Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Just a bit of wire the right length on the end of a bit of coax

Bonus of flogging stuff is it sits in my paypal account which means SWMBO can’t spend it 

[mnementh]

Sounds like something grenaded in the transmission, from reports. One would expect this bird to have the best of maintenance, given its high-profile deployment. I wonder who Mr Srivaddhanaprabha pissed off... 

Hence my mentioning the gearbox. There have been several such "incidents" over the North Sea in recent years.

OTOH, a Russian oligarch's copter had a similar failure on takeoff a few years ago.

You sound like Jonathan Livingston Seagull when you you wax poetic about gliding.    I need to go find it again... a little simplistic, but good for the soul.

Seagulls are deceptive buggers - they lure you and then flap their wings. Buzzards are much more reliable thermal indicators, and have saved many many pilots from landing out and chatting to farmers.

A better comparison would be with Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry. He was an early, lyrically poetic aviator who wrote "The Little Prince" and also one of my guiding aphorisms: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman's Odyssey.

And that is definitely TEA related. Phew; got the thread back on course.

FFI https://www.biography.com/people/antoine-de-saint-exupery-030816 or wackypedia

Yes, Curtis and the "Ring of Death" were the ones I was thinking of when I made that comment. Whenever I see stark, glaring incidents like this I think of them as a datapoint on some graph being plotted by Alan Moore.

Somewhere between this:
"Yes, there is a conspiracy, in fact there are a great number of conspiracies that are all tripping each other up. And all of those conspiracies are run by paranoid fantasists and ham-fisted clowns.  If you are on a list targeted by the CIA, you really have nothing to worry about. If however, you have a name similar to somebody on a list targeted by the CIA, then you are dead."  

and this: "The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic. The truth is, that it is not the Jewish banking conspiracy or the grey aliens or the 12 foot reptiloids from another dimension that are in control. The truth is more frightening, nobody is in control. The world is rudderless."

lies the truth. And that is even more terrifying than either scenario alone. 


I first read "Le Petit Prince" when I was 10; my mother gave it to me as a distraction from... or perhaps to help me balance out... my then-singular obsession with reading the entire 1967 "Encyclopedia Britannica", which was bought for me as a birth present by my grandfather. I later actually slogged through it in the original french during my high school years. No idea how; I'm lucky now that I can remember the difference be tween "c'est la vie" and "la petite mort". 

D' Saint-Exupery was a fabulously soulful philosopher; I really need to revisit. *makes mental note*


The fact you speak this way about seagulls in this context suggests to me you probably never read Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It is a metaphysical story precisely about exactly that kind of pursuit of self-perfection; that was actually where I was going with my comment. There is no need to choose one over the other... both are valid sources of similar philosophical bent. 

I think the helicopter committed suicide because it was forced to land in Leicester.

FPV is interesting me a lot at the moment but with drones. After playing computer games for many years (fast things like Q3A and UT) I’m finding that amateur radio is a bit slow, completely unreliable and slightly boring. TEA interest is far greater. Perhaps a new bucket list project needs to be selected.

LOL... but the football team was supposed to be one of the few GOOD things about Leicester. 


Yeah, FPV drones are my thing. I think I MAY HAVE posted about that a time or three in thread. 

Let me know what you're into... I'll try and give you some pointers.  My focus STARTED OUT being to build a "portable" (meaning you could fit it all in an ordinary school-kid type rucksack) Aerial Photography platform (this was when DJi was JUST starting out, and nobody even knew what a Phantom was); the tech just wasn't mature enough.

Eventually as the tech matured, my interest moved towards "freestyle"; which is the form most of the videos I've posted are about. It's a lot like soaring... only I enjoy the "close proximity" with obstacles and environment angle. I get bored VERY quickly flying planks FPV; usually a couple packs and I'm looking for an empty field to go barnstorming in. 

Since then, the "personal aerial photography" market has become firmly entrenched... it is a huge industry, and no matter who or how our corrupt Congress tries to shut down all the amateur "eyes in the sky", we're going to see a massive increase in corporate skullduggery being caught on film. I personally can't wait. 

There has never been a better time to get into FPV multirotors than now... FC tech is actually "GUI Easy" and competition has resolved into a handful of major platforms, so cost of entry is low. You can get into a basic RTF/ARF acro rig for $100 + goggles and TX; a state of the art build as little as $300 + goggles and TX.

A-a-a-nd bringing it back to TEA:

FPV mutirotors are a great way to apply amateur radio skillzz; we typically operate in all the amateur RF bands, from 800MHz to 5.8GHz, and there are crazy people reaching into other bands with experimental gear all the time... much of it eventually migrates into the mainstream, just as FPV started out at 900MHz-1.2 GHz, but is now primarily 5.8GHz. We started out with analog PAL & NTSC signal on those bands for low latency; now we have multistream HD Digital video with ever-decreasing latency.

It's a really exciting time to be an electronics hobbyist in this particular corner of electronics.

Plus, it's a great excuse to use toys like this (Though you'd probably build it from scratch )  :

   

mnem
Simplify.

[Wolfgang]

Cool videos, again. The attitude that a chopper is just an oversized fan is a bit biased.

True. It also has an engine, a gearbox and a "Jesus bolt"

From today's news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-46006470

The point is to bring your *own* wind with you wherever you need it. It does work without any thermics.

Gliders make their own wind: you just point the nose down at the relevant angle. They also don't need thermals - ridge flying and wave relies on strong winds across hills/mountains, and enables climbs to 10kft/20kft (UK record 37kft). It is great fun eyeballing sheep as they wizz past at 70kt Or flying with raptors, gazing into each other's eyes

Another British deer departed in a helicopter is Colin McRae who aerobated his AS350B2 into servo transparency and was not prepared for it.
The important question is what is more risky - A me (120kg) in a glider (will it even take off ?) or b) in an overpowered helicopter. My choice so far: B.
Chopper also work without thermics, and without ridges. I frequently fly in the Austrian alps - about 3800m ASL, there are a lot of ridges and rotator clouds - we try to stay away from them. No gliders up there.

[Specmaster]

Is it just me or is anyone else here who is selling gear on Ebay noticing the very high proportion of of our European and other global cousins buying all the time?. I reckon 50% of the items I've sold recently are all on the GSP program. Today alone I have sold a meter to Denmark and on the verge of selling a radio to France.

Strikes me that maybe they are buying up our gear at the moment before Brexit, I've been selling on the ole Bay for a quite a while and I've never used the GSP scheme unto recently. 

[tggzzz]

I first read "Le Petit Prince" when I was 10; my mother gave it to me as a distraction from... or perhaps to help me balance out... my then-singular obsession with reading the entire 1967 "Encyclopedia Britannica", which was bought for me as a birth present by my grandfather. I later actually slogged through it in the original french during my high school years. No idea how; I'm lucky now that I can remember the difference be tween "c'est la vie" and "la petite mort". 

D' Saint-Exupery was a fabulously soulful philosopher; I really need to revisit. *makes mental note*

Can I recommend "Southern Mail".

The fact you speak this way about seagulls in this context suggests to me you probably never read Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It is a metaphysical story precisely about exactly that kind of pursuit of self-perfection; that was actually where I was going with my comment. There is no need to choose one over the other... both are valid sources of similar philosophical bent. 

Oh, I have read JLS, back in the early 80s and again about a year ago. I quite liked the first part, but towards the end I felt it was straining and going off the rails. IIRC it was too pseudo religious. But then I've always disliked the Narnia canon for that reason.

[bd139]

I think the helicopter committed suicide because it was forced to land in Leicester.

FPV is interesting me a lot at the moment but with drones. After playing computer games for many years (fast things like Q3A and UT) I’m finding that amateur radio is a bit slow, completely unreliable and slightly boring. TEA interest is far greater. Perhaps a new bucket list project needs to be selected.

LOL... but the football team was supposed to be one of the few GOOD things about Leicester. 

Maybe. I can't think of anything else. I lived in Nottingham for a bit, a relatively near and rival city, which is a scum hole through and through and Leicester ranked lower

Yeah, FPV drones are my thing. I think I MAY HAVE posted about that a time or three in thread. 

Yes this may be your fault 

Let me know what you're into... I'll try and give you some pointers.  My focus STARTED OUT being to build a "portable" (meaning you could fit it all in an ordinary school-kid type rucksack) Aerial Photography platform (this was when DJi was JUST starting out, and nobody even knew what a Phantom was); the tech just wasn't mature enough.

Eventually as the tech matured, my interest moved towards "freestyle"; which is the form most of the videos I've posted are about. It's a lot like soaring... only I enjoy the "close proximity" with obstacles and environment angle. I get bored VERY quickly flying planks FPV; usually a couple packs and I'm looking for an empty field to go barnstorming in. 

Definitely freestyle / racing. I need something in my life which involves a lot of "holy shit that was close". I used to race 1:10 touring cars (Yokomo YR4) back before they started racing wanky drift cars. Those were pretty damn fast with the right pack and motor.

Since then, the "personal aerial photography" market has become firmly entrenched... it is a huge industry, and no matter who or how our corrupt Congress tries to shut down all the amateur "eyes in the sky", we're going to see a massive increase in corporate skullduggery being caught on film. I personally can't wait. 

Yes a colleague of mine a couple of years back actually started a business doing "drone security". I'm not sure if he was successful or not but I think the idea was being able to use a combination of remote sensors and human operated drones to control a larger perimeter than on foot security guards. I think it was just an excuse to piss around

There has never been a better time to get into FPV multirotors than now... FC tech is actually "GUI Easy" and competition has resolved into a handful of major platforms, so cost of entry is low. You can get into a basic RTF/ARF acro rig for $100 + goggles and TX; a state of the art build as little as $300 + goggles and TX.

I would probably go for something robust to get some flight training first then custom build after. The only quadcopter I've flown is the very first Draganflyer a very long time ago. Nearly 20 years now!

A-a-a-nd bringing it back to TEA:

FPV mutirotors are a great way to apply amateur radio skillzz; we typically operate in all the amateur RF bands, from 800MHz to 5.8GHz, and there are crazy people reaching into other bands with experimental gear all the time... much of it eventually migrates into the mainstream, just as FPV started out at 900MHz-1.2 GHz, but is now primarily 5.8GHz. We started out with analog PAL & NTSC signal on those bands for low latency; now we have multistream HD Digital video with ever-decreasing latency.

It's a really exciting time to be an electronics hobbyist in this particular corner of electronics.

Plus, it's a great excuse to use toys like this (Though you'd probably build it from scratch )  :

   

Sold! 

Is it just me or is anyone else here who is selling gear on Ebay noticing the very high proportion of of our European and other global cousins buying all the time?. I reckon 50% of the items I've sold recently are all on the GSP program. Today alone I have sold a meter to Denmark and on the verge of selling a radio to France.

Strikes me that maybe they are buying up our gear at the moment before Brexit, I've been selling on the ole Bay for a quite a while and I've never used the GSP scheme unto recently. 

Exchange rate is favourable at the moment. Our country is about to go down the shitter.

[tggzzz]

Cool videos, again. The attitude that a chopper is just an oversized fan is a bit biased.

True. It also has an engine, a gearbox and a "Jesus bolt"

From today's news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-46006470

The point is to bring your *own* wind with you wherever you need it. It does work without any thermics.

Gliders make their own wind: you just point the nose down at the relevant angle. They also don't need thermals - ridge flying and wave relies on strong winds across hills/mountains, and enables climbs to 10kft/20kft (UK record 37kft). It is great fun eyeballing sheep as they wizz past at 70kt Or flying with raptors, gazing into each other's eyes

Another British deer departed in a helicopter is Colin McRae who aerobated his AS350B2 into servo transparency and was not prepared for it.

Gliders have their equivalent of the Jesus bolt, holding the two wings' spars together.

The important question is what is more risky - A me (120kg) in a glider (will it even take off ?) or b) in an overpowered helicopter. My choice so far: B.

It would fly, probably very out of trim, but it would be illegal and uninsured. So your choice is sound

Chopper also work without thermics, and without ridges. I frequently fly in the Austrian alps - about 3800m ASL, there are a lot of ridges and rotator clouds - we try to stay away from them. No gliders up there.

I wouldn't be so sure!

Only 3800m? Gliders regularly fly over the Matterhorn, e.g.
https://youtu.be/2vYk3f-Vf4g?t=454

If you look at the OLC links, you will see he reached 5120m in the second flight

[tggzzz]

I need something in my life which involves a lot of "holy shit that was close".

Off piste skiing. Either on wide open avalanche-prone slopes, or between the trees.

Or just go fast on-piste - see if you can get up to half the speed of the racers. I have

I've also watched someone (a good local skiier) die when they slid into a water cannon at the side of the piste. I'll never forget the "crump" sound.

[factory]

Is it just me or is anyone else here who is selling gear on Ebay noticing the very high proportion of of our European and other global cousins buying all the time?. I reckon 50% of the items I've sold recently are all on the GSP program. Today alone I have sold a meter to Denmark and on the verge of selling a radio to France.

Strikes me that maybe they are buying up our gear at the moment before Brexit, I've been selling on the ole Bay for a quite a while and I've never used the GSP scheme unto recently. 

Exchange rate is favourable at the moment. Our country is about to go down the shitter.

Only 5 of the 14 items I've bought in the last 60 days were located in the UK. It would be 2 more if I hadn't lost out on some BIN items where I couldn't get the seller to add international shipping in time. 

David

[nfmax]

Helicopter plus glider - the best of both worlds!

[Wolfgang]

Cool videos, again. The attitude that a chopper is just an oversized fan is a bit biased.

True. It also has an engine, a gearbox and a "Jesus bolt"

From today's news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-46006470

The point is to bring your *own* wind with you wherever you need it. It does work without any thermics.

Gliders make their own wind: you just point the nose down at the relevant angle. They also don't need thermals - ridge flying and wave relies on strong winds across hills/mountains, and enables climbs to 10kft/20kft (UK record 37kft). It is great fun eyeballing sheep as they wizz past at 70kt Or flying with raptors, gazing into each other's eyes

Another British deer departed in a helicopter is Colin McRae who aerobated his AS350B2 into servo transparency and was not prepared for it.

Gliders have their equivalent of the Jesus bolt, holding the two wings' spars together.

The important question is what is more risky - A me (120kg) in a glider (will it even take off ?) or b) in an overpowered helicopter. My choice so far: B.

It would fly, probably very out of trim, but it would be illegal and uninsured. So your choice is sound

Chopper also work without thermics, and without ridges. I frequently fly in the Austrian alps - about 3800m ASL, there are a lot of ridges and rotator clouds - we try to stay away from them. No gliders up there.

I wouldn't be so sure!

Only 3800m? Gliders regularly fly over the Matterhorn, e.g.
https://youtu.be/2vYk3f-Vf4g?t=454

If you look at the OLC links, you will see he reached 5120m in the second flight

To put an unfair end to the discussion:



A landing of an AS350B3 on Mount Everest. Again, no gliders near nor far

I admit this type is the only one worldwide that can do this. Sometimes its an advantage to be slightly overpowered

I dont go above 4000m because the law says you need oxygen equipment. The machine has a hover height of above 6000m, and the altidtude record is 12000m.

Still, gliding looks like fun. Are there no "heavier" gliders for *real* men without a jockey stature ?

[bd139]

I need something in my life which involves a lot of "holy shit that was close".

Off piste skiing. Either on wide open avalanche-prone slopes, or between the trees.

Or just go fast on-piste - see if you can get up to half the speed of the racers. I have

I've also watched someone (a good local skiier) die when they slid into a water cannon at the side of the piste. I'll never forget the "crump" sound.

When I say “more holy shit that was close” I mean in financial cost not mortality risk.

I cycle commuted in and out of London for a bit and ended up in hospital a couple of times. Had enough of that risk

Plus half my family is Swiss and they know to avoid skiing. If you suggest they go skiing they laugh at you and then insult you.

[Wolfgang]

I need something in my life which involves a lot of "holy shit that was close".

Off piste skiing. Either on wide open avalanche-prone slopes, or between the trees.

Or just go fast on-piste - see if you can get up to half the speed of the racers. I have

I've also watched someone (a good local skiier) die when they slid into a water cannon at the side of the piste. I'll never forget the "crump" sound.

When I say “more holy shit that was close” I mean in financial cost not mortality risk.

I cycle commuted in and out of London for a bit and ended up in hospital a couple of times. Had enough of that risk

Plus half my family is Swiss and they know to avoid skiing. If you suggest they go skiing they laugh at you and then insult you.

Thats as risky as living in Bavaria and saying you dont like Bavarian beer soo much Its survivable, but it could leave some traces ...

[mnementh]

(SNIP)
Oh, I have read JLS, back in the early 80s and again about a year ago. I quite liked the first part, but towards the end I felt it was straining and going off the rails. IIRC it was too pseudo religious. But then I've always disliked the Narnia canon for that reason.

Understood. No, Bach was always more railing against religion than pseudo-religious; but on a certain level the two points tend to converge in fervor.    Again... a bit simplistic, but generally good for the soul. I'll look for "Southern Mail"; is there a translation that's considered better than others, or just the one by Cate?

mnem
*off to face the daily bAttles*

[Specmaster]

Is it just me or is anyone else here who is selling gear on Ebay noticing the very high proportion of of our European and other global cousins buying all the time?. I reckon 50% of the items I've sold recently are all on the GSP program. Today alone I have sold a meter to Denmark and on the verge of selling a radio to France.

Strikes me that maybe they are buying up our gear at the moment before Brexit, I've been selling on the ole Bay for a quite a while and I've never used the GSP scheme unto recently. 

Exchange rate is favourable at the moment. Our country is about to go down the shitter.

Only 5 of the 14 items I've bought in the last 60 days were located in the UK. It would be 2 more if I hadn't lost out on some BIN items where I couldn't get the seller to add international shipping in time. 

David

I've been watching this on Youtube "#3blokes" its all about Brexit and just how we here in the UK have been lied to by all the political parties and just what we are about to be plunged into a complete downward spiral as we jump off the proverbial cliff.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go onto Youtube and search for "#3blokes", the 3 of them are independent experts in their own fields and have been to all the organisations involved in Brexit, such as Brussels EP, WTO, Ireland etc and have been told the real facts about how we are cutting our throats. Don't take my word for, watch these and judge for yourself. You need to start with EP 1 to understand it all.

[Wolfgang]

Helicopter plus glider - the best of both worlds!

... this gives me a really uneasy feeling. One of the more frequent problem on glider airports is that a glider is blown away by helicopter downwash, even when parked quite some distance away. And a Kamov has a *lot* of downwash ....

[Martin.M]

Ladys and gentlemen,

Analog vs Digital  ,  .

[Wolfgang]

Where have the days gone ? Sniff !!

[nfmax]

Helicopter plus glider - the best of both worlds!

... this gives me a really uneasy feeling. One of the more frequent problem on glider airports is that a glider is blown away by helicopter downwash, even when parked quite some distance away. And a Kamov has a *lot* of downwash ....

That photo was taken at Bern, which is also a commercial airport! Of course, being Swiss, everything was impeccably well organised.

I was flying in the back of the Ka-32, operating some test instrumentation, including some tests in autorotation. So helicopters *and* 'gliding' at the same time.

[Wolfgang]

what was the distance between the two at the photo ?

[tggzzz]

Helicopter plus glider - the best of both worlds!

... this gives me a really uneasy feeling. One of the more frequent problem on glider airports is that a glider is blown away by helicopter downwash, even when parked quite some distance away. And a Kamov has a *lot* of downwash ....

Goto Lasham, the UK's largest gliding centre. They share the airfield with airliners. In 1975 a Comet took off while a glider was on finals. The wing vortex flipped the glider upside down, and it ploughed into the grid. Five gliders written off, no injuries.

[Wolfgang]

Helicopter plus glider - the best of both worlds!

... this gives me a really uneasy feeling. One of the more frequent problem on glider airports is that a glider is blown away by helicopter downwash, even when parked quite some distance away. And a Kamov has a *lot* of downwash ....

Goto Lasham, the UK's largest gliding centre. They share the airfield with airliners. In 1975 a Comet took off while a glider was on finals. The wing vortex flipped the glider upside down, and it ploughed into the grid. Five gliders written off, no injuries.

Lucky ones, indeed ! I almost managed to blow a Cessna 172 away that tried to queue up a bit too close to the runway when I was on final. Now I fly in curves when I see one of these guys crawling around ... or I ask permision to land on the heli apron directly.

[nfmax]

It was a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly. Further than it looks - I was using a 70mm lens, I think, if it is the one I just found on my old 35mm camera! The helicopter base is on the other side of the field from the commercial terminal. The glider is presumably using (grass) runway 32L, though it may not be in the same place now as it was then. The near end of the runway is about 400 - 450m from the pad at the base, according to Google Maps

[Wolfgang]

Sounds plausible. If it would be less than 50-70m away it would be impossible to fly straight for a glider.

[mnementh]

Helicopter plus glider - the best of both worlds!   

... this gives me a really uneasy feeling. One of the more frequent problem on glider airports is that a glider is blown away by helicopter downwash, even when parked quite some distance away. And a Kamov has a *lot* of downwash ....

https://youtu.be/9kxu543VwlA

mnem