Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Your comment on 4WD reminds me of an old joke I heard back in the 90s when about the only cars with 4WD/AWD were Audi Quattros - "Why don't you see any Quattros in the ditch during snow storms?"  "Because they're going so fast they fly over the ditch and wind up in the woods!"  I used to chuckle to myself when I was in the Miata and a jacked up pickup or SUV would fly past in the snow, thinking "I have just as many brakes as you do, and a whole lot less mass to stop!"

This is the legendary Audi Quattro advertising spot from 1986

Edit:
Better quality clip:

I'm not 100% convinced by that video, I think that the car must have had special spiked tyres and maybe some other aids because of the way it climbed the ski slope but also the way it stayed stationary at the top.

[BU508A]

I'm not 100% convinced by that video, I think that the car must have had special spiked tyres and maybe some other aids because of the way it climbed the ski slope but also the way it stayed stationary at the top.

 

It's a commercial, what do you expect? A realistic and true scenario? 

[Specmaster]

I'm not 100% convinced by that video, I think that the car must have had special spiked tyres and maybe some other aids because of the way it climbed the ski slope but also the way it stayed stationary at the top.

 

It's a commercial, what do you expect? A realistic and true scenario? 

These days they are supposed to, but back in the 90s, nope 

[BU508A]

I'm not 100% convinced by that video, I think that the car must have had special spiked tyres and maybe some other aids because of the way it climbed the ski slope but also the way it stayed stationary at the top.

 

It's a commercial, what do you expect? A realistic and true scenario? 

These days they are supposed to, but back in the 90s, nope 

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila

the fancy clothes

and other crimes against humanity

    

[Specmaster]

Shit, that was a typo, I meant the 80's  , but I really must say that I'd not say NO to her despite the hairstyle, she is rather appealing in many ways 

[tonyalbus]

So that were busy weeks... but speedreading trough 30 pages... i think iám back..
meenwhile i organized a bit my lab and build a 19inch rack for my bigger stuff.
allmost there i would say.

still waiting for my Datron 1051 and 1059 from UK, will take some extra B..exit time i guess.

[med6753]

I'm not 100% convinced by that video, I think that the car must have had special spiked tyres and maybe some other aids because of the way it climbed the ski slope but also the way it stayed stationary at the top.

 

It's a commercial, what do you expect? A realistic and true scenario? 

These days they are supposed to, but back in the 90s, nope 

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila

the fancy clothes

and other crimes against humanity

    

She reminds me of Marie Osmond. The eyes say crazy as a shit house rat.  I think she'll cut you while you sleep. 

I had a mullet.   

[BU508A]

I'm not 100% convinced by that video, I think that the car must have had special spiked tyres and maybe some other aids because of the way it climbed the ski slope but also the way it stayed stationary at the top.

 

It's a commercial, what do you expect? A realistic and true scenario? 

These days they are supposed to, but back in the 90s, nope 

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila

the fancy clothes

and other crimes against humanity

    

She reminds me of Marie Osmond. The eyes say crazy as a shit house rat.  I think she'll cut you while you sleep. 

I had a mullet. 

Our med! He has a good eye! I think you are right, that is Marie Osmond.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427771664576490844/

[factory]

Oh shite, I was watching a new Hantek DSO5202P on eBay that was finishing tonight, and while waiting for the last 30 mins to tick by I was catching on the thread here, just flicked to eBay and it 1 second to go  It ended up at £180 plus £4.80 P&P, currently £310 on Amazon. Reviews on it are pretty good, so I thought it'd make a nice addition to my bench  Never mind, its not like I'm without a decent scope. 

TEA rule number ... where are we? 
This rule is about priorities:
"Do not get distracted  by the TEA thread while watching TE on ebay for sniping.¹"

¹A sniper service may be helpful, though. 

I quite agree, I do normally use a snipping program but for some reason I wanted to watch the last few minutes of the auction to gauge wether to bid or not. Plus I was undecided about the seller, only had 1 feedback and that was as a buyer, so I was wondering if it was con or not. By the time I decided to go for it as PayPal would cover me if it was, it was too late. It might have lead to disappointment if it was a con after all. There is always bucket loads of such scams just Christmas. And this year has the potential for even more as people try to put food on the table in the middle of lockdown.

Just be thankful you don't have the hassle of dealing with a new & inexperienced seller, with the inevitable ePay payment holdᵀᴹ because they haven't got any selling history, I don't know why ePay don't encourage new sellers to start with low value items first. 

David

[factory]

So that were busy weeks... but speedreading trough 30 pages... i think iám back..
meenwhile i organized a bit my lab and build a 19inch rack for my bigger stuff.
allmost there i would say.

still waiting for my Datron 1051 and 1059 from UK, will take some extra B..exit time i guess.

Welcome back & nice to see you've got some new shelving for the heavier TE.
Did you manage to repair the HP 5323A? I've been working on my 5325A/B counters which share a couple of parts with your 5323A, mostly power supply parts, input amplifier & possibly the crystal reference (depending on how old it is).

David

[Zucca]

meenwhile i organized a bit my lab and build a 19inch rack for my bigger stuff.
allmost there i would say.

How much Kg/m² is your floor spec? 

Welcome back mate maybe I start a Youtube ops / Odysee channel too.

[bd139]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

Yep, you're correct, it was two Typhoons on QRA being scrambled and cleared to fly at 1.6Mach to intercept a private jet on route from Germany to Birmingham that was taking a strange flight path over London and was not responding to radio messages, the plane and the flight path are shown below, and it was escorted as normal in these incidents into Stanstead Airport.

Hmm Bombrdier Global Express, very nice. Did some work flying on one last year before last.

Very nice indeed. Especially the Sentinel variant.

https://www.arabianaerospace.aero/a-game-of-high-spy---with-project-dolphin.html

They'll probably end up crashing them in the desert 

[Gribo]

Saved an HP 3478 from the recyclers today. I hope it works.

[factory]

I think I belong here.

Quite funny you decided to show up now. Just dusted of a stack of Datron and watching some of your content right now

LOL, I purchased my Solartron 7075 from you last year... noticed that when I checked out your eBay store :-)

I know

I assume it arrived well? I tend to have my butcheeks clenched when I send stuff that far away...

Accidently, I have a number of GPIB modules for them. I removed them from most units because they caused issues, so I assume they're bad but if you want one you can have one for the cost of shipping.

Apparently they contain a few TANTS and a number of ROM's, could the problems be with either of these?

David

[bd139]

Oh shite, I was watching a new Hantek DSO5202P on eBay that was finishing tonight, and while waiting for the last 30 mins to tick by I was catching on the thread here, just flicked to eBay and it 1 second to go  It ended up at £180 plus £4.80 P&P, currently £310 on Amazon. Reviews on it are pretty good, so I thought it'd make a nice addition to my bench  Never mind, its not like I'm without a decent scope. 

TEA rule number ... where are we? 
This rule is about priorities:
"Do not get distracted  by the TEA thread while watching TE on ebay for sniping.¹"

¹A sniper service may be helpful, though. 

I quite agree, I do normally use a snipping program but for some reason I wanted to watch the last few minutes of the auction to gauge wether to bid or not. Plus I was undecided about the seller, only had 1 feedback and that was as a buyer, so I was wondering if it was con or not. By the time I decided to go for it as PayPal would cover me if it was, it was too late. It might have lead to disappointment if it was a con after all. There is always bucket loads of such scams just Christmas. And this year has the potential for even more as people try to put food on the table in the middle of lockdown.

Just be thankful you don't have the hassle of dealing with a new & inexperienced seller, with the inevitable ePay payment holdᵀᴹ because they haven't got any selling history, I don't know why ePay don't encourage new sellers to start with low value items first. 

David

New seller hold is fairly quick these days. My eldest sold her first item on eBay the other day and funds were unheld after 2 hours of the delivery tracking being updated.

The only gotcha you have to work out for is you need to fund the first delivery fees from already cleared balance or from a debit card.

[Robert763]

I've had a few sellers recently "loose" or "break" items and cancel sales becuase the item only got a low bid 
 

[tonyalbus]

So that were busy weeks... but speedreading trough 30 pages... i think iám back..
meenwhile i organized a bit my lab and build a 19inch rack for my bigger stuff.
allmost there i would say.

still waiting for my Datron 1051 and 1059 from UK, will take some extra B..exit time i guess.

Welcome back & nice to see you've got some new shelving for the heavier TE.
Did you manage to repair the HP 5323A? I've been working on my 5325A/B counters which share a couple of parts with your 5323A, mostly power supply parts, input amplifier & possibly the crystal reference (depending on how old it is).

David

Thanks David!, Zucca!
still need to look into that... all seems fine, even the startuptest niceley showed 10.000... except it does not count..
Yes your 5325's look very nice on the picture i saw fly by... 

@zucca The floor should be okey, it is 30-40 cm Concrete   .. will keep an eye on cracks in the seeling, the floor below 

but its great to have all the stuff now in reach from the desk.
and i do need to sell a lot more from my old stock.. its a bitt full in the lab, still.
so hard to say goodbye to TE

 

[mnementh]

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila      the fancy clothes       and other crimes against humanity     

She reminds me of Marie Osmond. The eyes say crazy as a shit house rat.  I think she'll cut you while you sleep. 

I had a mullet. 

Our med! He has a good eye! I think you are right, that is Marie Osmond.   https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427771664576490844/

I went through a period in my teens when I wanted to hate-fuck Marie Osmond... and publish video. Their very existence as as a thing pissed me right the fuck off.

mnem
I was... complicated.

[med6753]

So that were busy weeks... but speedreading trough 30 pages... i think iám back..
meenwhile i organized a bit my lab and build a 19inch rack for my bigger stuff.
allmost there i would say.

still waiting for my Datron 1051 and 1059 from UK, will take some extra B..exit time i guess.

Welcome back & nice to see you've got some new shelving for the heavier TE.
Did you manage to repair the HP 5323A? I've been working on my 5325A/B counters which share a couple of parts with your 5323A, mostly power supply parts, input amplifier & possibly the crystal reference (depending on how old it is).

David

Agreed, looks great. Nice to see someone else building up stuff like shelving from scratch. Is there a reason you didn't add a finish like stain and/or poly? I guess if it's in a room not seen by anyone except the owners it doesn't matter. But my stuff is out in open for everyone to see.

[med6753]

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila      the fancy clothes       and other crimes against humanity     

She reminds me of Marie Osmond. The eyes say crazy as a shit house rat.  I think she'll cut you while you sleep. 

I had a mullet. 

Our med! He has a good eye! I think you are right, that is Marie Osmond.   https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427771664576490844/

I went through a period in my teens when I wanted to hate-fuck Marie Osmond... and publish video. Their very existence as as a thing pissed me right the fuck off.

mnem
I was... complicated.

I didn't think I was correct in identifying her. I surprised myself. 

She never did anything for me. No "hate/want" desire here. I thought that whole family was kinda weird plus that "goodie two shoes" music ain't my style. 

[tonyalbus]

So that were busy weeks... but speedreading trough 30 pages... i think iám back..
meenwhile i organized a bit my lab and build a 19inch rack for my bigger stuff.
allmost there i would say.

still waiting for my Datron 1051 and 1059 from UK, will take some extra B..exit time i guess.

Welcome back & nice to see you've got some new shelving for the heavier TE.
Did you manage to repair the HP 5323A? I've been working on my 5325A/B counters which share a couple of parts with your 5323A, mostly power supply parts, input amplifier & possibly the crystal reference (depending on how old it is).

David

Agreed, looks great. Nice to see someone else building up stuff like shelving from scratch. Is there a reason you didn't add a finish like stain and/or poly? I guess if it's in a room not seen by anyone except the owners it doesn't matter. But my stuff is out in open for everyone to see.

@med yes no-one else on my attic and the wood is shaven.. and a big part is lazyness 
but you are right, like you did it looks very nice and finisched.

[mnementh]

I've had a few sellers recently "loose" or "break" items and cancel sales because the item only got a low bid. 

Yeah, seller's remorse has always been a problem on fleaBay... they punish you for posting with a reasonable starting bid, they punish you for having a reasonable minimum bid, they punish you for not using their hit-or-miss shipping service, and now they punish you with their heinous PP alternative...

I guess selling on fleaBay, just like being a TEA, requires a certain amount of masochism. 

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila      the fancy clothes       and other crimes against humanity     

She reminds me of Marie Osmond. The eyes say crazy as a shit house rat.  I think she'll cut you while you sleep. 

I had a mullet. 

Our med! He has a good eye! I think you are right, that is Marie Osmond.   https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427771664576490844/

I went through a period in my teens when I wanted to hate-fuck Marie Osmond... and publish video. Their very existence as as a thing pissed me right the fuck off.

mnem
I was... complicated.

I'm not sure if it's still safe for Little Jimmy "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" Osmond to travel to the eponymous city for fear of being kneecapped. (I've seen him on TV a few times in recent years and to his credit it seems that he's grown up into a nice, decent bloke despite coming from that family.)

[mnementh]

Even worse, it is from 1986! You know, the decade with the Vokuhila      the fancy clothes       and other crimes against humanity     

She reminds me of Marie Osmond. The eyes say crazy as a shit house rat.  I think she'll cut you while you sleep. 

I had a mullet. 

Our med! He has a good eye! I think you are right, that is Marie Osmond.   https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427771664576490844/

I went through a period in my teens when I wanted to hate-fuck Marie Osmond... and publish video. Their very existence as as a thing pissed me right the fuck off.

mnem
I was... complicated.

I didn't think I was correct in identifying her. I surprised myself. 

She never did anything for me. No "hate/want" desire here. I thought that whole family was kinda weird plus that "goodie two shoes" music ain't my style.

Ehhh... I think it was more the idea than anything real. Like I said, I was complicated back then. 

In defense of the 80s... that was not a proper mullet; that was just 80s hair band "big hair".

A mullet is defined by the sides of the head being shaved short and usually a ponytail in back, not just poofy hair and a pompadour.  They developed from the same counterculture crowd who wore theirs spiked, but couldn't be arsed with hair gel and hairspray.

Even Joe Dirt wasn't a real mullet... that shit was Hollywood-ified so they could sell movie tickets; Mr & Mrs Wonder White Bread would not go see a movie starring anyone wearing a proper mullet.

Like everything, it was easier to paint all that 80s style/lack of style with a broad brush... but I remember bowl cuts being a anti-establishment thing, as well as flat-tops on flaming queens, and Daisy Dukes on guys.

mnem
History is written by the winners, and the Yuppies definitely won that war. 

[SilverSolder]

I do not get why he keeps going on about the BMW 3-series.  My neighbour drives one even when the snow is so deep that the car is surfing the snow and the wheels do not even reach the road surface.  He has never been stuck; but I think his driving style is much as SpecMaster (edited) describes.

It is just starting to get fun when you have snow like that and the road is empty of other vehicles. 

While I don't have experienced snow depths as described, my former 325iX was exactly the car of choice if you needed to keep going fast under averse conditions. All the good  things in a package that you could still park in a European city and jiust enough space for the usual loadout of tools and instruments.

Tires make a HUGE difference.  About the first time I drove the Miata in any significant snow it was still on the OEM tires (can't recall the exact type, but they were not good in snow).  After barely making it up the long hill before my street, with the final mile or so of it simply with the rears spinning away in third gear as I steered sideways and looked out the passenger window to watch the road because I'd simply gotten tired of feathering the throttle to try to keep it just under the verge of wheelspin, I got to the level stretch where my road tees off and proceeded to slide right past it, unable to stop despite only moving at perhaps a running pace.  Got turned around and home, then drove the old Firebird until the snows for the Miata arrived.  Once they were on it, it was nearly unstoppable in anything less than 6".  They were miserable to drive on in good weather, though - with those tall, squirmy tread blocks they felt like mushy Nerf tires.

-Pat

A Miata is not a great snow car with summer tires, for sure.  Even on wet days, the rear end is so light that spinning the tires is very easy to do e.g. around a corner.

But if you think a Miata is bad for this, try a Mustang...

Snow tires help, but...