Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

Did you notice the nice sunshine on my workbench and did I tell you I was in bare feet and shorts working on it @bd  Time to change countries for a warmer one, just make sure the TP supply is sorted first 

Stage 1 of the Paris to Nice road race is on for the tragics like me too. Loss of sleep for a week

[bd139]

I don't want a warmer country. I can't stand hot countries. In fact it's bad enough in summer here 

[beanflying]

How do you tell when a plane load of English Tourists has arrived?

The whining doesn't stop when the Engines do .... 

[mnementh]

Looking for a micro, stand and mixer cheap with good value for money after yesterdays experience of only be able of listening.   

    https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-Microphone-Black-Silver/dp/B00009EHJV/

I use one of these Logitech/Labtec USB boom mics; noise-cancelling on it works a treat. Plus, has mechanical mute switch on the mic element circuit so I KNOW that when I turn it off, it's actually OFF. They made them for like 2 decades in various models under both the Labtec and Logitec brands; just be careful when inspecting as they often crack just above the pivot if handled roughly.

Ignore the crazy slAmazon Marketplace pricing; you should be able to find one on fleaBay or local junk/computer/thrift shop for like 5 bux.

There are also oodles of "similar" mics from Bezos' Bazaar being sold as "USB computer microphone" for $10-20 shipped. Of course with those, you don't know if you're getting the peace of mind provided by a mechanical mute switch.    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+computer+microphone&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

I would just like to say "fuck today". went outside to reterminate my antenna so I can put an inline disconnect in and disaster:

1. Firstly it's too damn cold to install Solder BNC connectors today so my hands stopped working
2. It started raining right in the middle of it. I'm perching on a chair outside with a metcal. Not good.
3. I ran out of insulation tape to seal off the open end of the feed literally right now (whyyyy) so I'm probably going to have rain dielectric now 

So fail, fail and fail.

Edit: now going to buy a decent crimp tool, a coax stripper and some crimp on BNCs. Edit 2: does anyone know any BNC crimps that aren't a piece of shit? Don't mind spending 50-60 quid on these at the moment as it's a fucking pain in the arse doing clamp ons.

No and no. that's why I still solder genuine Amphenol BNCs whenever I really NEED to make something BNC. Otherwise, I just suck Cave Johnson's lemons  and use a screw-on BNC with oodles of self-sealing stem bolts self-sealing silicone tape.

mnem
Fuck tomorrow as well; just on general principles.

[GreyWoolfe]

Stuff at service stations = shit board from adafruit that doesn’t work properly

On top of being so thin it has only 1 side.  Stuff feels like it is made with ground up porcupine needles to help hold it together.  Hard to clean up without sanding your flesh to the bone.

[med6753]

How do you tell when a plane load of English Tourists has arrived?

The whining doesn't stop when the Engines do .... 

LMAO 

[sb42]

Edit 2: does anyone know any BNC crimps that aren't a piece of shit? Don't mind spending 50-60 quid on these at the moment as it's a fucking pain in the arse doing clamp ons.

I've been using a Greenlee/Paladin crimper with the 2034 (RG-58) and 2051 (RG-174) dies for the last few years. Farnell 887146, 887158, 887195. It's worked well with the Amphenol BNC crimp plugs.

It seems much harder to find decent quality/price coax strippers

[bd139]

Edit 2: does anyone know any BNC crimps that aren't a piece of shit? Don't mind spending 50-60 quid on these at the moment as it's a fucking pain in the arse doing clamp ons.

I've been using a Greenlee/Paladin crimper with the 2034 (RG-58) and 2051 (RG-174) dies for the last few years. Farnell 887146, 887158, 887195. It's worked well with the Amphenol BNC crimp plugs.

It seems much harder to find decent quality/price coax strippers

Thanks for the tip. I was looking at some Paladin and Greenlee ones actually. Looks around £75 for the tool + dies which isn't bad.

[Cerebus]

Thanks for that encouraging news, I'm just about to pop and get a bit of shopping but nothing like that, just some coke, milk, grapes some steak to make a casserole with but lets see what those morons are up to in my neck of the woods then, let battle commence 

In Essex? Half the population's probably started taking a shotgun with them when they go shopping. [Fx: banjo] Da da ding da ding da ding da ding [/Fx]

[Cerebus]

East London always makes me laugh. Why would you name a place that!?

Oi! Gercha!

[Cerebus]

Totally agree.

Asda = hewlett packard / tektronix / TTi
Cushelle = Rigol / Siglent
Tesco value = feeltech
Stuff at service stations = shit board from adafruit that doesn’t work properly

 

Izal = blank bit of copper clad and a bucket of FeCl

[Kosmic]

3. I ran out of insulation tape to seal off the open end of the feed literally right now (whyyyy) so I'm probably going to have rain dielectric now 

No and no. that's why I still solder genuine Amphenol BNCs whenever I really NEED to make something BNC. Otherwise, I just suck Cave Johnson's lemons  and use a screw-on BNC with oodles of self-sealing stem bolts self-sealing silicone tape.

I use liquid tape now when I need to isolate something. Easy to apply and easy to remove. Supposed to be water tight but I can't confirm.

https://www.kinginnovation.com/products/178/black-liquid-electrical-tape

[bd139]

My antenna is coated in that stuff. It works extremely well. UK source: https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/liquid-electrical-tape/

Off to screwfix now to get parts for a DIY cable puller as I need to pull the new feed through a cavity wall which is behind the kitchen units ffs.

[Cerebus]

My antenna is coated in that stuff. It works extremely well. UK source: https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/liquid-electrical-tape/

Off to screwfix now to get parts for a DIY cable puller as I need to pull the new feed through a cavity wall which is behind the kitchen units ffs.

Why not a purpose made fish tape?

https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/fish-tape/cat6070004?cm_sp=managedredirect-_-electrical-_-fishtape

N.B. Do NOT get the nylon ones with crimped fittings, they break on first use as I found to my cost. Only go for ones with a metal tape.

[nfmax]

Stuff at service stations = shit board from adafruit that doesn’t work properly

On top of being so thin it has only 1 side.

Möbius bog roll?!

[tggzzz]

My surname refers to an industrial town near the German/Dutch border...

Just missed out on a Philips 6 digit nixie frequency counter, it went for stupid money (more than 90 quid shipped).

I'll just have to stay patiently waiting for a cute little glow-tube TE.   

Solely to irritate you, I recently got a Fluke milspec nixie DVM for 99p. I'll avoid annoying you; I won't include a link to the thread and pictures

[bd139]

My antenna is coated in that stuff. It works extremely well. UK source: https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/liquid-electrical-tape/

Off to screwfix now to get parts for a DIY cable puller as I need to pull the new feed through a cavity wall which is behind the kitchen units ffs.

Why not a purpose made fish tape?

https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/fish-tape/cat6070004?cm_sp=managedredirect-_-electrical-_-fishtape

N.B. Do NOT get the nylon ones with crimped fittings, they break on first use as I found to my cost. Only go for ones with a metal tape.

This isn’t the first cable I’ve pulled through this. I found the best approach is to rod it through to inside the kitchen to avoid the cavity then use a home made tool to loop the other end and pull through on some paracord.

There’s still fish tape in the wall from the last time 

BNC terminated again. Proceeding to pull the cable through now. I hate doing this

[mnementh]

My antenna is coated in that stuff. It works extremely well. UK source: https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/liquid-electrical-tape/

Off to screwfix now to get parts for a DIY cable puller as I need to pull the new feed through a cavity wall which is behind the kitchen units ffs.

Why not a purpose made fish tape?

https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/fish-tape/cat6070004?cm_sp=managedredirect-_-electrical-_-fishtape

N.B. Do NOT get the nylon ones with crimped fittings, they break on first use as I found to my cost. Only go for ones with a metal tape.

https://www.amazon.ca/Greenlee-540-24-Bullet-Threaded-24-Feet/dp/B001HWB3DI/

Greenlee Fish Stix FTW. I shelled out $45 for the 20' kit (5 x 4ft sections) 30 years ago and have not ONCE regretted spending the money. Now they're a lot more, but Klein still makes a decent set with steel fittings. Run, don't walk in the opposite direction of cheap kits with brass fittings; the fittings (and sometimes the horrible quality 'glas poles) break if you sneeze on them. The Greenlees are strong enough you can actually push a Cat5 up a wall if you have to; I've NEVER been able to do that with a tape.

mnem
*Poke'-time*

[worsthorse]

It seems as if the leavers have only just realised that leave means leave, and we (the UK) now have to rapidly set up our own Aviation Authority to ensure that our airliners are safe to fly etc at a massive extra cost, and the cost of this is likely to around £40 million a year plus the set up costs. Add this to the extra costs of 50,000 customs officers that we need and if they are only paid £25,000 a year each. Suddenly being in Europe looks to be rather inviting after all.

So Project Fear is slowly becoming Project Fact, the experts all tried to warn us that it was an ill-conceived idea, but they were rapidly dispatched and buried beneath an avalanche of lies.

To think that we still of plenty of other centralised services and agencies to unravel yet, like medicines, shipping, railways, transport, nuclear and space etc, will we be able to afford all of this extra cost without having to resort to increasing taxation, and we all know where that extra burden will fall don't we? 

I started reading Gibson's new book, Agency, last night. One of the plot lines is an alternate reality in which Trump wasn't elected and Brexit was voted down in the first referendum, leading to generally positive changes on many fronts. But lest you think all is well (this is Gibson, after all), Turkey and Russia are on the brink of nuclear war in Syria and there's a pandemic raging. 

[worsthorse]

Edit: now going to buy a decent crimp tool, a coax stripper and some crimp on BNCs.

Edit 2: does anyone know any BNC crimps that aren't a piece of shit? Don't mind spending 50-60 quid on these at the moment as it's a fucking pain in the arse doing clamp ons.

Amphenol 182XXX series.

'nuff said

[Cerebus]

https://www.amazon.ca/Greenlee-540-24-Bullet-Threaded-24-Feet/dp/B001HWB3DI/

Greenlee Fish Stix FTW.

Just don't try frying them up with some potatoes in canola oil!

[Cerebus]

I started reading Gibson's new book, Agency, last night. One of the plot lines is an alternate reality in which Trump wasn't elected and Brexit was voted down in the first referendum, leading to generally positive changes on many fronts. But lest you think all is well (this is Gibson, after all), Turkey and Russia are on the brink of nuclear war in Syria and there's a pandemic raging.

Gibson has been writing this for quite a while. Apparently he had to go back and re-write some bits to make it look more like fiction rather than him writing a history book in advance of the events it recorded.

[bd139]

Ok I won in the end. When I put this antenna up I didn't put a disconnection point at the property border thus bringing the entire lightning transducer right into the house or having to roll the antenna feed up and stick it at the antenna pole. If there's a storm now I can disconnect the antenna entirely from the building and throw the feed line up the garden (after slicing through some plumbing tape). I decided I didn't want to spend £100 on crimp tool and new connectors so I persisted with the sodding weather and won eventually.

As for pulling the antenna through, I used a garden bamboo stick with some paracord on it to push it inside the building. Then I used a henry hoover tube with a bent metal spudger attached to the end with insulation tape to pull it the rest of the way. Surprisingly effective.

Now I need to go and clear up the insane mess I made doing this 

[Cerebus]

Ok I won in the end. When I put this antenna up I didn't put a disconnection point at the property border thus bringing the entire lightning transducer right into the house or having to roll the antenna feed up and stick it at the antenna pole. If there's a storm now I can disconnect the antenna entirely from the building and throw the feed line up the garden (after slicing through some plumbing tape). I decided I didn't want to spend £100 on crimp tool and new connectors so I persisted with the sodding weather and won eventually.

I might point out that in the East London you were deriding earlier, it has remained dry and sunny all afternoon.  Just saying.

[bd139]

I did my time in East London (Leyton and Leytonstone). I'll take the rain thanks