Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[SilverSolder]

I just bought this. 

I need a drink. 

And I said I would never go 6.5 digits. Somebody shoot me

These can be really good, plenty of owners on eevblog.

[tggzzz]

And I said I would never go 6.5 digits. Somebody shoot me

Oh, stop being a wuss.

Enjoy it and, if you trust it, use it to calibrate your 5.5 digit meters.

[Kosmic]

I need a drink. 

And I said I would never go 6.5 digits. Somebody shoot me

Haaa another fellow voltnut. welcome to the club! 

[Kosmic]

I just bought this. 

I need a drink. 

And I said I would never go 6.5 digits. Somebody shoot me

These can be really good, plenty of owners on eevblog.

It can do 7.5 digits on the 10v range.

[beanflying]

I just bought this. 

I need a drink. 

And I said I would never go 6.5 digits. Somebody shoot me

[bitseeker]

Yes working from home now. Everyone at the company is. I think it's a policy applied by our parent company as well so that's about 9000 people working from home suddenly. I get the feeling the infrastructure is going to bend soon. Already got problems with voice calls on slack and the inevitable problems of getting about 300 odd people using VPNs and stuff 

We are doing progressive rampup over here. I start on Friday 

They are supposed to progressively upgrade the infra to support the load.

I've done remote work 50% of the time for about a decade and then 80% for the past couple years. So, now that it's 100% doesn't change things much for me, but I'm sure it'll be quite difficult for many who are doing it for the first time.

I'm also hearing mixed reports about services and infrastructure being able to cope with the increased load, especially with voice/video/conference calls.

[bitseeker]

I could not care less.

+1 for proper usage.

[Kosmic]

Well this Covid-19 bastard has certainly left ebay a desert of nothing interesting 

Different scenario over here. Just scored a Tektronix RSA3308A Real Time Spectrum Analyzer with a slight problem in the 3.5-8Ghz range  . Will hopefully be an easy fix and will go back on ebay asap.

[Kosmic]

Yes working from home now. Everyone at the company is. I think it's a policy applied by our parent company as well so that's about 9000 people working from home suddenly. I get the feeling the infrastructure is going to bend soon. Already got problems with voice calls on slack and the inevitable problems of getting about 300 odd people using VPNs and stuff 

We are doing progressive rampup over here. I start on Friday 

They are supposed to progressively upgrade the infra to support the load.

I've done remote work 50% of the time for about a decade and then 80% for the past couple years. So, now that it's 100% doesn't change things much for me, but I'm sure it'll be quite difficult for many who are doing it for the first time.

I'm also hearing mixed reports about services and infrastructure being able to cope with the increased load, especially with voice/video/conference calls.

Yeah I think I can manage remote works. Not sure I can manage the kids at the same time though. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

[bitseeker]

Ah I know that guy. I keep nearly buying missile launcher switches from him. Then I give myself a mental slap round the face and tell myself to be sensible 

Sensible? When did this start?

[bitseeker]

Well this Covid-19 bastard has certainly left ebay a desert of nothing interesting 

Different scenario over here. Just scored a Tektronix RSA3308A Real Time Spectrum Analyzer with a slight problem in the 3.5-8Ghz range  . Will hopefully be an easy fix and will go back on ebay asap.

Oh, you got that one? Cool! I look forward to seeing much more about it.

[bitseeker]

I just bought this. 

I need a drink. 

And I said I would never go 6.5 digits. Somebody shoot me

These can be really good, plenty of owners on eevblog.

It can do 7.5 digits on the 10v range.

Shhh! Don't scare him like that.

Don't worry, med. I don't consider 6.5 digits to be voltnut, yet. (Turns a blind eye toward voltnuts trying to convince me otherwise. )

[Kosmic]

Well this Covid-19 bastard has certainly left ebay a desert of nothing interesting 

Different scenario over here. Just scored a Tektronix RSA3308A Real Time Spectrum Analyzer with a slight problem in the 3.5-8Ghz range  . Will hopefully be an easy fix and will go back on ebay asap.

Oh, you got that one? Cool! I look forward to seeing much more about it.

Yeah, was not planning to bid on it because of the exchange rate and the fact that I need to have it shipped to my PO box across the border (seller did not want to use ebay GSP). But I decided to setup a snipe on gixen just in case. Look like I was lucky Hope I din't steal it from you.

With the current situation it's unclear if I will be able to collect it any time soon though 

[bitseeker]

No worries. I watch lots of things and don't buy them (mostly). Window(s) shopping.

It's great when someone here does get something I had some interest in so that I can enjoy it vicariously.

[bitseeker]

News.....NY, NJ, and CT just ordered all casinos and gyms closed as of 8 PM today. Restaurants are take out or drive up only. No seating. 

Yep, and on the other coast, six counties have issued a "shelter in place" order that takes effect at midnight. All non-essentials are shutting down.

[GreyWoolfe]

[...]
 At the moment we burn vast amounts of energy moving people around for what is fundamentally tradition and a lack of trust.
[...]

There is more to it than that, though.  We are fundamentally social beings, we need to interact with other humans.  Doing so only online (directly from our brains floating in an aquarium or something, in the extreme) is not going to work...   we can definitely interact with people online (like we are doing right now) but we also need "real" interactions.

Outside of Mrs GreyWoolfe, my son and daughter-in-law, there are very few people I care to regularly interact with.  That includes the stepdaughter that still lives with us.  Thankfully, her husband transferred back to the other side of the state and she and granddaughter are following in June.  Very excited to finally be empty nesters though I will miss the granddaughter.  I have been a field service tech for almost 21 years and almost 16 of that working from home with my current company.  I interact by phone with my co-workers and I see people when I actually can't fix the issue by phone/remote and have to head to the site.  I am quite content to be with Mrs GreyWoolfe, my dogs and computer/book.  If we won the lottery, I'd be the one living on an island guarded by sharks with frikkin' lasers on their heads.

Would you settle for sea bass?  (Ill tempered, of course)

It horrifies me to think that that movie was released nearly 23 years ago - it does not seem possible that much time has passed...

-Pat

As long as they are as ill tempered as me, being a Sicilian Jersey boy.  It horrifies me too.  I am getting old, I keep hearing the clock ticking and chime from Pink Floyd's Time.

[AVGresponding]

I need a kindly US member to buy this for me, than ship it on at sensible shipping cost: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-10241A-10-1-Divider-Probe-Tip-for-HP-1120A-and-1121A-Active-Probes-500-MHz/223947513877   

Have you tried asking the seller if they will send it by a more sensible service? "Express" is not needed. 

*sighs* So I asked the seller, as per your sensible suggestion,

"Hi,
I'm interested in the 10x probe tips for HP1120A, and was wondering if there's an alternative shipping method, as I'm in the UK.
I don't require express shipping, I've plenty of patience...

kind regards,
ThickPhilM"

and he replied,

"Hi ThickPhilM. Thank you for your interest. If you buy all 4 of these items, I can ship them to you for $56.15. So your total would $75.95 for all 4 items shipped to your door. This would go out by USPS Priority Mail International that takes about 6 - 10 business days to deliver. Thanks again, *****."

So it remains $20 for 4 probe tips, and $56 for shipping.

 


EDIT: And I still can't make my mind up if that "connecting to 0 volts" is a troll or not...

[0culus]

Well this Covid-19 bastard has certainly left ebay a desert of nothing interesting 

Different scenario over here. Just scored a Tektronix RSA3308A Real Time Spectrum Analyzer with a slight problem in the 3.5-8Ghz range  . Will hopefully be an easy fix and will go back on ebay asap.

Glad one of us got it. I really just couldn't justify it right now.  Definitely keep us posted on the repair. 

[med6753]

I need a kindly US member to buy this for me, than ship it on at sensible shipping cost: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-10241A-10-1-Divider-Probe-Tip-for-HP-1120A-and-1121A-Active-Probes-500-MHz/223947513877   

Have you tried asking the seller if they will send it by a more sensible service? "Express" is not needed. 

*sighs* So I asked the seller, as per your sensible suggestion,

"Hi,
I'm interested in the 10x probe tips for HP1120A, and was wondering if there's an alternative shipping method, as I'm in the UK.
I don't require express shipping, I've plenty of patience...

kind regards,
ThickPhilM"

and he replied,

"Hi ThickPhilM. Thank you for your interest. If you buy all 4 of these items, I can ship them to you for $56.15. So your total would $75.95 for all 4 items shipped to your door. This would go out by USPS Priority Mail International that takes about 6 - 10 business days to deliver. Thanks again, *****."

So it remains $20 for 4 probe tips, and $56 for shipping.

 


EDIT: And I still can't make my mind up if that "connecting to 0 volts" is a troll or not...

Phil, how many you need? I'll buy them and ship them to you.

[Specmaster]

Well this Covid-19 bastard has certainly left ebay a desert of nothing interesting 

True, but if you can hold your money and bide your time, the longer this Covid -19 hangs around, the more desperate some people will become to raise some cash as their sick pay won't in a lot of cases, won't cover their expenses, so they will be selling some good gear at reasonable prices?

[Kosmic]

If any of you was looking for a HP 53310a, there's one sitting at 100$ on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Agilent-53310A-Modulation-Domain-Analyyler/233524576124

It's a auction though.

[AVGresponding]

Phil, how many you need? I'll buy them and ship them to you.

He has 4 at $4.95 each, so I was going to get all 4, since it's not a huge amount.

That would be awesome if you could help me out med, pm me with details of how you want to do it!

[Specmaster]

@med6753, I used to have one of those myself, good meters but boy, what a boat anchor. Be prepared to surrender a reasonable amount real estate on your bench for this bad boy.  I can get almost all 3 of my 6.5digit meters on the same footprint as that takes up. Do you know what options it comes with? IIRC it has about 8 plug-in cards and I think that the AC V and AC I and the Ohms are options that may not be present and could be difficult to come across.

[med6753]

Phil, how many you need? I'll buy them and ship them to you.

He has 4 at $4.95 each, so I was going to get all 4, since it's not a huge amount.

That would be awesome if you could help me out med, pm me with details of how you want to do it!

OK Phil, done. Total so far with shipping/tax is $27.27 USD. We'll figure out everything else after I get them and determine cheapest shipping method to UK. I should have them delivered by this coming Tuesday.

[med6753]

@med6753, I used to have one of those myself, good meters but boy, what a boat anchor. Be prepared to surrender a reasonable amount real estate on your bench for this bad boy.  I can get almost all 3 of my 6.5digit meters on the same footprint as that takes up. Do you know what options it comes with? IIRC it has about 8 plug-in cards and I think that the AC V and AC I and the Ohms are options that may not be present and could be difficult to come across.

Yea, I know it's big. I think I have a spot for it after I jockey some stuff around.

It has the Ohms option and the AC RMS option. Don't care about current.