Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Ice-Tea]

A comparable message is making its tour in Dutch... aside from the above it also includes ... that bubbles are only found in Champagne

Happy New Year y'all!

[Saskia]

Preparing fireworks ...

happy new year everyone. May 2021 be less crap than 2020.

[Robert763]

I think we all can agree that 2020 has been a shit year all around the globe and I, for one, can't wait to kick its butt out of here. Having said that, already 2021 is not looking to be much better for many Brits as we are slowly uncovering steaming great piles of poo that this so-called super deal that our own version of resident chump has landed us with. It will be causing many small to medium businesses to close  because of the extra costs foisted onto them and the extra red tape is said to be costing around £7bn a year to businesses. Just discovered that we are no longer to use the CE marking, thus making millions of £ worth of stock and packaging valueless overnight and looking like it will all have to be dumped 

Anyway, there is 1 thing I'm really looking forward to in 2021 is beating his bloody virus and driving it into the sea.

https://youtu.be/VjC5IhoXtUU

No, you can still use CE marking. If you are selling into Europe you have to. The UK will continue to accept CE marking until 2022 so nothing changes until then.
IF you are only going to sell in the UK (excluding NI) you could use just the new UKCA mark but why bother? Most people will just use a UKCA sticker or stamp on existing packaging.
The biggest change will be for items that need to be assessed by a notified body for CE marking. Any new products requiring this will have to be assessed by a EU body as UK NB enities will loose their authority.

[ch_scr]

Preparing fireworks ...

happy new year everyone. May 2021 be less crap than 2020.

Midnight's going to be a BLAST with that
Bet you I can feel when you set off over here

[25 CPS]

I hope everybody’s having as good a Christmas as possible under the circumstances.

I ordered a NanoVNA and a TinySA last week as a present for myself.  They should arrive sometime early in the new year and I wasn’t expecting to do this, but I ordered one of those NIB Agilent 34401As from eBay that were mentioned earlier.  That’s going to take a while to get here; it’s the second item I’ve purchased on eBay after reading about it here so hopefully, fingers crossed, it arrives in one piece this time unlike those HP coffee mugs from back in the summer.

Hopefully 2021 will be leaps and bounds better for everybody than this year was.

Nice choice in presents.  I went to do the same myself.  However, the NanoVNA v2 plus 4 from HCXQS is all sold out; I am on the wait list however.  By the way, does anyone know which TinySA purchase is likely to support the designer/manufacturer?

Unfortunately, I don't know which TinySA vendors supports the people that created it.  I wasn't able to figure that out when I went looking around so what I did instead was order the TinySA and NanoVNA from a seller that claimed to have stock in Brampton.  The shipping tracking still shows no movement ever since "Electronic information submitted by shipper" was listed on December 21.  I'm almost ready to bet there was no stock in Brampton and they're waiting for a shipment to come in from China.

The tracking for the NOS 34401A shows it working its way through the eBay GSP centre in Erlanger, Kentucky though.  It's likely to get here before the TinySA and NanoVNA at this rate despite being ordered later and coming from much further away than Brampton.  "Brampton"  Sure, I believe that stock was located in "Brampton" now.

I just received a Christmas card this morning from my dad that was sent from Manhattan on the 11th... our first mail since Tuesday before last. Mom-in-law sent a Christmas care package via Priority Mail that has been sitting in a sort center in PA for 16 days. Still. Still waiting on the replacement digitizer for baby grrl's iPud which was sent from South Porcupine, CA (aboot 7 hours away) on the 20th.

Maybe.... just maybe... it's time we pulled the plug on this 40-year experiment in supply-side economics; at this point the proof is incontrovertible: This ideology is MADE OF FAIL, and George Bush Sr. was right in calling it "Voodoo Economics" back when he was running against The Gipper. 

mnem
Yeah, imagine that.

Yeah, if you listen to conservative politicians, all the world's problems would be solved if they could just do one more round of giveaways and tax cuts for rich people and large corporations, right?  If that was true, we should be living in paradise already because of the huge number of those that've already been done.  Clearly, none of them have worked, at least not for the officially stated purposes, so they always want to do more.  Yet, almost 40 years of it not working is never seen as a reason to discontinue policies that haven't resulted the stated desired outcome and try something else instead.  But discontinue giveaways and tax cuts for rich people and big businesses?  Heavens, no.  How scrooge of anybody to suggest that.  They suffer so mightily.  You know how much the upkeep on a maison in Rosedale or Forest Hill is?  That 8,000 square foot cottage up north?  Keeping a fleet of luxury cars on the road isn't inexpensive either and nobody's idea of filling a wine cellar includes stocking up on cheap piss in a bottle from the LCBO, and tuition at Upper Canada College or St. Andrew's College for the kids needs to be covered somehow.  With wealth, power and influence, and friends in high places, the thing to do, the only thing to do, is arrange to shove the bill downhill onto the little people.  After all, only the little people pay taxes.

[mansaxel]

let's hope 2021 gets a bit better.

We're making the spuds for a better world, at least.

[Mr. Scram]

Congratulations to the inverted folks for making it to 2021. We live in hope to get there too.

[Cerebus]

Just discovered that we are no longer to use the CE marking, thus making millions of £ worth of stock and packaging valueless overnight and looking like it will all have to be dumped 

Been reading the Daily Mail again? As Robert has already said, that's bunkum!

[cyclin_al]

That always makes my head hurt. Did the same with my daughter’s new PC. No boot panic is the worst. What I found bloody annoying is I plugged the thing into my 4K display and it spewed green lines over everything. Small panic over this obviously. Turned out to be a combination of BIOS upgrade required and finding a slightly less shit HDMI cable 

I like my Mac. Turned it on and it worked. I’m getting old 

I just had the same thing yesterday.  Installed the mother-in-laws computer after fixing it all up, turned it on and .... no boot.  Was scary after having done all that work and assache.  The only things different on installation compared with my testing setup were the HIDs and the monitor.  Swapped HDMI cord with another computer and then it booted up.  Works better with a known to be shitty HDMI cord.  The other computer had no problem with either cable.  However, the Samsung monitor had a brief angry red haze during boot.  I have never seen that before; must be the monitor/cable as I spent lots of time with that computer without seeing the same.

[factory]

And Now for Something Completely... ON-TOPIC.   

I figured I'd better at least make the attempt one more time before the New Year.



https://www.kijiji.ca/v-general-electronics/city-of-toronto/hewlett-packard-function-generator-board-54654-66502/1541063226

This is available locally, and I'm thinking aboot it; partly because of EMI factor as this is an accessory designed for my 54645A, as well as the fact it appears to have a pulse generator function useful for slew rate/risetime testing. Given that it is a HP-designed accessory, I'd expect even that aspect is probably better quality than any of my cheap Chinese crap, at least until such time as I might be able to fix my 8070A.

Looking for second opinions as I believe it's legit worth ~US$35 or so and plan to offer that... am I being unreasonable?

Also, so far my searches for the relevant manual have been met with abject failure... does anybody have a lead I may have missed...?

Cheers, and here's to a better year in 2021 !!!

mnem
 

There was a whole pile of them from one of the ePay traders at £20 each years ago, I thought about buying one but never did. I'm not sure if the thing that looks like a manual is actually the storage case for it.


I prefer the look of the 54654-66501 version, but it made more than £20, not looked for any more since.


David

P.S. one of those pictures saved from ePay in 2011 triggered the forum security failure and no editing was involved, editing in paint or irfanview didn't solve it. 

[bd139]

That was peak HP SMD boards. Decent quality, good track adhesion, visible traces, decent solder mask. Obviously designed with Zukon. Those are an absolute pleasure to rework 

Making me want a 34401A or 54600 series now 

[mnementh]

Yeah, the guy countered for CAD$60; I was already at the high end of my personal limit at CAD$50 offered, but I just wanted to get it and be done with it, as I was already near the seller on a COSTCO run. The $60 counteroffer made me stop & think; now that I'm home I think that money is better spent fixing up my 4070A.

Yes, that is the case for the board; manual is not included and is why I was willing to go up to $50. If the sale included the manual I wouldn't have quibbled at his $75 ask, even tho that is technically still more than I paid for my 54645A.

Of course, as soon as I post that, bd comes along and sez something to make me second-guess myself...

I am open to change my mind if it does likely have a decent pulse generator as I originally asked aboot. His counteroffer is ~US$45... 

Opinions, cheers, jeers...?

What does our resident Ferengi think...?

mnem
 

[bd139]

I'd lose the Uni-T, the 4070A and save up some and buy a DG811 and crack it into a DG992

[bd139]

let's hope 2021 gets a bit better.

We're making the spuds for a better world, at least.

Oh those look rather good. There goes my diet 

[Robert763]

Just changed the wireless network here. The combination of Virgin Hub3 TP link range extender and SWMBO's Galaxy Tab was not working (DHCP through range extender issue). After neary 2 hours on hold Virgin said I'd have to pay monthly for their range extender(s) dispite their app sayin they were FOC. I was not going to pay for them so got a TP link Archer C7 router / AP. Instalaltion was pretty simple after setting the Hub 3 to modem mode. Set the TP to the same id and PW as I had for the Hub 3 and everthing worked straight off. Even the printer which always gave trouble on SWMBO's laptop if the old hub was restarted.
 

[mnementh]

I'd lose the Uni-T, the 4070A and save up some and buy a DG811 and crack it into a DG992

Maybe after I flip a TV or three on Kijiji. 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

I think we all can agree that 2020 has been a shit year all around the globe and I, for one, can't wait to kick its butt out of here. Having said that, already 2021 is not looking to be much better for many Brits as we are slowly uncovering steaming great piles of poo that this so-called super deal that our own version of resident chump has landed us with. It will be causing many small to medium businesses to close  because of the extra costs foisted onto them and the extra red tape is said to be costing around £7bn a year to businesses. Just discovered that we are no longer to use the CE marking, thus making millions of £ worth of stock and packaging valueless overnight and looking like it will all have to be dumped 

Anyway, there is 1 thing I'm really looking forward to in 2021 is beating his bloody virus and driving it into the sea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjC5IhoXtUU&feature=youtu.be

Yeah, but I also remember saying the same thing aboot 2016.    My childhood heroes were dropping like flies all year long, we discovered personally what a fucking cesspool Houston is, and then of course we saw democracy thwarted yet again as the capital was infested with the Chump family in the Oval Orifice. 

I'm done asking how much worse it can get.

mnem
The bar can always go lower.

[factory]

Cleaned up the case of the Racal 9839 earlier, also straightened up the dents in the case, front trim & handle as best I could, I don't know how it got so many dents without losing any feet or the plastic parts of the handle.   

Before pictures from ePay listing, as I forgot to take any.



Finally ready to use, the front trim was swapped from top/bottom after straightening, new cap for the sensitivity knob fitted (Elma).



The remains of the serial plate rivets were removed so they don't fall inside & short anything out. 


David

[Saskia]

finalized my tax declaration today. 36 pages declaration plus a rather thick Leitz binder in receipts.

German tax laws are plain nuts.

[bd139]

Cleaned up the case of the Racal 9839 earlier, also straightened up the dents in the case, front trim & handle as best I could, I don't know how it got so many dents without losing any feet or the plastic parts of the handle.   

Before pictures from ePay listing, as I forgot to take any.



Finally ready to use, the front trim was swapped from top/bottom after straightening, new cap for the sensitivity knob fitted (Elma).



The remains of the serial plate rivets were removed so they don't fall inside & short anything out. 


David

Looking good  . It’s nice to see some Racal kit on here. It’s a rarity.

[mansaxel]

let's hope 2021 gets a bit better.

We're making the spuds for a better world, at least.

Oh those look rather good. There goes my diet 

They are. We made enough, there are a few small towers left. Perhaps because there were pieces of cow, grilled, with Beàrnaise sauce accompanying them spuds. and also because the starter was both grilled baguette with tomato salad and green pea soup with whipped cream and bubbly wine, and for desert panna cotta.

Wines:

Ch Wandt Cremant d'Alsace

Domaine La Garrigue Gigondas 2017

Le Bignele Recioto Classico della Valpolicella D.O.C.

All except the cremant have been bought on estate.

I'm full. Can I go to bed now?

[mansaxel]

Just changed the wireless network here. The combination of Virgin Hub3 TP link range extender and SWMBO's Galaxy Tab was not working (DHCP through range extender issue). After neary 2 hours on hold Virgin said I'd have to pay monthly for their range extender(s) dispite their app sayin they were FOC. I was not going to pay for them so got a TP link Archer C7 router / AP. Instalaltion was pretty simple after setting the Hub 3 to modem mode. Set the TP to the same id and PW as I had for the Hub 3 and everthing worked straight off. Even the printer which always gave trouble on SWMBO's laptop if the old hub was restarted.
 

Here I've been fighting Apple devices losing connection through my industrial grade wifi. (Cisco access points and a vWLC on VMWare.) There are TONS of options and nothing comprehensible. The Androids and my MacBook are rock solid, but upgraded iPhones drop off the net all the time. Or did. I think I got a few things right yesterday.

[mnementh]

Just turn off the firewall so your iPwns can phone home to mommy on every port and you'll be fine. 

mnem
Whitelist...? Wee don'n need no steenkeeng whitelist!!!

[bd139]

Just changed the wireless network here. The combination of Virgin Hub3 TP link range extender and SWMBO's Galaxy Tab was not working (DHCP through range extender issue). After neary 2 hours on hold Virgin said I'd have to pay monthly for their range extender(s) dispite their app sayin they were FOC. I was not going to pay for them so got a TP link Archer C7 router / AP. Instalaltion was pretty simple after setting the Hub 3 to modem mode. Set the TP to the same id and PW as I had for the Hub 3 and everthing worked straight off. Even the printer which always gave trouble on SWMBO's laptop if the old hub was restarted.
 

Here I've been fighting Apple devices losing connection through my industrial grade wifi. (Cisco access points and a vWLC on VMWare.) There are TONS of options and nothing comprehensible. The Androids and my MacBook are rock solid, but upgraded iPhones drop off the net all the time. Or did. I think I got a few things right yesterday.

Dead reliable here. Using Fritz box with default config and built in antennas. Still haven’t replaced it with the Cisco. Have got to the point I can no longer be arsed with that idea so the Cisco is rotting under my TV unit at the moment 

As for range extenders I’ve never had one that works.

On a positive note I’ve got 5G here. Getting 319mbits down  . Wonder how long before someone burns the tower 

[mansaxel]

finalized my tax declaration today. 36 pages declaration plus a rather thick Leitz binder in receipts.

German tax laws are plain nuts.

Years I haven't done any stock trades I only have to click OK in one tick box after logging in via electronic ID to the tax authority web site.
When I ran a small business, it was a bit more, but nothing like that. And I could do most of it online.
Yet swedes like to believe our authorities are crap. I say they're not.