Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

Where does that leave those in the Americas?

Currently just so last year 

[med6753]

Where does that leave those in the Americas?

Currently just so last year 

09:03 in the morning on the 31st.

[bd139]

Slackers 

[med6753]

Slackers 

Yawn....

Didn't think of it until now. What are they doing in NY Times Square this year? Normally it's packed with hundreds of thousands of idiots standing in the cold and wearing diapers....because once you go in you can't come back out and then go back in.

The Ball will still drop but it's all virtual. No crowds allowed. Supposedly entertainment too. Watch on line or TV. 

[bd139]

Well we’ve got a propaganda extraordinaire to look forward to on the BBC instead of the usual fireworks. Clapping for the NHS which the government have been eviscerating for years, some old dude who walked around in circles to make money that the government cut, some shit from BLM which has made it over here somehow, something about food banks which exist because of the poverty caused by government cuts etc etc. All presented by factory pressed media studies folk with a smile worthy of a crocodile. This will inevitably turn into a complete battle zone above our heads at 12:00 on the dot as thousands of small animals synchronously shat themselves through and anyone still hanging on who was in WWII dives for cover breaking a hip in the process.

I’m waiting for them to come up with our version of Auferstanden aus Ruinen 

Edit: my new year’s resolution is to be 50% less cynical next year. I’ve got 9.5 hours to use it all up 

[mnementh]

Yes, indeed, 2021 gotta be better than d***ed 2020!

Best wishes to everyone for a better and healthy year 2021!

Congratulations on escaping 2020 first  . Have a great new year everyone 

I stayed up just to offer the very first best wishes and had a few  in doing so but had to deal to one of Beans pests an hour ago in our plum tree. He didn't get to see in the new year ! 

Missed an invite to chopper around the Sky tower New Year fireworks again this year as the chopper was already full. 

Gotta be better than 2020 !

I'm curious how much private fireworks will be burnt this year.
It's not about fireworks really but about reducing contacts still but I expect the neighbourhood standing crowded on the streets tonight to welcome the new year.   

Working on my slightly overengineered T12 soldering station and it's second incarnation with isolation transformer but only a cheap DC/DC-converter from china -like mnem built one. Still overengineered in mnem's view, I'm sure.   
But what I can do? I'm an engineer and also German, I have no chance, really.      

That's okay... we'll forgive you.

mnem
This time.

[Mr. Scram]

That was interesting. 2020 decided to leave a huge steaming turd as a parting gift. Is it 2021 already?

[med6753]

Well we’ve got a propaganda extraordinaire to look forward to on the BBC instead of the usual fireworks. Clapping for the NHS which the government have been eviscerating for years, some old dude who walked around in circles to make money that the government cut, some shit from BLM which has made it over here somehow, something about food banks which exist because of the poverty caused by government cuts etc etc. All presented by factory pressed media studies folk with a smile worthy of a crocodile. This will inevitably turn into a complete battle zone above our heads at 12:00 on the dot as thousands of small animals synchronously shat themselves through and anyone still hanging on who was in WWII dives for cover breaking a hip in the process.

I’m waiting for them to come up with our version of Auferstanden aus Ruinen 

Edit: my new year’s resolution is to be 50% less cynical next year. I’ve got 9.5 hours to use it all up 

The old blokes and blokettes might have good reason to dive for cover. All those fireworks might set off all the UXB's still scattered in the city. 

Ever wonder what that hole is in your cellar floor? 

[mnementh]

mnem
*toddles off to whack his orange*

Good taste in chocolate.  I haven't whacked my orange yet.  I do deserve a bit of quiet time to enjoy it now.  Mother-in-law now has a working computer; long story and it is still not over...  I definitely appreciate the help from the orange chocolate lovers 

Glad if I could help.

I have two slices left... saving them to go with a bottle of slightly-too-dry-for-my-taste red wine (French, of course ) we received as a Christmas present; I plan to toast the timely demise of with it.

mnem
Maybe I'll go see if the drug store has any more...

[Martin.M]

  Corona technology for RF systems 

wish you all the best in 2021, and be healthy !
Martin

[mnementh]

So the gray screen filter for the Type 535A arrived at my local PO at 5:35 AM this morning....or so sez the tracking. I just got back from taking Jo home at 17:05. Naturally I expected to see it delivered. No package. 

Go on line. My PO didn't even make an attempt to deliver it, and it arrived plenty early enough to make it out for delivery. I got 2 words for them:

FUCKING ASSHOLES

And every time I have issues with them the only response I get is "I apologize". 

2020 can't end soon enough.

Can this clusterfuck get any worse? Hold onto your hat.

Latest tracking at 22:53 last night shows the package BACK at the Kearny, NJ distribution center. 

 

So far it's taken 10 days to go cross country and now it's bonking back and forth between my PO and distribution center. I would go to my PO this morning and ask a simple question but I know I won't get any answers. I'll just wait and see right now. Tomorrow is a holiday and if by Saturday morning it's not out for delivery then I'll go raise some hell.

 

I just received a Christmas card this morning from my dad that was sent from Manhattan on the 11th... our first mail since Tuesday before last. Mom-in-law sent a Christmas care package via Priority Mail that has been sitting in a sort center in PA for 16 days. Still. Still waiting on the replacement digitizer for baby grrl's iPud which was sent from South Porcupine, CA (aboot 7 hours away) on the 20th.

Maybe.... just maybe... it's time we pulled the plug on this 40-year experiment in supply-side economics; at this point the proof is incontrovertible: This ideology is MADE OF FAIL, and George Bush Sr. was right in calling it "Voodoo Economics" back when he was running against The Gipper. 

mnem
Yeah, imagine that.

[mnementh]

Where does that leave those in the Americas?

It leaves us with another 13 hours or so for to fuck us in the ass... Keep it down willya...?   

mnem
Kill it with fire. Beat the ashes with a stick. Pour petrol on the ashes, burn them again just to be sure...

[med6753]

So the gray screen filter for the Type 535A arrived at my local PO at 5:35 AM this morning....or so sez the tracking. I just got back from taking Jo home at 17:05. Naturally I expected to see it delivered. No package. 

Go on line. My PO didn't even make an attempt to deliver it, and it arrived plenty early enough to make it out for delivery. I got 2 words for them:

FUCKING ASSHOLES

And every time I have issues with them the only response I get is "I apologize". 

2020 can't end soon enough.

Can this clusterfuck get any worse? Hold onto your hat.

Latest tracking at 22:53 last night shows the package BACK at the Kearny, NJ distribution center. 

 

So far it's taken 10 days to go cross country and now it's bonking back and forth between my PO and distribution center. I would go to my PO this morning and ask a simple question but I know I won't get any answers. I'll just wait and see right now. Tomorrow is a holiday and if by Saturday morning it's not out for delivery then I'll go raise some hell.

 

I just received a Christmas card this morning from my dad that was sent from Manhattan on the 11th... our first mail since Tuesday before last. Mom-in-law sent a Christmas care package via Priority Mail that has been sitting in a sort center in PA for 16 days. Still. Still waiting on the replacement digitizer for baby grrl's iPud which was sent from South Porcupine, CA (aboot 7 hours away) on the 20th.

Maybe.... just maybe... it's time we pulled the plug on this 40-year experiment in supply-side economics; at this point the proof is incontrovertible: This ideology is MADE OF FAIL, and George Bush Sr. was right in calling it "Voodoo Economics" back when he was running against The Gipper. 

mnem
Yeah, imagine that.

And my package gas just gone from Kearny, NJ to Flushing, Queens, NY.  WHY??!!

It's very clear that USPS is only interested in keeping Amazon happy...because Amazon pays them the big bucks. Litttle guys like you...er me  they couldn't give a flying fuck about.

From now on whenever I order some thru EBay I'm going to tell the seller ship via UPS or FedEx. I'll pay the extra cost.

[Specmaster]

I think we all can agree that 2020 has been a shit year all around the globe and I, for one, can't wait to kick its butt out of here. Having said that, already 2021 is not looking to be much better for many Brits as we are slowly uncovering steaming great piles of poo that this so-called super deal that our own version of resident chump has landed us with. It will be causing many small to medium businesses to close  because of the extra costs foisted onto them and the extra red tape is said to be costing around £7bn a year to businesses. Just discovered that we are no longer to use the CE marking, thus making millions of £ worth of stock and packaging valueless overnight and looking like it will all have to be dumped 

Anyway, there is 1 thing I'm really looking forward to in 2021 is beating his bloody virus and driving it into the sea.

https://youtu.be/VjC5IhoXtUU

[BU508A]

Happy New Year to Down Under.

And I have to agree with the folks from Boston Dynamics:



To quote a friend of mine (via google translate¹):

The countdown is running.
I wish you for

              2021

... that Corona is something like a beer again

... that when we meet again we can take another step forward and not back again

... that positive is something positive again

... that tests take place in school again

... that isolating applies to houses and cables again

... that you can celebrate Carnival with a mask

... and that Donald is a duck again

¹German version:
Der Countdown läuft.
Ich wünsche Euch für

              2021

...dass Corona wieder sowas wie ein Bier ist

...dass wir, wenn wir uns wiedersehen, wieder einen Schritt nach vorne machen können und nicht mehr zurück

...dass Positiv wieder etwas positives ist

...dass Tests wieder in der Schule stattfinden

...dass Isolieren wieder für Häuser und Kabel gilt

...dass man mit einer Maske Karneval feiern kann

...und dass Donald wieder eine Ente ist

[med6753]

Spec.......That video is coming up private.

[med6753]

... and that Donald is a duck again

[DH7DN]

I scored three cans of kidney beans today. But wait... There is something suspiciously wrong with this picture 

[Ero-Shan]

And now for something completely different: Dads first multimeter (and mine)

This, my friends, is a Siemens und Halske Multizet, made in the fifties in Berlin-Siemensstadt in the "Wernerwerk" factory. It has been in our family since then. Dad got it during his apprenticeship as an electrician. He later went on to become an airforce NCO and after that a service technician and programmer for Sperry Rand/Univac/Unisys up to his retirement. The meter survived my first experiments with electrons fifty years ago and still works. Nice feature: there is a button on the left side that when pressed allows to zero the ohms range without bridging the jacks.

Sorry for the picture quality, during the visit at my parents house I only had my smartphone camera to take pictures.


Greetings,

Rainer

Quality throughout. A real knob on a real switch. With 1 % accuracy, that meter was definitely in the upper class. 

[Specmaster]

Spec.......That video is coming up private.

Try it again, its working for me.

[BU508A]

Ah, sorry, I forgot to add this one:

Sabaton - To Hell and back



"Never underestimate a Dwarf!"   

[Mortymore]

Happy 2021!

[Carl_Smith]

OK ... That's it.  2020 is now history for me (and everyone in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT).  Queenslanders have another hour to go because they didn't want their curtains to fade from Daylight Saving.

We should get rid of Daylight Saving.  After all, global warming is bad enough without having another hour of daylight warming the earth for a good part of the year.   

[mnementh]

And Now for Something Completely... ON-TOPIC.   

I figured I'd better at least make the attempt one more time before the New Year.



https://www.kijiji.ca/v-general-electronics/city-of-toronto/hewlett-packard-function-generator-board-54654-66502/1541063226

This is available locally, and I'm thinking aboot it; partly because of EMI factor as this is an accessory designed for my 54645A, as well as the fact it appears to have a pulse generator function useful for slew rate/risetime testing. Given that it is a HP-designed accessory, I'd expect even that aspect is probably better quality than any of my cheap Chinese crap, at least until such time as I might be able to fix my 8070A.

Looking for second opinions as I believe it's legit worth ~US$35 or so and plan to offer that... am I being unreasonable?

Also, so far my searches for the relevant manual have been met with abject failure... does anybody have a lead I may have missed...?

Cheers, and here's to a better year in 2021 !!!

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Heh... I put that up fullscreen my big monitor, and before it was half done everybody in the fam had been sucked in, and my daughter was dancing along with. 

2021 is already looking better!

Thanks for sharing!

mnem
*Drax-level no-dancing white-boi dwagon*