Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

FFS, C... I was deliberately playing the fool to throw a friend a lifeline. I thought for sure I laid it on thick enough even you'd catch on.

mnem
MAXIM 51: Let them see you sharpen the sword before you fall on it.

[Cerebus]

I glad it seems everyone had a good Christmas. I didn't. Friday afternoon I noticed my right jaw starting to swell. And the pain was pretty bad. I could not eat anything without extreme pain. I tried some hot compresses without any relief. By Friday evening I knew I was in trouble. I had no choice but to go to the hospital ER. Due to short staffing on Christmas Eve it was 4 hours before I was seen by a doc. He determined I had an infected salivary gland but needed to confirm it via CT scan. The CT scan confirmed it. Due to the seriousness of the infection he wanted to put me on a IV and admit me for at least two days. So that's where I've been until this afternoon. Home now and still some swelling but at least I can eat and I'm on a 10 day antibiotic. And follow up with an specialist.

I guess humbug came back to bite me in the arse. Karma she be a bitch. 

Well, that sucks!

The disadvantage of the British NHS is that 4 hour wait to see a doctor at accident and emergency would be normal at any time, not an exception just because it's Christmas Eve; the advantage is that I wouldn't even be 1p of co-pay out of pocket if I went to A&E.

[Cerebus]

FFS, C... I was deliberately playing the fool to throw a friend a lifeline. I thought for sure I laid it on thick enough even you'd catch on.

mnem
MAXIM 51: Let them see you sharpen the sword before you fall on it.

It was the last line that convinced me you appeared to have mis-read it rather than were just jesting. In my defence, It's not like you're not know for skimming things and getting the wrong end of the stick. Anyway, no harm, no foul.

[mansaxel]

That Bernstein tool box 

I like them, but the old company is in something very old fashioned,
so the tool box must be enhanced with something from china, what else  (small accu loaded drillmashine what pass in the bag for a screwdriver, pen multimeter what pass also in... , LED light.. )
with something from the states (special allen keys for Collins knobs, bristol spline sized),
with something from UK (again allen keys, combinated set of black colored metric + imperial set)

and my weller solding is now jobless bec. the JBC there.

I'm firmly on the best-of-breed track. My toolcase (yes, posted before) is living proof:



You can't get everything just right from one house, even if it is one of the big German houses -- Wiha might manage most ordinary screwdrivers and the small torque tools, but I prefer Wera for ¹/₄" bit management and fixed jewellers' screwdrivers. None of them can hold their own against Bahco, Lindström or Knipex for pliers. (And I've got one multi-purpose Gedore that I really cherish; it's such a charming compromise.) Of course adjustable wrenches come from Bahco. The TS100 is now even better, as I've gotten the chisel tip for it. And none of them can compete with Fluke for dependable measurement. Uni-T, OTOH, makes the best little DC clamp. (And I own The Original Mother DC Clamp, the -hp- 428b, so I oughta know what a DC clamp should be.) Jonard makes the best wire-wrap and lacing tools. Hultafors makes the best electricians' hammer, and the best folding meter sticks.  And so on. Ad Infinitum.

[Vince]

...Now looks soooooooooo much better ! Shiny and clean, almost like new. What I thought was "patina" from a distance, was in fact just crust and nothing else. Fired up the scope and generator, now works much better...   Will order a BNC adapter and see how it goes, but should do it I think...

If it continues to give you grief, I'll suggest the same technique passed on to me by the old hollow-state guy who got me started in electronics: a short cut (4-6 in/100-150mm) of bronze-wound guitar string (D/A/E) and your favorite contact cleaner to clean the contacts on tube sockets, which tactic should work well here too.

Choose the size of string to give just a wee bit of resistance when dragging across the contacts. Works a treat on the smaller sockets; gets them clean without taking away metal. It can also work on those with larger pins, but requires a bit more creativity when scrubbing.

mnem
 

Sounds like a plan... will search for cheap strings...

[mnementh]

FFS, C... I was deliberately playing the fool to throw a friend a lifeline. I thought for sure I laid it on thick enough even you'd catch on.

mnem
MAXIM 51: Let them see you sharpen the sword before you fall on it.

It was the last line that convinced me you appeared to have mis-read it rather than were just jesting. In my defence, It's not like you're not know for skimming things and getting the wrong end of the stick. Anyway, no harm, no foul.

None intended, none taken. For the record tho... that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the lifeline Spec tried to throw you.

mnem

[Vince]

Oh, strings are cheap, good !

Found these on Amazon :

https://www.amazon.fr/DAddario-Phosphoreux-Acoustique-Rev%C3%AAtement-EJ15/dp/B000EENC0C/ref=sr_1_5?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=257IK8ATCSEWQ&keywords=corde+guitare+bronze&qid=1640559718&sprefix=corde+guitare+bronze%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-5

Only 8 Euros for a set of 6 strings of various diameters from 10 to 47 thousands of an inch, about 0.25mm to 1.2mm, sounds ideal for what I need to do.

[nixiefreqq]

hey avg

low probability that you will need one of these.  but look at them.....just in case.


ps  and be careful about your back.  you don't want to spend a day in emergency like our blue buddy.

[Wolfgang]

Speaking of Nixie tubes. This is a very rare and very expensive one:

a Rodan Okaya CD47 / GR411

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324751882708


second image is from this website

Seller (NAWTS) is asking for 2345.67 EUR for it (negotiable). 

The digits are looking like this:


Edit:
Some additional data about the CD47:

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/data/cd47-gr411.htm

added another image from the tubetester website

For this anount of money you could contact

https://www.daliborfarny.com/

He will make you any number you want, they are new and price per tube is probably less than here. 

[med6753]

I glad it seems everyone had a good Christmas. I didn't. Friday afternoon I noticed my right jaw starting to swell. And the pain was pretty bad. I could not eat anything without extreme pain. I tried some hot compresses without any relief. By Friday evening I knew I was in trouble. I had no choice but to go to the hospital ER. Due to short staffing on Christmas Eve it was 4 hours before I was seen by a doc. He determined I had an infected salivary gland but needed to confirm it via CT scan. The CT scan confirmed it. Due to the seriousness of the infection he wanted to put me on a IV and admit me for at least two days. So that's where I've been until this afternoon. Home now and still some swelling but at least I can eat and I'm on a 10 day antibiotic. And follow up with an specialist.

I guess humbug came back to bite me in the arse. Karma she be a bitch. 

Well, that sucks!

The disadvantage of the British NHS is that 4 hour wait to see a doctor at accident and emergency would be normal at any time, not an exception just because it's Christmas Eve; the advantage is that I wouldn't even be 1p of co-pay out of pocket if I went to A&E.

My co-pay for ER even with Medicare and a supplemental plan is $90 USD.

Considering what it could be without the additional insurance I got off cheap.

And then the co-pay for being hospitalized. $365 USD.

[mnementh]

Yeah, and you have the decent insurance.

mnem
*currently fighting the battle of Laundry Hill*

[Zucca]

I'm firmly on the best-of-breed track. My toolcase (yes, posted before) is living proof:

next thread "show us your tool box"

Nice one mansa! I would like to see the one for the ETH cables and fibres.... 

[Zucca]

wish me luck I am installing Ubuntu on my wife's laptop

[AVGresponding]

hey avg

low probability that you will need one of these.  but look at them.....just in case.


ps  and be careful about your back.  you don't want to spend a day in emergency like our blue buddy.

Hopefully not, the PNP germaniums on them are the same as the ones on the donor board I have left, and I'm sure I can find some equivalent if it's one of the NPN's.

[dl6lr]

The downside of living in a quasi-vegitarian household (she is, I'm not) is that you don't get turkey for Christmas; the upside is that food poisoning is a very, very remote possibility.

Hehe, I colleague is vegetarian. We *had* a cheap asian buffet in the bureau building *). He tried to persuade us for lunch there, what we declined, warning him as some of us got mildly ill after eating strange tasting meat balls. He laughed and said, that this could not happen to him as he is vegetarian. Went there for lunch. And was ill for the next two days. 

*) Now at the same location there is a slighly more expensive asian restaurant where you can order very good meal which is freshly made.

Bernd

[Specmaster]

Thanks Robert and Mansaxel for the links. Sadly even with all that good info, I can't find a suitable socket. Everything I see for sale is clearly targetted at TV / Video appliances, not vintage test gear.. ah well 

Thanks for all the links and info,; hopefully armed with that I can find something suitable !   

Want to replace it because.. as I explained earlier, bad connection. The split inner core gives zero signal on one of the pieces, and the other piece I need to press on it very firmly with the tip of the scope probe to get a proper signal.

If only the inner part is broken, maybe you can extract it and replace it with one from a more standard connector?

I don't see how one could extract the inner part without damaging destroying the socket, as I guess it's molded intot hte plastic dielectric piece, but well, what's to lose... I guess I could order a bag of cheap sockets and destroy a few of them.Maybe after trying various techniques I will figure out a way to extract the inner part without destroying everything... then put it back in, without deforming it. Maybe the inner part is just pushed into the dielectric, so can be pulled somehow, rather molded into it in which case it's a lost cause. Guess I can only figure it out by trying....

Still it sucks ! Can believe I can't just but a brand new of these sockets, I guess this tiny little thing demand of mine was still deemed to be unrealistic by the big fat bearded guy in red !!! 

Need to find something else to do where I CAN be successful, just so I can feel a bit better...

Fear ye not, perhaps this one will resolve the problem for you, as yours is flush, this one may well sit in the same location and finish up flush as well, who knows?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304237716949

[mnementh]

wish me luck I am installing Ubuntu on my wife's laptop

https://www.fossmint.com/macos-like-linux-distributions/

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Speaking of Nixie tubes. This is a very rare and very expensive one:

a Rodan Okaya CD47 / GR411

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324751882708


second image is from this website

Seller (NAWTS) is asking for 2345.67 EUR for it (negotiable). 

The digits are looking like this:


Edit:
Some additional data about the CD47:

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/data/cd47-gr411.htm

added another image from the tubetester website

Now those nixies would play havoc with anyone who has an OCD, I don't but they sure as hell annoy the sh1t out of me because the digits are not of a uniform size.

[Specmaster]

The adaptors I linked to will plug into the existing socket on the Metrix and provide a BNC or F type without altering the unit.
The center contact of the Metrix probably just needs a clean and maybe a gentle squeeze together of the split.

Thanks for actually be willing to help, rather than judge, that's refreshing. If only they could all be like you, how friendly and productive TEA would be, not to mention the SNR would skyrocket.

I grabbed my LED torch light and threw some serious Lumens into that socket, I noticed that the two halves of the split inner core  were actually joining at their very bottom, it's in fact one single piece of metal. Therefore it did not make sense that one half was giving me a signal and not the other. Had to be bad connection. And when I saw the staggering amount of crust covering 100% of all surfaces in that socket, all black in there, thick layer.... it further reinforced the hypothesis.  So I did what I could to clean it. Attacked it first with a tiny flat screw driver to break up most of the black crust, blew some human air in there to force the debris out.  Then flooded the socket with contact cleaner / Deoxit, agitated it with the stiff hair of a nylon brush. That loosened the remaining crap. Then using the screw driver again,  I managed to shove a kitchen paper towel deep into the socket to dry it and take all the debris out.

Now looks soooooooooo much better ! Shiny and clean, almost like new. What I thought was "patina" from a distance, was in fact just crust and nothing else.

Fired up the scope and generator, now works much better.....

Will order a BNC adapter and see how it goes, but should do it I think...

Vince, most of would have told you the same thing as Robert did, so I'm guessing, the others made the same mistake I did, assumed that A/ you were aware that the 2 halves are joined at the base, B/ assumed that you had tried to clean the socket and C/ squeezed the 2 split ends closer together, gently with a pair of long nose pliers.

In the past, I have replaced similar sockets with panel mounted BNC sockets with no noticeable drop in performance, but a significant increase in the durability of the socket. 

[VK5RC]

@med re the salivary gland, hope it comes good quickly - bloody painful - an old household remedy is to suck a 'bliss - bomb' or the most sour thing that you can find, often the salivary duct gets clogged up and lots of saliva will unplug it. If all fails then a therapeutic 'sialogram' will often unplug it, rarely you can get a duct stone but they often pass spont.

[Specmaster]

Well, the Belling-Lee socket is at best marginal on good days; its normal performance is downright abysmal. So I'm not surprised it got swapped out and is hardly available anymore.

Oh, if only that latter bit was true. It's the standard antenna socket for UK televisions and associated aerial systems - even if you've replaced everything else in the chain when you get to the TV receiver itself you're stuck with the execrable Belling-Lee.

It's standard here too. For that. It's been replaced everywhere else except in domestic antenna usage, and, as Vince has found out, thus exists only in the marginal "max 25 mating cycles" implementations found on the back of our Telescreens.

Yes indeed, in Frog land we still have this ancient connector on TV sets..
The socket on the wall is a bit more modern though, something you can screw, but on the TV set itself it's still the antique connector.

Well, I have not had a TV since 1997 so I am no expert, but I had that screw type socket in my previous house that I rented, and I can see what TV sets are like because friends bring me lots of TV and monitor to fix or take apart. So I manage to kinda keep in touch with technology this way ! 

Hu... come to think of it I am not even so sure anymore about the screw type socket in the wall... maybe it was for cable TV not for the aerial on the roof....
anyway, on the TV set itself for sure it still uses the General Lee socket.

The socket on the wall that you mention looks more modern and is screwable is in fact a "F" socket and is designed for both cable and satellite TV, terrestrial TV still uses the Belling-lee sockets.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303812931089

[Specmaster]

   He meant the listing pic.

Correct, but I think C knew that all the time, its called stirring the pot 

No, it's called being stupid.

Hey, I know I'm so dense I absorb neutrinos... but stoopit...?

Yeah, okay... I'm lucky if I can tie my shoes without getting lost on the way up; may as well own it. 

mnem
pssssttt... let a guy throw you a lifeline every once in a while, C.

FFS Mnem, read what people have written. It's very obvious that I am referring to myself being stupid.

Heh, we have been there at some point or another, I call them a senior moment, can't possibly be right all the time, nobody is.

[Kosmic]

I glad it seems everyone had a good Christmas. I didn't. Friday afternoon I noticed my right jaw starting to swell. And the pain was pretty bad. I could not eat anything without extreme pain. I tried some hot compresses without any relief. By Friday evening I knew I was in trouble. I had no choice but to go to the hospital ER. Due to short staffing on Christmas Eve it was 4 hours before I was seen by a doc. He determined I had an infected salivary gland but needed to confirm it via CT scan. The CT scan confirmed it. Due to the seriousness of the infection he wanted to put me on a IV and admit me for at least two days. So that's where I've been until this afternoon. Home now and still some swelling but at least I can eat and I'm on a 10 day antibiotic. And follow up with an specialist.

I guess humbug came back to bite me in the arse. Karma she be a bitch. 

That sucks 

Nice to see you are feeling better.

[Specmaster]

I glad it seems everyone had a good Christmas. I didn't. Friday afternoon I noticed my right jaw starting to swell. And the pain was pretty bad. I could not eat anything without extreme pain. I tried some hot compresses without any relief. By Friday evening I knew I was in trouble. I had no choice but to go to the hospital ER. Due to short staffing on Christmas Eve it was 4 hours before I was seen by a doc. He determined I had an infected salivary gland but needed to confirm it via CT scan. The CT scan confirmed it. Due to the seriousness of the infection he wanted to put me on a IV and admit me for at least two days. So that's where I've been until this afternoon. Home now and still some swelling but at least I can eat and I'm on a 10 day antibiotic. And follow up with an specialist.

I guess humbug came back to bite me in the arse. Karma she be a bitch. 

Well, that sucks!

The disadvantage of the British NHS is that 4 hour wait to see a doctor at accident and emergency would be normal at any time, not an exception just because it's Christmas Eve; the advantage is that I wouldn't even be 1p of co-pay out of pocket if I went to A&E.

"C" you're 100% spot on here, call me cynical if you like, but the insurance / pay based system that exists in the USA and maybe over here soon unless we can stop it. Makes me really wonder if all of these so-called emergencies and admittances aren't a ploy to extract every last penny, or cent that they can from people because they are, like it or not, a profit oriented business.

[Zucca]

wish me luck I am installing Ubuntu on my wife's laptop

https://www.fossmint.com/macos-like-linux-distributions/

mnem
 

fighting with UEFI and stupid BIOS no boot device messages