Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Saskia]

just plastinate half of it.

[Neomys Sapiens]

stuff that arrived today:
my Tamron 150-600 which got a firmware update to run on the EOS R. A quick test reveals that I can read the package labels when doing a handheld foto of a box 10m away in dim light at about 12800 ISO.

Unfortunately it's a first Gen Tamron, the 2nd Gen is supposed to be a lot better.

the wrecked Canon EF17-40L, unrepaired, as repair costs approach 400 € and a used one is about 290.

a replacement notebook from my employer, Microsoft tried to "repair the account" on the old one, rendering login impossible.
Try to get past the outsourced helpdesk, that wanted  me to show them the login failure while trying to connect from the Home Office.

 

Well, at least strip the EF17-40L of parts when you want to kill some time. That Microsoft story reminds me of a telephone call of my GF to her bank, which I overheard yesterday with one ear.
She looked slightly amused and thoroughly annoyed in turns and I was waiting for her to start shouting nonsense at the nincomputer.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Lenghtwise, sidewise or upper/lower half?

[AVGresponding]

70 square millimeter WHAT?

Sorry, I thought I already said; an-a-log wobbly pointy things:


Available in or out of the paxolin mounting plate.


Took this of my current apprentice yesterday. Sorry about the focus but I was laughing too much to take a good picture. Poor girl was covered head to foot in fibreglass insulation afterwards.

[Saskia]

stuff that arrived today:
my Tamron 150-600 which got a firmware update to run on the EOS R. A quick test reveals that I can read the package labels when doing a handheld foto of a box 10m away in dim light at about 12800 ISO.

Unfortunately it's a first Gen Tamron, the 2nd Gen is supposed to be a lot better.

the wrecked Canon EF17-40L, unrepaired, as repair costs approach 400 € and a used one is about 290.

a replacement notebook from my employer, Microsoft tried to "repair the account" on the old one, rendering login impossible.
Try to get past the outsourced helpdesk, that wanted  me to show them the login failure while trying to connect from the Home Office.

 

Well, at least strip the EF17-40L of parts when you want to kill some time. That Microsoft story reminds me of a telephone call of my GF to her bank, which I overheard yesterday with one ear.
She looked slightly amused and thoroughly annoyed in turns and I was waiting for her to start shouting nonsense at the nincomputer.

actually I can remove the front element myself and try to get a couple of spares.
Then hope that I can fix it myself and then have the autofocus and stuff calibrated.

[bd139]

Well my evening went to shit and ended up with gold. So I sat down with my T495s to watch Curious Marc’s YT video on a TI LED watch chip. And windows decided that I’m doing without audio. So 30 minutes later I fired up Ubuntu 20.04 on a USB stick to check the hardware worked and it did. So did everything else. So it’s staying. First bloody laptop I’ve ever seen that just works with Linux.

[Neomys Sapiens]

70 square millimeter WHAT?

Sorry, I thought I already said; an-a-log wobbly pointy things:


Available in or out of the paxolin mounting plate.


Took this of my current apprentice yesterday. Sorry about the focus but I was laughing too much to take a good picture. Poor girl was covered head to foot in fibreglass insulation afterwards.

You know, we are aware of all those dirty tricks. First chasing the poor girl through the glasswool and afterwards when she is itching all over comes the 'water rationing scare'. You should be ashamed.
At least a bit.

[BU508A]

Well my evening went to shit and ended up with gold. So I sat down with my T495s to watch Curious Marc’s YT video on a TI LED watch chip. And windows decided that I’m doing without audio. So 30 minutes later I fired up Ubuntu 20.04 on a USB stick to check the hardware worked and it did. So did everything else. So it’s staying. First bloody laptop I’ve ever seen that just works with Linux.

I'm running Ubuntu on Lenovo Notebooks since 2008 right out of the box without any problems.
And all my Lenovos have a GSM modem in it which is working fine without any configuration hassle.
If you want to run Linux on a Laptop, I can recommend Lenovo together with Ubuntu or Debian (since Ubuntu 20.x seems to be a "shit show" (quote by bd139 and agreed by Saskia)) 

[bd139]

Well my evening went to shit and ended up with gold. So I sat down with my T495s to watch Curious Marc’s YT video on a TI LED watch chip. And windows decided that I’m doing without audio. So 30 minutes later I fired up Ubuntu 20.04 on a USB stick to check the hardware worked and it did. So did everything else. So it’s staying. First bloody laptop I’ve ever seen that just works with Linux.

I'm running Ubuntu on Lenovo Notebooks since 2008 right out of the box without any problems.
And all my Lenovos have a GSM modem in it which is working fine without any configuration hassle.
If you want to run Linux on a Laptop, I can recommend Lenovo together with Ubuntu or Debian (since Ubuntu 20.x seems to be a "shit show" (quote by bd139 and agreed by Saskia)) 

It is a shit show. I’m busy removing snaps and gnome at the moment and replacing it with XFCE.

[25 CPS]

Let’s do another try with images.   How on earth can forum software in 2020 have trouble with images anyways?

[bd139]

Going to have to have a lie down after seeing all that HP glory 

[BU508A]

@Neomys Sapiens:

Are these crimping pliers any good? I want them for crimping BNC connectors on RG316 and RG400 cable

TOOLCRAFT PZ-505 818645

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392718039113





Plan B would be a Knipex 97 52 50:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353127955942

[Neomys Sapiens]

After my recent misfortunes with aquisitions and parcels (the Suhner divider is also a no-show), I grabbed a massive wirewound rheostat out of frustration. Will certainly come handy at some time.
Today I missed out on a 2500A clamp. But over here, Ebay seems to be picking up a bit - my watchlist is filled again.
With DHL it is really jinxed right now. The goods vanish in a distribution center or seem to get lost there.
The Suhner divider is supposedly in Speyer (2okm away) since 4.9. - not that I believe it still to be there...
Also those Noga tools. Hermes on the other side works ok since the 'Parcel not accepted' fluke. I'm a bit reluctant to buy something now which can't be sent by Hermes or by registered large letter. When I got something nice for my s.o., I checked the tracing info almost hourly.

[25 CPS]

And another test.



And a question about the product line that's sitting on the cutting board.  No 13C is obvious because of the whole number 13 superstition thing but did it ever come out why HP skipped over the 14C when they made that line of calculators in the 80s?

The 15C second from the bottom is my daily driver.

[Neomys Sapiens]

@Neomys Sapiens:

Are these crimping pliers any good? I want them for crimping BNC connectors on RG316 and RG400 cable

TOOLCRAFT PZ-505 818645

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392718039113





Plan B would be a Knipex 97 52 50:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353127955942

R U kidding me? Tooolcraft? Blech!

On the other side, that Knipex is not cheap. For that price you could score a M22520/5-01 with a fitting insert, if you forego cosmetic perfection.  I even saw one (without insert) below 100.- on ebay.de.

One of the few SUCCESFULL aquisition in the last month were the fixed-die Suhner crimp pliers for both 50R and 75R BNC/TNC. The seller did offer one again, but I can't say whether there are still more. I payed around 10.- for one and 20.- for the other.

If you need the BNC/TNC inserts for the M22520/5-01 or the M22520/10-01 identified by Mil and Mfg. ID, just drop me a note.

[bd139]

Ok apparently plugging my headset into my T495s on Linux causes the kernel to dump core ffs 

Back on windows, have rolled back the realtek driver fuckery which was apparently installed by lenovo thinkvantage and it works again.

That was short lived.

[0culus]

And another test.



And a question about the product line that's sitting on the cutting board.  No 13C is obvious because of the whole number 13 superstition thing but did it ever come out why HP skipped over the 14C when they made that line of calculators in the 80s?

The 15C second from the bottom is my daily driver.

NICE. I need to get another family photo together...I have acquired a couple more since the last one. 

I gotta say though, the 15C and the 16C are pretty much my favorite pairing. I actually have two of each, normally one pair would live at the office.

[Kosmic]

Open, Short, Lord ?!? 



Not sure what the "Lord" will look like on the VNA 

[Cerebus]

Pray you never have to find out. And pray thanks that you didn't get the one with "Dark Lord" on it. 

[mnementh]

   We already have The Dark Lord Regza, and it lives in my bedroom forevermore. This I do for the good of all mankind; lest it be loosed upon an unsuspecting world.

mnem
 

[Wolfgang]

Open, Short, Lord ?!? 



Not sure what the "Lord" will look like on the VNA 

Its all wrong. It should read: OBEN, SHORD, LORD. 

[Cerebus]

"And with the incantation, Wolfgang summoned the Great Old Ones from the deep where they slept.  He was never heard of again."

~ T h e   E N D ~

[Brumby]

Open, Short, Lord ?!? 



Not sure what the "Lord" will look like on the VNA 

You've never needed a saviour when working with RF?

[0culus]

Open, Short, Lord ?!? 



Not sure what the "Lord" will look like on the VNA 

Maybe it will be a 180 deg phase shift...a DROL...ok I'll show myself out now.

[VK5RC]

I esp like that it includes the Holy Trinity,  '3 in 1' , very considerate. 😁