Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

bought today a Tektronix AFG 1022 in very good shape.
It has one flaw, though: does not power up but I hope, I can fix this easily.

[bd139]

Interesting. Fingers crossed for you.

Most interesting one I had like that was the fuse holder was slightly unscrewed 

[URI]

bought today a Tektronix AFG 1022 in very good shape.
It has one flaw, though: does not power up but I hope, I can fix this easily.

Oh, that looks really good. Nearly as new.   
I press you my thumbs. (Lübke..) )

Show pics..!      

[Zucca]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.

After paying 14 years of German Taxes also for my pension plan, I am trying to figure out what does it means to leave the German/EU system. I sent an email 5 days ago to the german office responsible for that. No answer yet, my spider senses are telling me it will be a mess.

[BU508A]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.

After paying 14 years of German Taxes also for my pension plan, I am trying to figure out what does it means to leave the German/EU system. I sent an email 5 days ago to the german office responsible for that. No answer yet, my spider senses are telling me it will be a mess.

You can bet your ass on that. My advice: get some good advice!

[med6753]

Volume Testing equipment  Busted my last 'borrowed' Pint Glass from the local Pub and had to actually go buy some replacement ones. GOt to a warmish 30C outside and the Beer was an appropriate 3.5C

Local commercial kitchen supplier I have dealt with for over 5 years dropping them A LOT of $ wanted to sell me a box lot of 72 Commercial Pint Glasses now an EX Customer  Braved Bogan Central the local Kmart and dropped $12/6

That KilKenny looks inviting and not normally a beer drinker. I'll have to see if I can find it here and hopefully it won't be "Americanized"

[bd139]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.

After paying 14 years of German Taxes also for my pension plan, I am trying to figure out what does it means to leave the German/EU system. I sent an email 5 days ago to the german office responsible for that. No answer yet, my spider senses are telling me it will be a mess.

You can bet your ass on that. My advice: get some good advice!

Yeah. But be careful to find out what “good” is first.

Watch out for advisers. Some of them are on commission to sell you a product not on merit. Despite our reputation here for having somewhat low compliance status here, we had a process called Retail Distribution Review which killed off that model entirely and forced specific charging models on the bastards. Other countries are not so well equipped.

As for pensions, it’s a mess. Diversify is the best advice and if your adviser doesn’t tell you to do that then run away. Don’t throw everything into a pension. Bonds, stocks, pension, ISA, assets.

Key objective is not to make money but stop losing it faster than tax and inflation eats it. I’ve made a better return this year on test gear than investments 

Anyway fintech hat off now.

[Specmaster]

Quick article on “art” for all the folk who received damaged and broken stuff over the years:

https://kottke.org/21/01/fedex-shipping-damage-creates-fractured-artworks

Thats a novel idea.

[med6753]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.
What's worse, the pension is taxable, plus I have to pay about 1000/month health insurance. Which is about 40% of the pension.

And don't get me started on family. I filed a petition for "divorce from parents" which was denied. Fortunately they apparently honor that restraining order and get nowhere near me.

It's none of my business and I won't ask but having a restraining order against your parents sounds absolutely bizarre. 

[Specmaster]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.

After paying 14 years of German Taxes also for my pension plan, I am trying to figure out what does it means to leave the German/EU system. I sent an email 5 days ago to the german office responsible for that. No answer yet, my spider senses are telling me it will be a mess.

You can bet your ass on that. My advice: get some good advice!

Problem is, how do you know if the advice is/was good or not?

[beanflying]

Volume Testing equipment  Busted my last 'borrowed' Pint Glass from the local Pub and had to actually go buy some replacement ones. GOt to a warmish 30C outside and the Beer was an appropriate 3.5C

Local commercial kitchen supplier I have dealt with for over 5 years dropping them A LOT of $ wanted to sell me a box lot of 72 Commercial Pint Glasses now an EX Customer  Braved Bogan Central the local Kmart and dropped $12/6

That KilKenny looks inviting and not normally a beer drinker. I'll have to see if I can find it here and hopefully it won't be "Americanized"

IceCream Smooth and a nice change and still brewed in Ireland. The locally brewed Guinness is however RUBBISH compared to the real deal. Retested and the Volume in the Source and the Receiver remained constant until Human Imbibement generated losses requiring a third .......

[BU508A]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.

After paying 14 years of German Taxes also for my pension plan, I am trying to figure out what does it means to leave the German/EU system. I sent an email 5 days ago to the german office responsible for that. No answer yet, my spider senses are telling me it will be a mess.

You can bet your ass on that. My advice: get some good advice!

Problem is, how do you know if the advice is/was good or not?

That's exactly the point. The devil lies always in the details.
If I'd going to do something like Zucca is doing now, I'd ask my friend which is a very good tax advisor (Steuerberater).
He has also some international clients.

[med6753]

Volume Testing equipment  Busted my last 'borrowed' Pint Glass from the local Pub and had to actually go buy some replacement ones. GOt to a warmish 30C outside and the Beer was an appropriate 3.5C

Local commercial kitchen supplier I have dealt with for over 5 years dropping them A LOT of $ wanted to sell me a box lot of 72 Commercial Pint Glasses now an EX Customer  Braved Bogan Central the local Kmart and dropped $12/6

That KilKenny looks inviting and not normally a beer drinker. I'll have to see if I can find it here and hopefully it won't be "Americanized"

IceCream Smooth and a nice change and still brewed in Ireland. The locally brewed Guinness is however RUBBISH compared to the real deal. Retested and the Volume in the Source and the Receiver remained constant until Human Imbibement generated losses requiring a third .......

Luckily Guinness here is the real deal. 

[Saskia]

I've (almost) always had to work hard for anything. Our pension plan is a joke, after 45 years I'll be lucky if I get 20% of my gross. It seems to me that our state run pension scheme is the master ponzi blueprint after which all the others were modelled.
What's worse, the pension is taxable, plus I have to pay about 1000/month health insurance. Which is about 40% of the pension.

And don't get me started on family. I filed a petition for "divorce from parents" which was denied. Fortunately they apparently honor that restraining order and get nowhere near me.

It's none of my business and I won't ask but having a restraining order against your parents sounds absolutely bizarre. 

it has to do with years of abuse that I had to endure.

[Zucca]

If I'd going to do something like Zucca is doing now, I'd ask my friend which is a very good tax advisor (Steuerberater).

I have incomes that will keep me floating during the retirement until I die.
My point is not to leave money or not get money from Germany that I can/could access in my paid german retirement plant. And I did not have a choice here, I had to pay for that.

Steuerberater was/is already on the list, not sure if it will help anyway. For sure I will give her a call.

[Robert763]

Bit of a rough head but it needs a new home @med  eBay auction: #265011656740

Low range decade box from a college and seller who does not know what it is? Big risk of cooked resistors 

[McBryce]

Volume Testing equipment  Busted my last 'borrowed' Pint Glass from the local Pub and had to actually go buy some replacement ones. GOt to a warmish 30C outside and the Beer was an appropriate 3.5C

Local commercial kitchen supplier I have dealt with for over 5 years dropping them A LOT of $ wanted to sell me a box lot of 72 Commercial Pint Glasses now an EX Customer  Braved Bogan Central the local Kmart and dropped $12/6

That KilKenny looks inviting and not normally a beer drinker. I'll have to see if I can find it here and hopefully it won't be "Americanized"

IceCream Smooth and a nice change and still brewed in Ireland. The locally brewed Guinness is however RUBBISH compared to the real deal. Retested and the Volume in the Source and the Receiver remained constant until Human Imbibement generated losses requiring a third .......

Luckily Guinness here is the real deal. 

Guinness is only the "real deal" in Dublin and certain parts of Ireland, not even in all of Ireland. The Guinness in the U.S. is very close, especially compared to the rubbish they call Guinness in Germany, but still not the real deal.

McBryce.

[med6753]

Bit of a rough head but it needs a new home @med  eBay auction: #265011656740

Low range decade box from a college and seller who does not know what it is? Big risk of cooked resistors

Yep, had the same thoughts but if I can get it for the $10 starting bid it's a risk I'm willing to take. 

[beanflying]

The will most likely be wire wound for low Ohm ranges. Either that or use the likely high grade Silver switchgear and roll your own box with modern Resistors.

Worst case is add a Nixie tube and flip it as Steampunk 

[BU508A]

Do we have here fans of frequency counters with dotted LED displays? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402653938052



NAWTS as usual

[tggzzz]

There may be an objective basis there. Older appliances and other household goods were better made, had much longer design lives and were made to be repairable. They also cost significantly more as a proportion of disposable household income. My mother sold her house about 10 years ago and moved into sheltered accommodation as she was losing her sight from macular degeneration. When she did so, she was still using the same cooker, washing machine, fridge, vacuum cleaner, freezer and central heating boiler that had been purchased in the late 60s or early 70s. They were all perfectly serviceable and in everyday use. Starting in the late 1980s when I had my own permanent place for the first time I've been through several of each of those appliances - 3 boilers, three vacuum cleaners, four fridge freezers, two washing machines and so on.

The same thing applies to furniture, mum went through one sofa in that 40-50 years (bought second hand, no less), I'm on my third since 1987 and it badly needs replacing.

Older stuff was made to last, modern stuff is "value engineered" for relatively short replacement cycles.

Yes and no: you can bias things in your favour by looking for reliable brands.

Car: 2004, serviced once every 5 years (I do oil changes)
Fridge: 1989
Freezer: 2002, second hand
Dishwasher: 1990
Washing machine: 2002??
Vacuum cleaner: on my second since 88
Boiler: one replacement since 88
Cooker: same as 88.
Microwave: just bought my second.

I use Which? as a source of reliable brands, and repair myself when necessary. Sugru prolongs dishwasher disholders No, I don't buy expensive stuff

Sorry; The difference is right in what you're saying there. It wasn't unusual for a car or any major appliance to last 30 years and more back then, and they were designed with repair in mind, and you could still get parts for that 30-something-year-old whatever without having to go to a specialty parts shop.

Your 30-year-old dishwasher is an aberration, not the norm. Any refrigeration item with sealed system is good for 30 years barring acidic intervention; they invented that stuff back then, and they designed it too well; now they have to find other ways (mostly cheap, brittle plastic interiors) to force turnover.

The big difference is the design scope has been changed from decades to "slightly less than it takes to pay them off" and the ones that last longer are the oddballs; usually owned by folks who take special care of them.

There were many many badly designed and manufactured items back then. That was a prime motivation behind the founding of the Consumers Association (?USA Consumer Reports?) who publish "Which?".

The point is to try to buy reliable brands which aren't excessively expensive.

Naturally "expensive" does not imply "reliable".

[mansaxel]

Do we have here fans of frequency counters with dotted LED displays? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402653938052



NAWTS as usual

ooooh, Watkins-Johnson, the NSA house brand... Interesting based on the manufacturer alone. I'd really like to lay my grubby hands on one of their VLF-HF receivers. Either that or the SRT CR91.

[Robert763]

Do we have here fans of frequency counters with dotted LED displays? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402653938052



NAWTS as usual

Thats actually a frequency readout / control unit for "spy" intercept receiver. Should go for a lot if the WJ fanboys spot it.

[Cerebus]

Volume Testing equipment  Busted my last 'borrowed' Pint Glass from the local Pub and had to actually go buy some replacement ones. GOt to a warmish 30C outside and the Beer was an appropriate 3.5C

Local commercial kitchen supplier I have dealt with for over 5 years dropping them A LOT of $ wanted to sell me a box lot of 72 Commercial Pint Glasses now an EX Customer  Braved Bogan Central the local Kmart and dropped $12/6

I think the definition of "responsible adult" is when you own pint glasses that you actually bought from somewhere rather than a mismatched collection of ones you obtained by discovering that you had a new one when you woke up in the morning. 

[BU508A]

Do we have here fans of frequency counters with dotted LED displays? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402653938052



NAWTS as usual

ooooh, Watkins-Johnson, the NSA house brand... Interesting based on the manufacturer alone. I'd really like to lay my grubby hands on one of their VLF-HF receivers. Either that or the SRT CR91.

You mean, something like this one? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133643963414



You are welcome.