collapse in on my self, no mean feat as I am a bigger bastard than Mnem.

I have a 14 cuft/min compressor. Last time I had to do it, the actual painting bit of painting the living room took 30 minutes per coat. Started with an empty room at late morning on Christmas Eve and was finished with the bookshelves back up, everything screwed to the walls that should be, cleaned up and the furniture back in by 6 pm in time to go out for a celebratory pizza.

Sounds like it was a very small room 

[Zucca]

"Before you continue..."

I always browse in incognito and since 3 weeks google.com is bombing me with the above popup.
Blocked cookies for "https://www.google.com". Sorted.

will do the same for youtube.

PS: Mr. Google, since I know you can hear me: "Why I always need to sign up to solve the problem you created"?

[bd139]

Aaand 6205b has failed again. Think that switch has had it. Cant dismantle it looking at the construction.

Edit: seriously considering buying a Tenma Korad clone at the moment https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-10500/power-supply-2ch-30v-3a-adjustable/dp/IN06824?st=Bench%20power%20supply

[Cerebus]

Sadly he came back of his own volition, I think he enjoys making us suffer. We can always send him back to you. Trust me, once you've got Piers Morgan, you're stuck with him, we're not having him back again.

Not scared yet? We'll throw in Simon Cowell and a free Boris Johnson. Behave yourself and we'll keep 'em here.

Sending the bad folks to the colonies, eh? Could've sworn I heard that one before.

Shhhuussshhhh. Before they cotton on that we never stopped. 

[Mr. Scram]

"Before you continue..."

I always browse in incognito and since 3 weeks google.com is bombing me with the above popup.
Blocked cookies for "https://www.google.com". Sorted.

will do the same for youtube.

PS: Mr. Google, since I know you can hear me: "Why I always need to sign up to solve the problem you created"?

At this point they're just blatantly nagging people into signing in. "You have a choice, don't you?" Making the most of removing that bit about being evil from their charter I suppose. It's the same with Microsoft and not taking no for an answer. Sod anything Google. Sod tech giants in general.

[Mr. Scram]

Aaand 6205b has failed again. Think that switch has had it. Cant dismantle it looking at the construction.

Edit: seriously considering buying a Tenma Korad clone at the moment https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-10500/power-supply-2ch-30v-3a-adjustable/dp/IN06824?st=Bench%20power%20supply

Not before you finish your 34401A, mister!

In all seriousness, they fun little units. No fuss, no drama. Not too sophisticated but they get on with it without complaints. Some dislike the UI but I much prefer it over the other supplies I've used. Stress tested mine at full blast on both channels and it didn't budge. Utilitarian in both the good and bad sense. Note there are both 5A and computer controlled units.

[Cerebus]

There is nothing in the world I hate more than painting.  I would rather shave the hair off my derriere with a rusty butter knife using alcohol as a soothing agent than painting.  The last room in the house we need to deal with for now is the master bedroom/bath.  The bathroom is only 5 X 8 but the master is 13 X 22 with lots of crap, ahem furniture in it.  Every time Mrs GreyWoolfe brings up that we need to paint, I try to collapse in on my self, no mean feat as I am a bigger bastard than Mnem.

I have a 14 cuft/min compressor. Last time I had to do it, the actual painting bit of painting the living room took 30 minutes per coat. Started with an empty room at late morning on Christmas Eve and was finished with the bookshelves back up, everything screwed to the walls that should be, cleaned up and the furniture back in by 6 pm in time to go out for a celebratory pizza.

Sounds like it was a very small room 

A rough calculation gives 37.5 m² of wall to paint, which gives a rate of 48 s m^-2. It's actually a lot quicker than that because that includes the time climbing up and down ladders, moving around the room and refilling the hopper on the spray gun. Sure beats a roller or a paintbrush and not a brushmark in sight or that acne effect a roller can give.

[Saskia]

audiophoolery or so.
Quadral Altan Mk 1 (Vintage 1983) came with Technics TH400 ribbon tweeter that I just measured with 5.4 Ohms (Fluke) and 5.0 Ohms (Keysight 1241b).
Bought those speakers yesterday for 100 Pesos/pair. Woofers are goners and need lotsawork.

 The Tweeter from one of the Montans (a 4000 Bonnpeso/2000€ speaker) has the very same tweeters (that have been out of production since like 30 years ago). Measured at 4.5/4.0 Ohms on one and 5.0/4.7 on the other.
Put one of the tweeters from the Altan into the Montan, and lo and behold, the harmonics reappear and the sound becomes a hell of a lot better in an instant, with the result, that I consider one of those Montans fixed (at the expense of one Altan ...)

The other one needs reassembly and a tweeter transplant. The tweeter in the other Altan is apparently working as well.


Found replacement woofers for the Altan on the bay of fleas, currently bidding on them.

Refurbishing the tweeters will cost in the ballpark of 140 Brussels pesos apiece.
So, no matter how I turn or wiggle, the 100€ for the pair including the speakers were a good buy.

Once that is working I'll hook up my TA-E 86 pre- and Nakamichi PA-5E Mk2 power amp plus my external DAC and the external music streamer that I built yesterday.
And have some decent sound quality in the flat which is up north near the coast (North Sea, not Baltic ...)

Looking at the difference in measurements I am somewhat underwhelmed. .4 ohms difference ? REALLY ?
Between a Fluke 179 and a Keysight 1241B ? There is something wrong here, too bad I did not bring the Gossen as arbiter.

May indeed try to find a halfway reasonable somemoredigits DMM ...

[Zucca]

It's the same with Microsoft and not taking no for an answer. Sod anything Google. Sod tech giants in general.

Like Office 365 (what a shit show), I stay 2013 forever. Even better I toss all M$ office in the bin and go with Openoffice or so.

[Specmaster]

Aaand 6205b has failed again. Think that switch has had it. Cant dismantle it looking at the construction.

Edit: seriously considering buying a Tenma Korad clone at the moment https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-10500/power-supply-2ch-30v-3a-adjustable/dp/IN06824?st=Bench%20power%20supply

Oh shit, we're both struggling with power supplies at the moment then. Can't you bridge the switch out and put another one somewhere else?

[bd139]

Aaand 6205b has failed again. Think that switch has had it. Cant dismantle it looking at the construction.

Edit: seriously considering buying a Tenma Korad clone at the moment https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-10500/power-supply-2ch-30v-3a-adjustable/dp/IN06824?st=Bench%20power%20supply

Not before you finish your 34401A, mister!

In all seriousness, they fun little units. No fuss, no drama. Not too sophisticated but they get on with it without complaints. Some dislike the UI but I much prefer it over the other supplies I've used. Stress tested mine at full blast on both channels and it didn't budge. Utilitarian in both the good and bad sense. Note there are both 5A and computer controlled units.

I might grab that one yet 

What’s the fan noise like?

Aaand 6205b has failed again. Think that switch has had it. Cant dismantle it looking at the construction.

Edit: seriously considering buying a Tenma Korad clone at the moment https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-10500/power-supply-2ch-30v-3a-adjustable/dp/IN06824?st=Bench%20power%20supply

Oh shit, we're both struggling with power supplies at the moment then. Can't you bridge the switch out and put another one somewhere else?

That is a possibility. I may jump the thing to permanent 20v range as I mostly run it on that anyway.

I’ve got 7 total outputs across 5 power supplies so I’m not short. Just getting fed up of fixing shit when I want to do something new 

[Saskia]

due to being incredibly overworked I could not take care of my 2nd TA-E 86B preamp. Got word from my Hifi dealer buddy, that it will be repaired by next Wednesday and ready for pick up.

Which then means I have at least a 3rd if not a 4th high quality stereo set.
Anyone interested over here ?

Burmester Preamp, Nakamichi power amp, T+A TMR 80
alternatively with a Sony TA-E 86 ?
Technics direct drive turntable plus Nakamichi OMS-2 going with it,
will trade in a decent quality bench dmm (34401A or better, see issue above) ?

[med6753]

Sadly he came back of his own volition, I think he enjoys making us suffer. We can always send him back to you. Trust me, once you've got Piers Morgan, you're stuck with him, we're not having him back again.

Not scared yet? We'll throw in Simon Cowell and a free Boris Johnson. Behave yourself and we'll keep 'em here.

Sending the bad folks to the colonies, eh? Could've sworn I heard that one before.

Shhhuussshhhh. Before they cotton on that we never stopped. 

Sarcasm on Yes, you British did consider the Irish in occupied Ireland expendable and lower than dogs so gladly send them overseas so the fat Earls and Dukes can gain more land. Sarcasm off

[Mr. Scram]

What’s the fan noise like?

Yes.

You will definitely know it's on but it's bearable in my book. It's loud but not stupendously annoying.