Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

Apparently my grandson and his schoolmates have been instructed on the need for good hand hygiene

A university student I know was taught how to wash her hands properly in junior school. Excellent!

[Specmaster]

And now we've gone recursive; my original argument re: FLUKE having to hold their ASPs to yet an even HIGHER standard than fApple due to the fact that their product is used as process control in manufacturing and by people who routinely go poking around in high-voltage for a living. Maintaining that Cat III safety STANDARD requires special handling in not only the manufacturing, but ANY repair process of the product AFTER that manufacture.

This means that to maintain the safety level that FLUKE made their name on, extraordinary measures are required in the service; extremely complex procedures that would NOT be apparent to folks who do consumer electronics repair which would require special training that FLUKE has EVERY RIGHT to restrict to a handful of ASPs that they can keep an eye on to perform those repairs correctly.

Thinking about things like always wearing gloves so body oils can't form a trace across points with a potential to carry high potential and other clean room precautions, just for a start. FFS, even putting the wrong fuse in one of these meters will make it NO LONGER Cat III safe. I give it a 50/50 chance LR knows or even cares about any of this.

Now think about the kind of repairs we like to do...  Is it any wonder FLUKE doesn't want to talk to us ?

They operate on a whole 'nuther level, man. They don't have time to eff around with us; we're not their customer. People who can buy a cabinet full of NEW FLUKE are their customer. The rest of us can talk to one of their authorized vendors or ASPs; who CAN BUY AND HAVE a cabinet full of NEW FLUKE.

mnem
Reality bites.

Now I think that we are really beginning to lose the plot here, if changing a fuse could have such devastating results, why allow users the ability to replace them? Why don't they make them completely sealed and force the user/owner to buy new again? They don't even fit tamper proof screws, thus making access to the inner workings of the meter accessible to any idiot who can use a standard screwdriver, Geez. Likewise, I seriously doubt that Apple products contain anything that would affect national security, why would they put material that sensitive in the hands of millions, many of whom are by all accounts, morons, and we've all come across those before. Things of National Security tend to be implemented locally by Government approved contractors and would be implemented by on locally produced item for home nation consumption surely?

If every manufacturer treated their customers in such a cavalier fashion, then hell, all of us would have lost our passions in life, because everything would be supplied sealed, and we would have to buy new when our phone/tablet/computer/test gear/TV/radio etc failed, this forum and our hobbies/jobs would cease to exist. 

[med6753]

Done mine already.

Did my "advance directive" a couple of months ago. Basically, if I cannot express what medical treatment I do/don't want, plus I won't be able to in the future, then keep me comfortable but don't prolong my life.

That's exactly what mine has in it 

That is one thing I have been totally neglectful on doing and I should. Got nothing written down although my oldest son has keys to here as well as location/keys for strongbox. 

[Kosmic]

Woke up this morning with sore throat and terrible cough. Here we go 

You are probably all right. First symptoms are body aches, fever then dry coughs and problem breading.

Apparently if you have a sore throat it's the common cold. I Had a cold weeks ago (that I got from the kids) and I'm still coughing a little bit. Everybody look at me weird.

[Specmaster]

Apparently my grandson and his schoolmates have been instructed on the need for good hand hygiene and this resulted in him mixing soap and sanitiser and getting chemical burns as a result.
Since I've done the same thing myself with no issues (when I accidentally squirted a gob of sanitiser instead of soap) I've asked my daughter to query the school regarding the particular products involved.
I realise a six-year-old's skin is more sensitive than mine but this sounds like they are using the wrong stuff.[/color][/b]

This is the extent of what they are doing around here:



(sorry you'll have to zoom in)

Done mine already.

Did my "advance directive" a couple of months ago. Basically, if I cannot express what medical treatment I do/don't want, plus I won't be able to in the future, then keep me comfortable but don't prolong my life.

That's exactly what mine has in it 

This is getting a bit morbid now, isn't it?

[Kosmic]

Woke up this morning with sore throat and terrible cough. Here we go 

Keep in touch occasionally.

At my age there is a ~3% chance it will kill me, which is better than my mother's 99% (guesstimated) chance. This afternoon's task: update my will.

It's going to be allright, don't touch your face, wash your hand with soap and stay 1 meter away from everybody. Forget about gloves and masks, just wash your hand as soon as you get home and before eating.

I'm sure you and your mother can get through this 

[Specmaster]

Why? This is NOT news; FLUKE has always been this way. They've adopted the "Defense Contractor" business model; it's hardly new and it's something that pretty much everybody who's ever done business with them knows.

Congrats on the new TARDIS, though. 

mnem
Mine is in the shop. 

It always having been shit doesn't make it less shit. I like Keysight's and TTi's approach more. Just too bad their handhelds aren't quite as nice to use.

Did you get a reply mail with the subject line RE:TARDIS?

Hey... I really like the handling of the F-22. I don't expect Lockheed to talk to me about parts for one, even if I had the money to buy them. Same exact principle.

mnem

You're joking of course' Lockheed could not talk to you about a F-22, regardless of how much money you had or how many you wanted to buy, Fluke on the other hand could and would talk to you if you were after buying loads of their meters. 

[mansaxel]

As I wrote upthread, it's GPS weekend, for real this time.

Thought a bit about cable length and decided I really don't need to cut the cable to length, it's better if I have 3m spare since the total run is much shorter than what Meinberg allow for. That way I can put a longer pipe in, raising the antenna further if I need to, and also, I can get to the connector end without crawling under the raised flooring. (providing I don't raise the antenna 3m, of course..)

So, I was able set up shop ON the floor instead of UNDER it.



Huge improvement. Yes, I prefer soldering what is nominally a crimp centre pin. I do not have the vendor specific crimper, rather a generic Chinesium one, so while the dimensions of RG58 are pretty consistent (this is Berkenhoff & Drebes, respectable German cable works) and thus controls what size ferrules are, the centre pin is subject to much more creativity.

On the outside, it looks all the same, though. And no, I can't cut shrink tube straight at all.

[Kosmic]

Woke up this morning with sore throat and terrible cough. Here we go 

Take 6 of these but don't call me in the morning and complain you're using up all the hoarded toilet paper. 

At the grocery store, while everybody was hoarding toilet paper and pasta I put this in my cart, as a semi joke

[med6753]

Woke up this morning with sore throat and terrible cough. Here we go 

Take 6 of these but don't call me in the morning and complain you're using up all the hoarded toilet paper. 

At the grocery store, while everybody was hoarding toilet paper and pasta I put this in my cart, as a semi joke

I hope you didn't take it home. That shit is nasty. 

[Kosmic]

Woke up this morning with sore throat and terrible cough. Here we go 

Take 6 of these but don't call me in the morning and complain you're using up all the hoarded toilet paper. 

At the grocery store, while everybody was hoarding toilet paper and pasta I put this in my cart, as a semi joke

I hope you didn't take it home. That shit is nasty. 

Hmm yes …. To be honest it's been so long since I had one I don't really remember the taste. I need to find some lime I guess 

[Specmaster]

I understand one of the first things we did with the F35 was “software assurance”. In defence terms that means we cracked it. That’s fairly standard policy and I’ve met the guys who are usually tasked with that sort of thing. At the time they were working on the proprietary bits of bowman.

Either way fighter superiority is declining in importance now. Bring on the drone storms and fly them into the F35 intakes

I can't believe that the Americans would allow us to tamper with their software, hell they even tell us where and how these planes are to be stored, they specify many aspects of the conditions that the planes has to be operated under. They even specified the type of concrete that is to be used for the runways and landing pads etc, which had to be specially imported from the USA. Even the lighting controls used in their hangars and maintenance workshops/offices had to be of the non-programmable type because they are so fearful the system could be infiltrated and put the planes out of commission.

[bd139]

I understand one of the first things we did with the F35 was “software assurance”. In defence terms that means we cracked it. That’s fairly standard policy and I’ve met the guys who are usually tasked with that sort of thing. At the time they were working on the proprietary bits of bowman.

Either way fighter superiority is declining in importance now. Bring on the drone storms and fly them into the F35 intakes

I can't believe that the Americans would allow us to tamper with their software, hell they even tell us where and how these planes are to be stored, they specify many aspects of the conditions that the planes has to be operated under. They even specified the type of concrete that is to be used for the runways and landing pads etc, which had to be specially imported from the USA. Even the lighting controls used in their hangars and maintenance workshops/offices had to be of the non-programmable type because they are so fearful the system could be infiltrated and put the planes out of commission.

They don't have to allow it. We're a sovereign nation and can tell them to stick it . As mentioned we did it with Bowman.

Edit: this week's fuck up. Left my wire strippers outside when I did the antenna last week. A week of rain and they are fucked  . Bang goes 22 quid 

[med6753]

They don't have to allow it. We're a sovereign nation and can tell them to stick it . As mentioned we did it with Bowman.

Edit: this week's fuck up. Left my wire strippers outside when I did the antenna last week. A week of rain and they are fucked  . Bang goes 22 quid 

So License and Non-disclosure agreements mean nada? I find that hard to believe. 

[Specmaster]

I understand one of the first things we did with the F35 was “software assurance”. In defence terms that means we cracked it. That’s fairly standard policy and I’ve met the guys who are usually tasked with that sort of thing. At the time they were working on the proprietary bits of bowman.

Either way fighter superiority is declining in importance now. Bring on the drone storms and fly them into the F35 intakes

I can't believe that the Americans would allow us to tamper with their software, hell they even tell us where and how these planes are to be stored, they specify many aspects of the conditions that the planes has to be operated under. They even specified the type of concrete that is to be used for the runways and landing pads etc, which had to be specially imported from the USA. Even the lighting controls used in their hangars and maintenance workshops/offices had to be of the non-programmable type because they are so fearful the system could be infiltrated and put the planes out of commission.

They don't have to allow it. We're a sovereign nation and can tell them to stick it . As mentioned we did it with Bowman.

Yes OK Boris, I still doubt it though knowing first hand just how dictatorial they with it, we even have to park them so far away from photographers lens normally. Security around them is so tight that if a gnat farted it would set of alarms  It will be many years before your going to see on the ground at an air show. They flew one at Riat (RAF Fairford) last year, and they flew that from RAF Marham, down to Riat on the day each day and it flew straight into its display slot and then flew straight back again, never set a wheel down on the ground because the Americans forbade it.

[nixiefreqq]

so yesterday swmbo was on line filling out our census form.

she called me in because she did not know what to put down as "origin" for my italian, scotch, german, english, irish ass.

told her to put down "cherokee".

she refused claiming there is no proof for that.  offered to go out into the neighborhood and collect some scalps.

she kept asking "where did you come from?".

grabbed the keyboard and typed "my old mans testicles".

swmbo was not amused.  she deleted my entry and replaced it with "english".

well i'll be damned.  now the gubbermint thinks we are both posh twats.  (not sure if she qualifies....she did spend her childhood in some swampy area near a river.......think it is called "london")

 

[med6753]

 

[bd139]

They don't have to allow it. We're a sovereign nation and can tell them to stick it . As mentioned we did it with Bowman.

Edit: this week's fuck up. Left my wire strippers outside when I did the antenna last week. A week of rain and they are fucked  . Bang goes 22 quid 

So License and Non-disclosure agreements mean nada? I find that hard to believe. 

I worked on the first US-UK shared defence network. It was a warzone of attacks going both directions. There's a lot of bad blood and backhandedness from people who are above the law on both sides. It's an information cold war. The remote end from my perspective was run by sysadmins who were doing "by the US gov procedural manual" class admin which meant that they were about 6 months behind in patches  . They shut this down in the end because of trust issues and it turned into a quiet scandal in the papers at the time. That's the basis of our "shared agreements" we have so we'll be mugging them off while cracking their stuff behind the scenes.

[med6753]

They don't have to allow it. We're a sovereign nation and can tell them to stick it . As mentioned we did it with Bowman.

Edit: this week's fuck up. Left my wire strippers outside when I did the antenna last week. A week of rain and they are fucked  . Bang goes 22 quid 

So License and Non-disclosure agreements mean nada? I find that hard to believe. 

I worked on the first US-UK shared defence network. It was a warzone of attacks going both directions. There's a lot of bad blood and backhandedness from people who are above the law on both sides. It's an information cold war. The remote end from my perspective was run by sysadmins who were doing "by the US gov procedural manual" class admin which meant that they were about 6 months behind in patches  . They shut this down in the end because of trust issues and it turned into a quiet scandal in the papers at the time. That's the basis of our "shared agreements" we have so we'll be mugging them off while cracking their stuff behind the scenes.

The bad blood and backhandness doesn't surprise me when dealing with the fat egos on both sides.

I can definitely see and I'm sure there would be no issue with modifying code to accommodate unique British weapons systems. The plane wouldn't be any good if it wasn't. But changing the source code on flight parameters, etc? I would think that stuff would be locked down and encrypted. Because do it wrong and it becomes a lawn dart.     

[bd139]

It’s not so much ego but paranoia. And that’s probably justified. For example if we refuse to engage an enemy of the US and they turn our planes off as a fuck you. Obviously an issue with captain orange and captain lemon in charge.

[Kosmic]

Found a real unicorn on ebay. The last multimeter made by Solartron, the SI 7063.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schlumberger-SI-7063-6-1-2-digit-Digital-Multimeter/124108190866





Most (if not all ?) unit was recalled and eventually destroyed due to a rare bug in the ASIC. In certain rare condition the meter can show 0V when there is actually some voltage on the input.

Too bad the seller is ignoring my offer, and it's a bit expensive at 600$ for a bugged meter 

[med6753]

And I suppose there is the lingering bad blood concerning technology exchanges. It hasn't always been fair and we were the bad guys. During WW2 you Brits freely shared jet engine and magnetron technology. Early in the war we sent you 16 P-38 fighters without the GE turbochargers installed which made the planes totally unsuitable for combat. We felt the turbos were "too sensitive tech" not realizing that Mr Whittle was light years ahead with compressor tech for the jet engine. You guys rightly sent the planes back. We refused to share nuke tech from the Manhattan Project even though many of your scientists worked on it. So you Brits had to go your own way. Just a few examples I'm sure there's more.     

[AVGresponding]

Found a real unicorn on ebay. The last multimeter made by Solartron, the SI 7063.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schlumberger-SI-7063-6-1-2-digit-Digital-Multimeter/124108190866





Most (if not all ?) unit was recalled and eventually destroyed due to a rare bug in the ASIC. In certain rare condition the meter can show 0V when there is actually some voltage on the input.

Too bad the seller is ignoring my offer, and it's a bit expensive at 600$ for a bugged meter 

Nice looking meter, I'm a sucker for VFD   

Not surprised it and their other items are a bit pricey, Sg is an expensive place.

[Specmaster]

Found a real unicorn on ebay. The last multimeter made by Solartron, the SI 7063.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schlumberger-SI-7063-6-1-2-digit-Digital-Multimeter/124108190866





Most (if not all ?) unit was recalled and eventually destroyed due to a rare bug in the ASIC. In certain rare condition the meter can show 0V when there is actually some voltage on the input.

Too bad the seller is ignoring my offer, and it's a bit expensive at 600$ for a bugged meter 

Nice looking meter, I'm a sucker for VFD   

Not surprised it and their other items are a bit pricey, Sg is an expensive place.

Hmm, in that case, I think I'll stick with my 7150plus meters with their LCD displays then 

[AVGresponding]

But but but... starburst VFDs!!!