Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Zucca]

Aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon?

Come in Munich, I buy you a beer and tell you the entire story.
Everything is good, now I am an official husband with official papers.
The honeymoon is scheduled in May 2020, if my TEA budget does not eat all the bank account saving as always happens.
Maybe a SWMBO is my new strategy to calm down my addiction.

EDIT:#FreeZucca

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/13/teen-smart-fridge-twitter-grounded

[mnementh]

blue led in a nixie instrument?The owner must be (kompostiert)

I like it. Blue illumination improves contrast on analog scales. Not so much a fan in general of mixing blue LED indicators & 7-segment displays with older LED & excited-gas displays tho.

mnem

[med6753]

Aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon?

Come in Munich, I buy you a beer and tell you the entire story.
Everything is good, now I am an official husband with official papers.
The honeymoon is scheduled in May 2020, if my TEA budget does not eat all the bank account saving as always happens.
Maybe a SWMBO is my new strategy to calm down my addiction.

EDIT:#FreeZucca

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/13/teen-smart-fridge-twitter-grounded

I would love to visit Germany. Maybe one day. I have German ancestors on my Father's Mother's side.

[Saskia]

hey, trade you my citizenship any time
If you make it to Munich, there is a Trader Vic's there. They have nice grown-up lemonade.

[med6753]

hey, trade you my citizenship any time
If you make it to Munich, there is a Trader Vic's there. They have nice grown-up lemonade.

At the rate things are going to shit over here I just might take you up on your offer. But I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy. 

[Saskia]

we might argue where things are deteriorating faster - in the US or over here. Germany as far as I am concerned, is the new Venezuela. But that's going into politics, and let's not walk the path of banishment ...

[bd139]

Minor diversion into politics. We are all saved: https://www.countbinface.com/

[med6753]

we might argue where things are deteriorating faster - in the US or over here. Germany as far as I am concerned, is the new Venezuela. But that's going into politics, and let's not walk the path of banishment ...

Whole heartily agree. 

[med6753]

Minor diversion into politics. We are all saved: https://www.countbinface.com/

Over here he'd be called Cap'n Garbage Can. 

[mnementh]

Naaahhh... that's convicted felon Rick Perry. He'd have ANOTHER copyright lawsuit to contend with...

mnem
I am not my pants.

[Saskia]

what's Trash Can Dan all about ? I don't get it ?

[Specmaster]

BD139 please insert any fuse, when the lead battery makes a shorting that is no fun

He might also wish to put some crock clips on the leads to avoid intermittent contacts on the battery

[med6753]

Over on the Book of Faces I participate in a group "Old Tek Scopes". Someone brought up the subject of Mr Carlson's videos and it generated a surprising number of negative comments. I happen to think Paul is very knowledgeable and I defended him. Well some individual in need of a tin foil hat to keep out of sight of the black helicopters decided to go toe-to-toe with me and I'll let you read the hilarity.

And I don't care that my real name appears. Most of you know who I am anyway.

Michael Donnelly        Gee, all the hate in here. I don't get it. I have a lot of respect for Paul Carlson. He is extremely skilled and knowledgeable. And he takes the time to completely explain his reasoning, methods, and above all, the dangers. His videos are viewed by individuals who range from complete novices to experts. So he tailors the videos to his least knowledgeable audience. That's just good common sense but to experts like us it may seem condescending. It is not.

And this ridiculous comment about his always clean bench. So what? I adhere to the same regardless if my project is a success or a total failure. I HATE a messy bench.

Jim Yohe       Very well said Michael.

Joe Clark       +1, why the hate? if you don't like him, don't watch his videos! WTF is the problem? I think the haters are jealous because they can't admit they are less knowledgeable than My Carlson, so hate is a must, and bad mouthing, and generally being arrogant condescending assholes themselves, The left for ya.

Jamie Ostrowski        Yeah and the other thing is why don't all these condescending "experts" make their own videos? Too lazy to share their information the way Mr Carlson does. I've actually learned a lot from him. Kudos to him for going the trouble to introduce troubleshooting principles on vintage electronics diagnosis and repair.

Leonard Martin      All that flash, charm, cleanliness, and order paints an inaccurate picture of electronic repair and experimentation, as done by ordinary people.
My own experiences of it as a ham were dogged by my ignorance (as a non-pro), causing frequent mistakes and failures, which were very demoralizing.
And of course the work is necesarily somewhat dirty, and often tiring.
In short, electronic repair for ordinary people is a struggle. This guy sells them a false dream of easy competence and clean and orderly work leading always to success.
It's kinda the porn of electronic tinkering.

Michael Donnelly    It seems to me that if you find electronic repair a "struggle, dirty, tiring" that perhaps you need to find a different hobby. I find it to be just the opposite.

Leonard Martin     This is the reality. Mr. C. conceals carefully it through the magic of video. Anyone who tries to develop such a complex skill without an actual human mentor on the scene whose experience can short-circuit some of the struggles will experience this.
Learning of manual-and-intellectual skills via video is a trap for the unwary.

Leonard Martin     On the other hand, if you happen to be an experienced repairman, as you seem to be, you might enjoy watching Mr. C.'s fake perfection, as a kind of idealized version of what you do.


Michael Donnelly....... Leonard Martin With all due respect....you have no facts to back up your assertions of what Paul does or does not do behind the scenes. Nor do you know how he obtained his skills. Everything you state seems nothing more than "sour grapes" or perhaps professional jealousy. I suggest you quit while you're ahead and step away from the keyboard.

Leonard Martin Nope.      It's standard American flash and misrepresentation, a guy painting a pretty false picture of himself and what he does via the manipulation possible in video.
Along the lines of that that looming practitioner of the same thing we have to put up with for a while more, Donald Trump.

Michael Donnelly ….......Leonard Martin "American Flash" as you say? FYI Paul Carlson is Canadian. Shows what you know. And the comparison to Trump is just plain stupid

Jamie Ostrowski....... Leonard Martin it isn't polite to bring up politics in this forum.

Leonard Martin       Give me a break!

Michael Donnelly........ Leonard Martin Aren't you the same individual who criticized those of us who collect Tek scopes as a hobby? (BTW..I have 11) If I'm not mistaken I believe you are. I have to question why you participate in this group. Just to be an annoyance or look silly...or perhaps both?

[Saskia]

oh, just for the troll of it ...

I am glad I have a mentor. He has studied electronics and gotten his university diploma. He is also giving me some insight in repair and how not to hurt myself. I can even use his lab. BUT. I find repairs extremely satisfying. If you manage to bring some dead stuff back to life so that you can use it ...
and skills can be learned. I don't have to learn partial differential equations to learn how to fix a friggn notebook. Louis Rossmann has demonstrated that bit.

So what's this dude bitching 'bout ?

[bd139]

Got to admit I’m on the fence with Carlson. I respect what he has done and don’t find him patronising but I find him irritating for some reason. I still watch videos occasionally if on topic of interest but find them rather slow. Life’s not very long. As for the clean bench, I like a clean bench too! I agree with your points there though.

I wonder what they think of MIKROWAVE1 (my favourite channel). Typical content: https://youtu.be/WwMxbp0YwUA

[PA0PBZ]

Got to admit I’m on the fence with Carlson. I respect what he has done and don’t find him patronising but I find him irritating for some reason. I still watch videos occasionally if on topic of interest but find them rather slow. Life’s not very long. As for the clean bench, I like a clean bench too! I agree with your points there though.

Same here, maybe it is because he is slow or maybe because of the 'Mr Perfect' attitude, I don't know. I also watch him occasionally but most of the time I can't watch the whole video.

[bd139]

I don’t think he’s Mr Perfect. Just a tidy and organised worker. There are very few of them out there so we tend to judge someone based on our own perception of reality.

I suspect the aforementioned Leonard Martin is the sort of person who sees a Mr Carlson getting promoted instead of him for his entire life and doesn’t introspect to work out why.

[WastelandTek]

some of his gadgets are really awesome

[Kosmic]

Got to admit I’m on the fence with Carlson. I respect what he has done and don’t find him patronising but I find him irritating for some reason. I still watch videos occasionally if on topic of interest but find them rather slow. Life’s not very long. As for the clean bench, I like a clean bench too! I agree with your points there though.

I wonder what they think of MIKROWAVE1 (my favourite channel). Typical content: https://youtu.be/WwMxbp0YwUA

I have the same impression. I think it's because, some times, he is pretending (that's my interpretation) that he invented something but doesn't want to explain too much how it's working and all. But yeah overall, his videos are too slow and I'm not learning much.

Also once, he was recommending to not desolder smd electrolytic cap and just twist them with plier. Stopped watching at that point 

For repairs, "The signal path" is in my opinion the best. The guy is head of mm wave department at Bell Labs.

[med6753]

oh, just for the troll of it ...

I am glad I have a mentor. He has studied electronics and gotten his university diploma. He is also giving me some insight in repair and how not to hurt myself. I can even use his lab. BUT. I find repairs extremely satisfying. If you manage to bring some dead stuff back to life so that you can use it ...
and skills can be learned. I don't have to learn partial differential equations to learn how to fix a friggn notebook. Louis Rossmann has demonstrated that bit.

So what's this dude bitching 'bout ?

I didn't have a mentor. My Father gave me some direction but he was usually too busy. So I learned myself.

I would love to mentor a teen and get them interested. But unfortunately most are always on their phone and can't see beyond their nose. 

What is this guy bitching about? One look at his Facebook page tells all. Heavy into politics and got some screws loose. 

[med6753]

Got to admit I’m on the fence with Carlson. I respect what he has done and don’t find him patronising but I find him irritating for some reason. I still watch videos occasionally if on topic of interest but find them rather slow. Life’s not very long. As for the clean bench, I like a clean bench too! I agree with your points there though.

I wonder what they think of MIKROWAVE1 (my favourite channel). Typical content: https://youtu.be/WwMxbp0YwUA

I subscribed and I'll check it out later.

[med6753]

I agree Paul's videos sometimes being "too slow". But you have to remember.....he is tailoring the video to individuals who don't know diddly squat. And especially when he's working on vacuum tubes circuits where one slip could kill you.

And I have to admit I have learned some tricks and tips from him.....as well as other tech u-tubers.

[Kosmic]

Over on the Book of Faces I participate in a group "Old Tek Scopes". Someone brought up the subject of Mr Carlson's videos and it generated a surprising number of negative comments. I happen to think Paul is very knowledgeable and I defended him. Well some individual in need of a tin foil hat to keep out of sight of the black helicopters decided to go toe-to-toe with me and I'll let you read the hilarity.

And I don't care that my real name appears. Most of you know who I am anyway.

Michael Donnelly        Gee, all the hate in here. I don't get it. I have a lot of respect for Paul Carlson. He is extremely skilled and knowledgeable. And he takes the time to completely explain his reasoning, methods, and above all, the dangers. His videos are viewed by individuals who range from complete novices to experts. So he tailors the videos to his least knowledgeable audience. That's just good common sense but to experts like us it may seem condescending. It is not.
…...

Not sure why your workplace need to be a mess to repair something. In my case it's the reverse. When I'm stuck on a problem I need to clean the bench and think. People like to generalize.

I also respect peoples that decide not to clean their bench. It's their choice 

[worsthorse]

Got to admit I’m on the fence with Carlson. I respect what he has done and don’t find him patronising but I find him irritating for some reason. I still watch videos occasionally if on topic of interest but find them rather slow. Life’s not very long. As for the clean bench, I like a clean bench too! I agree with your points there though.

I wonder what they think of MIKROWAVE1 (my favourite channel). Typical content: https://youtu.be/WwMxbp0YwUA

I have the same impression. I think it's because, some times, he is pretending (that's my interpretation) that he invented something but doesn't want to explain too much how it's working and all. But yeah overall, his videos are too slow and I'm not learning much.

Also once, he was recommending to not desolder smd electrolytic cap and just twist them with plier. Stopped watching at that point 

For repairs, "The signal path" is in my opinion the best. The guy is head of mm wave department at Bell Labs.

The great thing (and the downfall, too) of the interwebs is that if the style, taste, approach, choice of test gear, theory, hypothesis, video production, sound quality, haircut, etc of any particular expert annoys you, you can easily find a dozen others more to your liking. There are lots of smart folks doing helpful stuff out there; you do have to dig them out of the pile of goofballs, crazies, incompetents and just plain ignorant with which they are mixed.

At the same time, we did lose something when the web largely replaced, for example, two people sitting at a bench, with one working out a troubleshooting problem and the other helping as needed. Good, personal mentorship is a joy to experience, as is learning to be a mentor. I mean, I am incredibly grateful for stuff like edx, special-interest email lists and the like, but getting guidance from a real live human being in real time is priceless.

 

[Specmaster]

Yeah, Mr Carlson can be a bit slow, not that I consider myself to be an expert, more of an advanced beginner if truth be told, but I happen to think that My Carlson has the right approach by explaining it as if his audience were complete beginners. His speech may be slow, but that might well be how he is in reality, not ever meeting him, I can't be sure about that.

What I do know is that he has taught me a lot on some issues that I was not certain about, I'd love to have his clean bench but then, most of his gear is mounted on racks or shelves above the bench so the only items he's likely to have around are his hand tools and maybe parts from what his is working on and these may well be pushed out of camera shot for his video.

In summary, I think you did very well med in defending him, that Leonard Martin strikes me as being jealous that Paul Carlson has made a success of himself while Leonard has all the hall marks of a loser.

Back to TEA, I've been working a 46" sharp TV I have been given, it will switch ON sometimes and not others. Pulled the PSU board out and looked around for the usual suspect duff caps, but everything looks as pristine as when it first made, 11 years ago. I tested the cap on the 5V standby supply and in circuit I got a reading of just a few pF's so pulled it out and checked it, reads 768uF with ESR of .3 ohms (should be 1000uF), so put it back in and reconnected and it worked, watched a film, switched OFF. Now it won't switch back on again so pulled the PSU out and went to check the 5v rail again with my HP3478A and nothing it refused to switch on, WTF.

Pulled the meter apart, one pole of the double pole power switch open circuited  chances of getting another to fit it  . I think its the neutral side thats failed so I may have to resort to bridging it out and relying on a single pole, no harm should happen to the meter by doing this I take it?