Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Kosmic]

R&R time now on ebay and I discovered this bad boy: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153907899851

I think it is quite impressive how that seller has use coronavirus as a reason to pivot from selling stamps and coins, to selling guitars, watches, test equipment - all starting at £12 and finishing at Monday, 13:47.

I reported a few earlier today, then got back to trying to find caps for my hp8562a spectrum analyser. The Rifa replacements were the easiest: just use the same part number.

There are some real muppets out there. This has been bid up to £165 at time of writing by people who: (1) didn't read the description and therefore (2) have no clue that this is a scam.

It's interesting that the description is mostly a picture. And I don't get the part where they do a bidding listing and ask to not bid in the description 

[Cerebus]

It's interesting that the description is mostly a picture. And I don't get the part where they do a bidding listing and ask to not bid in the description 

Well, the fraud bit is obviously taking the money, delivering nothing and disappearing. You have to list something as either an auction or buy it now - they can't pick a non-bidding listing except by picking buy it now, that puts eBay into the loop and so the fraudsters can't extract their money before eBay can act. The description being a picture is so that eBay can't easily scan it for phrases that would flag fraud up to them.

Not that eBay seem to take much care about it anyway as this tactic, and probably exactly the same people perpetrating the fraud, re-appears time and time again. If eBay were serious about it I'd expect that they could have come up by now with some algorithmic method of detecting this fraud and at least flagging it for human attention; it seems that they rely on us to do their policing for them.

[Kosmic]

they can't pick a non-bidding listing except by picking buy it now, that puts eBay into the loop and so the fraudsters can't extract their money before eBay can act.

That's the part I don't understand. If they want buy it now why they just create a buy it now listing. There's probably a loop hole in the hybrid listing where it's a bidding + buyitnow at the same time.

[mnementh]

It has nothing to do with eBay. They’re plastering their eMail all over the listing waiting for people to contact them off-platform with a lowball offer. From there it’s just your run of the mill email scam; only instead of random cold calls they’ve already got a hot lead and a known real eMail/person with money.

mnem
Hacking the wetware is ALWAYS the surest attack vector.

[Specmaster]

It's interesting that the description is mostly a picture. And I don't get the part where they do a bidding listing and ask to not bid in the description 

Well, the fraud bit is obviously taking the money, delivering nothing and disappearing. You have to list something as either an auction or buy it now - they can't pick a non-bidding listing except by picking buy it now, that puts eBay into the loop and so the fraudsters can't extract their money before eBay can act. The description being a picture is so that eBay can't easily scan it for phrases that would flag fraud up to them.

Not that eBay seem to take much care about it anyway as this tactic, and probably exactly the same people perpetrating the fraud, re-appears time and time again. If eBay were serious about it I'd expect that they could have come up by now with some algorithmic method of detecting this fraud and at least flagging it for human attention; it seems that they rely on us to do their policing for them.

You're not wrong and then eBay make it rather difficult to speak to someone to report this kind of activity. They make you go through a long list of options before you can get to talk to  someone about it.

[jjoonathan]

I see the same exact fraudulent postings in the same exact order with the same exact pictures and descriptions, right down to wacky font and color choices, again and again, year after year. Which means that ebay can't even be bothered to do the simplest possible pattern matching checks.

Clearly the "10% eBay tax" isn't going towards maintaining the platform.

[mnementh]

Mine's fine  . Actually my printer has been mostly trouble free

Mine too. Until I go fucking with it. 

got one too and it's working fine.

Y'all just don't know any better. You paid for a Chevy Nova and got a Yugo; how wouldja know any better when all you've ever driven is a Opel?

Did either of you bother to even look at the article...?

mnem
 

[0culus]

Welp, I got me a nice TEA bonanza from the UPS guy today. I talked to him for a bit and he said they are as busy as Christmas season with everyone mail ordering everything. 

Anyway, pics to come as I have time, but here's the damage (all HP):

4262A LCR Meter, in good shape WITH 16062A Kelvin leads AND 16061A test fixture
778D dual directional coupler (now I have two; these are super nice couplers to have around)
8477A power meter calibrator for my 432A power meter
11683A power meter range calibrator...PRISTINE and a hard to find piece
A grab bag of HP extender cards (VERY nice to have around)
A ton of HP T&M catalogs, spanning 2 decades plus with only a few missing years

and last, but certainly not least, a 5087A distribution amp with a full complement of output amp cards. At last, I can tie up to 12 instruments to my GPSDO. 

OK, as promised, here's some pix of most of it (extender cards are still in bubble wrap and I can't be arsed to deal with it right now).   

[Cubdriver]

Sweet haul!   

The adapters for the LCR meter are normally like hen's teeth and priced accordingly.  Great score.

-Pat

[WastelandTek]

Clearly the "10% eBay tax" isn't going towards maintaining the platform.

folks, we have a winner

[Kosmic]

Did either of you bother to even look at the article...?

Yes I did. Bought mine from "Creality 3D Official Store" on amazon and it came with the silver pneumatic fitting and blue lock clip. I can only compare it to the standard ender 3 plastic extruder feed and the red one I got is working similarly. The only difference is that it's not going to wear out I hope.

[mnementh]

Fair enough. Interestingly, bean linked to a red one from the CReality AliEx Store; it appears to be a 3rd design that is pretty much identical to the Silver one, only sans CReality tattoo and having the compression ring integral instead of a separate fitting. I bought both of mine off the same listing from the on Amazon as well... however the red one in the listing was a complete POS as described. Seriously CReality...  ?!?

mnem
 

[mnementh]

That's a gorgeous directional coupler... but why didja have to pollute its presence with that hideous brown/black digital wheel chock...? 

mnem
*agitating-ily*

[0culus]

That's a gorgeous directional coupler... but why didja have top pollute its presence with that hideous brown/black digital wheel chock...? 

mnem
*agitating-ily*

Specifically for the benefit of nixiefreqq. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Mine's fine  . Actually my printer has been mostly trouble free

Mine too. Until I go fucking with it. 

got one too and it's working fine.

Y'all just don't know any better. You paid for a Chevy Nova and got a Yugo; how wouldja know any better when all you've ever driven is a Opel?

Did either of you bother to even look at the article...?

mnem
 

Your comparison is not really hitting the point. Even for Opel driver, whom I consider not overly discriminating, there is no need to know such bad cars apart. The category is 'nicht autobahntauglich'.

[worsthorse]

Had the whole day planned out... work in the storage room and move some more stuff in the sell/donate pile, see if the rectifier tube in the S38 is the source of the roving AC voltage on the filament circuit, get the instruction manual and find out if the nixie-tubed HP DMM actually works.

Instead I spent the day troubleshooting our alarm system and taking down and taking down, repairing, and re-installing my 80M antenna, half of which came down last night in the wind. I have a small lot. The antenna is installed in a zee shape and so has four attachment points, three of which are in trees. It is just me.  Imagine if you will, manipulating three separate rigging ropes, each about forty feet long, with one end in a tree, from the middle of my yard to get the antenna down and then back up. With a house in your way.  Then wandering from lanyard to lanyard, loosening and tightening, to get it in the right position.

BTW, it is days like this, when I have to solder two pieces of wire together while one is hanging in the air at seven feet, that I am really happy I have an Isotip butane soldering iron...



I did manage to bake a couple of loaves of bread somewhere in there, too.

Tomorrow a post about TE.   

[mnementh]

Mine's fine  . Actually my printer has been mostly trouble free

Mine too. Until I go fucking with it. 

got one too and it's working fine.

Y'all just don't know any better. You paid for a Chevy Nova and got a Yugo; how wouldja know any better when all you've ever driven is a Opel?

Did either of you bother to even look at the article...?

mnem
 

Your comparison is not really hitting the point. Even for Opel driver, whom I consider not overly discriminating, there is no need to know such bad cars apart. The category is 'nicht autobahntauglich'.

LOL...

You are sortof correct... but I consider the Chevy Nova to be a perfectly satisfactory unassuming daily commuter/grandma's grocery getter, unlike the other two.     While not fabulously luxurious or exciting to drive (aside from big-block variants on the 1/4 mile ), they WERE dependable; even infamously hard to kill.

I was going for "they don't know any better" not "unfit for purpose" as you suggested. My grandmother used to say "The rats don't know they're slumming", but that's just being mean in this context; Kosmic & bd139 are still my friends, after all.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[bitseeker]

I was thinking about that (the series capability) but am not sure if the Korad can do this. The Hameg will probably not be able, but I have not checked this.

As far as I can tell most supplies manage that trick. At least mine, which is the cheapest I could find that does dual tracked voltage, does, and if they do, I bet most better ones do, too.

Oof! I wonder who at Uni-Trend thought it was a good idea to put the current knob under the Volts display and the voltage knob under the Amps display for CH2, but then do it correctly for CH1.

(And then green binding posts for negative and black for chassis ground.)

[Cubdriver]

I was thinking about that (the series capability) but am not sure if the Korad can do this. The Hameg will probably not be able, but I have not checked this.

As far as I can tell most supplies manage that trick. At least mine, which is the cheapest I could find that does dual tracked voltage, does, and if they do, I bet most better ones do, too.

Oof! I wonder who at Uni-Trend thought it was a good idea to put the current knob under the Volts display and the voltage knob under the Amps display for CH2, but then do it correctly for CH1.

(And then green binding posts for negative and black for chassis ground.)

Yeek!!  That's a horrible control layout!  Mirroring the knob arrangement is simply moronic.     Wonder if it was some artistic designer type looking for symmetry?  I'm kind of surprised that they didn't mirror the displays, too, though frugality and board uniformity likely won the day there.

-Pat

[Saskia]

I see nutting, I hear nutting, I say nutting ...

[bitseeker]

FFS I just accidentally bought another power supply   



When I made an offer of £60, I wasn't expecting them to accept it!   

Was that a D'OH! moment?

D'OH: Didn't Offer Half (as much)

[bitseeker]

Welp, I got me a nice TEA bonanza from the UPS guy today. I talked to him for a bit and he said they are as busy as Christmas season with everyone mail ordering everything. 

Anyway, pics to come as I have time, but here's the damage (all HP):

4262A LCR Meter, in good shape WITH 16062A Kelvin leads AND 16061A test fixture
778D dual directional coupler (now I have two; these are super nice couplers to have around)
8477A power meter calibrator for my 432A power meter
11683A power meter range calibrator...PRISTINE and a hard to find piece
A grab bag of HP extender cards (VERY nice to have around)
A ton of HP T&M catalogs, spanning 2 decades plus with only a few missing years

and last, but certainly not least, a 5087A distribution amp with a full complement of output amp cards. At last, I can tie up to 12 instruments to my GPSDO. 

OK, as promised, here's some pix of most of it (extender cards are still in bubble wrap and I can't be arsed to deal with it right now).   

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Wow! Nice haul, 0culus. Looks in really good nick.

Hmm, I suppose I should get an 8477A, too, for my 432A.

[bitseeker]

In other news, I scored some old Flukeness: Two 8000A bench DMMs for a Jackson. Both are dirty, but in good physical condition with no cracks and intact handles, buttons, etc. One doesn't power on and one has the battery option. Also included was one original manual.

Bad news is that it was being sold by a guy near my brother, who kindly picked them up for me, but far away from me. So, I have to wait until the lockdown is over to fly over there for a visit. Pictures one of these days. *sigh*

[bd139]

R&R time now on ebay and I discovered this bad boy: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153907899851

I think it is quite impressive how that seller has use coronavirus as a reason to pivot from selling stamps and coins, to selling guitars, watches, test equipment - all starting at £12 and finishing at Monday, 13:47.

I reported a few earlier today, then got back to trying to find caps for my hp8562a spectrum analyser. The Rifa replacements were the easiest: just use the same part number.

Ugh I didn’t even notice it was the fraudster again FFS. I’m losing my eBay touch 

[mansaxel]

Y'all just don't know any better. You paid for a Chevy Nova and got a Yugo; how wouldja know any better when all you've ever driven is a Opel?

Do you know, by the way, that Ford car manufacture in Europe exists solely to make Opel the second worst car being made?