Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Yep. Mostly the same in the UK now. Public transport integration is good. I use my phone for that too and it totals up travel and caps it daily. No buying tickets or handing cash to drivers. Just hop on bus, touch in, job done. Intermodal in London as well - can get on trains, boats, buses with same daily cap.

[McBryce]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

Easy - You step into your time machine and travel back to 2021 where the rest of us are and get over it.

Denmark is way ahead of Germany, so many bars and restaurants only take card or NFC payments. Strange at first but very easy once you'd
got used to it.

McBryce.

[BU508A]

I'm drilling holes in my credit cards to disable NFC.
Yes, I know I could shield them. and yes, I know, one can disable it.
I prefer the safe way: no antenna, no NFC.

[bd139]

I'm drilling holes in my credit cards to disable NFC.
Yes, I know I could shield them. and yes, I know, one can disable it.
I prefer the safe way: no antenna, no NFC.

It doesn’t bother me. NFC transactions are classified as cardholder not present so the risk is on the issuer. That’s why there is a limit on the value - it’s the limit of the risk they will accept. The risk for the account or card holder is essentially zero.

[BU508A]

I'm drilling holes in my credit cards to disable NFC.
Yes, I know I could shield them. and yes, I know, one can disable it.
I prefer the safe way: no antenna, no NFC.

It doesn’t bother me. NFC transactions are classified as cardholder not present so the risk is on the issuer. That’s why there is a limit on the value - it’s the limit of the risk they will accept. The risk for the account or card holder is essentially zero.

I know that. But I'd like also to avoid the hassle. It's wasted time.

[med6753]

I pay for nearly everything via debit card. Rarely use cash. I think maybe I have $3 in my pocket.

I write exactly one check a month, for rent. All bills paid on line.

Ebay is via a separate CC so I have some additional protection if something goes south. It's paid off every month.

Amazon is all via their CC. Again, paid off at the end of the month.

Have a paypal but rarely use it.

I watch my accounts like a hawk. Daily. I have caught double billing in the past and one quick phone call to my bank gets it reversed immediately.

Edit.....also have a credit freeze in place.

[McBryce]

I pay for nearly everything via debit card. Rarely use cash. I think maybe I have $3 in my pocket.

I write exactly one check a month, for rent. All bills paid on line.

Ebay is via a separate CC so I have some additional protection if something goes south. It's paid off every month.

Amazon is all via their CC. Again, paid off at the end of the month.

Have a paypal but rarely use it.

I watch my accounts like a hawk. Daily. I have caught double billing in the past and one quick phone call to my bank gets it reversed immediately.

Edit.....also have a credit freeze in place.

Check?? Check??  Allow me to quickly dig up my ancestors and ask them what exactly that is. Maybe you can fax me a picture of what they look like?

McBryce.

[tautech]

Cheques are about to be phased out in NZ. 

[tautech]

SVA1032X is my fav instrument however I have hendorogs SSA3075X-R that we grabbed from our EMEX stand just before lockdown on Sunday night.
That thing is totally next level ! 

Now you'll need a $ Cal kit ! 
Then it starts......

Looks like you're right with the cal kit ...

BTW, what's that "Remove film before usage" stuff, anyhow?

Don't see any handles to open the film compartment, as they were with these good old cameras. Wait ... afair one was supposed to insert the film before usage, wasn't he?

Now searching for some objects to test the VNA function.

OK, so now you have a SSA3032X-R and yes they also have a VNA and DTF modes.

A WiFi whip is a bit of fun but you need a funny reverse pin SMA adaptor to connect to these things then you have the chance to get the 3 main VNA measurements  you normally want from an antenna and in Realtime mode sniff your local WiFi.
But any antenna is good practice for VNA mode and I did this thread about characterising antennas initially with a SVA1015X and later with its replacement SVA1032X:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/rf-microwave/what-really-is-this-antenna/

Oh and yank that film off the touch screen as the top right corner is where you sometimes need to touch to drop down all the menus. Also a mouse works pretty good with these Plus models.

[med6753]

I pay for nearly everything via debit card. Rarely use cash. I think maybe I have $3 in my pocket.

I write exactly one check a month, for rent. All bills paid on line.

Ebay is via a separate CC so I have some additional protection if something goes south. It's paid off every month.

Amazon is all via their CC. Again, paid off at the end of the month.

Have a paypal but rarely use it.

I watch my accounts like a hawk. Daily. I have caught double billing in the past and one quick phone call to my bank gets it reversed immediately.

Edit.....also have a credit freeze in place.

Check?? Check??  Allow me to quickly dig up my ancestors and ask them what exactly that is. Maybe you can fax me a picture of what they look like?

McBryce.

My Landlord requires a check so that's what he gets. If I could do a money transfer I would. 

[bd139]

Not even seen a cheque for years.

Think the most recent weird payment I received was USD via mail 

[med6753]

Not even seen a cheque for years.

Think the most recent weird payment I received was USD via mail 

Wasn't me. I sent you a USPS money order. 

Edit....or is that what you are referring to? 

[bd139]

I received USD cash 

Not complaining for ref 

[med6753]

That's right.....I sent you cash.

[Saskia]

I like something tangible that is valid everywhere.  Such as small strips of Latinum, stuff that you can take along and that cannot be blocked by a push of the button by some government honcho

[mnementh]

mnem
 

[McBryce]

mnem
 

We've got one of those. They slice the cheese really good. Why has someone put a card and paper in it?
Credit cards here don't have embossed numbers anymore, so those wouldn't work now.

McBryce.

[tggzzz]

Credit cards here don't have embossed numbers anymore, so those wouldn't work now.

They do here.

[Robert763]

Funny Cheques came up, I just got an email checking my address (they had it wrong) as I'm being sent a cheque.
It's a payment regarding movie rights. They have not even made the movie and I'm getting money  not sure how much though. If they ever make the movie I might get a cameo role

On cheques and TEA many years ago I bought some aircraft kit on ebay and then sold it to a dealer in the USA. I happened to be doing a work trip so hand carried it. It was still a several hundred mile road trip from were I was working though. It was over $10,000 ( I paid <£50 ) so the dealer gave me a cheque, filled in on an antique looking mechanical cheque writing machine, made to CASH and took me to his local branch. They didn't have enough cash  so gave me a $10,000 cashiers cheque. They assured me that the main branch near were I was based would cash it. So 2 days later in I went and they said that they did not recognise the cheque dispite it being from the same bank.  A bit of explaining, seeing the manager and a couple of phone calls finally got it sorted. Oh the TEA,  I came home with a used R&S FSH3 handheld SA.

[mnementh]

Credit cards here don't have embossed numbers anymore, so those wouldn't work now.

They do here.

Still works fine for agitatin'. 

mnem
 

[factory]

Those card or contactless payment systems are still fairly hopeless at sales that are in fields or museums in the countryside.

David

[mansaxel]

Sweden/Iceland is the target/paradise, cards only.

Also for crime stop... everything is trackable.

Maybe after this COVID world war the new system will accellerate in that direction, no more touchy touchy papers/coins.

Sweden; I have cash, but I never use it.
Denmark: Same.
UK: Same.
France: Same.
USA (Las Vegas, including road trip from LAX): Same. Did not even bother with exchanging any money. I still have a 1$ banknote in my wallet from the last time before I went there.
Germany: It's like the 1970s, you better know where your closest Kreissparkasse is, because you'll need to visit their ATM.
Italy: Mixed bag. Venezia was easy. Firenze was so-and-so -- ice cream parlor did not accept cards  -- but their sister coffee shop did, so I had to run between them and haggle a bit. Naples was batshit crazy. No-one accepted cards. Especially not the two guys in leather jackets at the
"long-term car park" who were standing around smoking and in a strange way very reassuringly were able to convey the feeling that as long as I paid them, cash, the car would spend three days on their dusty lot, and the only thing that would happen to it was that a cat had walked over it. The paw-marks were obvious.

I am not very proud of the fact that I've most likely fed cash into the extralegal economy of the Italian south, but it is an experience I at the same time don't want to be without.

[mansaxel]

I'm drilling holes in my credit cards to disable NFC.
Yes, I know I could shield them. and yes, I know, one can disable it.
I prefer the safe way: no antenna, no NFC.

It doesn’t bother me. NFC transactions are classified as cardholder not present so the risk is on the issuer. That’s why there is a limit on the value - it’s the limit of the risk they will accept. The risk for the account or card holder is essentially zero.

That limit was upped here as soon as the pandemic hit. I actually regret not getting NFC approved on my AMEX, I've got it on my MasterCard and Visa. And it is convenient. We of course can do NFC+PIN here, and then there's no limit.

[bd139]

Oh joy got another fecking ebay scammer problem.

Sent a Lenovo mini PC to someone via Hermes. Arrived apparently in a blue plastic bag at the neighbours with a different declared weight. Place your bets:

1. This is a lie and the buyer wants something for free (he already low balled offers several times on the item)
2. Hermes stole it
3. His neighbour stole it.

Any way this works out another £120 down the shitter probably.

I am no longer selling on ebay after this. It's a shit show.

[AVGresponding]

Don't Hermes photograph the dropped-off parcel?