Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

OK, then how come old handwritten letters were format day/month/year?

I did originally post it in the format you are correcting me towards but I changed it to match what nfmax had written.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

Of course it's superior in every regard. It's British. 

No, the form 3-Letter-Abbrev-DD-YYYY is superior to all others; there is zero ambiguity AND it is only one more character in the CH$, FFS.  Think aboot all the wasted characters spent arguing this fekking single concept, and that one extra character means squat. It is only some people and their compulsive need to reduce everything to numbers which makes this an issue at all.

I prefer 24-hour time with the colon as well, since it allows tacking on seconds with zero ambiguity; but that is probably objectively a bit weird.

mnem
* sworn before me on Jan 24, 2022 09:00:47 local time *

[factory]

One for Robert here, the seller is now offering shipping on some smaller items;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154303987922


I still have the two AC versions, no idea how to use them either.

David

[Cerebus]

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

OK, then how come old handwritten letters were format day/month/year?

I did originally post it in the format you are correcting me towards but I changed it to match what nfmax had written.

You managed to get me confused too. I meant to say "day/month/year" is the standard British/European way, not "year/day/month" as you'd written it was.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

Of course it's superior in every regard. It's British. 

Eh? ISO = International Standards Organisation - nothing to do with Britain. Calm down and have a nice cup of tea, without saltwater in it.

[mnementh]

Eh? ISO = International Standards Organisation - nothing to do with Britain. Calm down and have a nice cup of tea, without saltwater in it.

*snerk*   

mnem

[McBryce]

So today I started looking at repairing the Racal Dana 9917A that I recently bought (€20 - Non working). The instrument is just displaying all zeros and doesn't respond to any input signals. After checking the voltage rails and the OCXO (all good), I took the lazymans method and checked the board with the thermal camera. There's 2x 74LS196 (four stage ripple counters) running at a toasty 45 to 50°C. This seems a tad high for a part that according to the datasheet pulls less than 100mW. The second suspect is Q18, a ZTX550 transistor that creates V-ref for the ASIC. It's running at over 50°C but suprisingly is still producing the correct voltages. Unfotunately this could point to the ASIC having issues, which is game over for these devices. I'll swap all three components out, but I fear this is an ex-counter.

Any suggestions welcome.

McBryce.

PM me with your email address and I'll email the service manual to you, I have it here, its about 5Mb long.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner A big thanks to bd139, PA0PBZ and Specmaster for your support. The Racal Dana 9917A lives again. Ended up being a simple 74S10 that had decided it didn't want to work anymore. Here it is measuring exactly 46MHz from my Siglent SDG2042. After warming up it is dead on (checked against my calibrated ovenised Agilent 53181).

Now that's motivated me to get the broken 9904 back out of the closet of doom and take another look.

McBryce.

[mnementh]

Welcome to The Dark Side, McB. 

mnem
mmmmmmm.... Closet of Doom cookies... yummmmmm...

[bd139]

Great news 

[URI]

Got a full refund for my damaged electromechanical wattmeter without having to pull ebay into it. 

Sadly it seems that the meter-mechanism itself got damaged.   
I'm currently checking it with my best magnifier glasses and will be testing it for accuracy if it's not totally broken.

It's 24.01.2021, 15:14 (local time) now.     

[Specmaster]

Tell me, please, how does the average US American react to dates written like 2021-01-24? Having spent far too much of my life using computers to sort and otherwise disentangle dates, I now write it everywhere I'm not specifically required t use another format. Everyone (i.e. ordinary folk) seems to accept it without comment here

I've seen British people confused by 2021-01-24 style dates, it takes some people several minutes to work it out.

Yep, I really don't understand how we started using format month/day/year as apposed to most others year/day/month. If you are involved in international activities you're used to it....like airline pilots for example. But the average Joe Dirt can be very much confused by it and show up for an appointment in the wrong month.     

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

In other news. We're getting what nowadays passes for snow in London. Hardly worth the weather even bothering if that's all it's going to do.

Ok, now I'm confused because that is not how I've been taught how to write the date down and almost everyone I know do it the same way as I do and is DD-MM-YYYY, so todays date becomes 24/01/2021 which normally will be shortened to 24/1/21 YMMV.

[URI]

Hey McBryce, congrats for successfully reanimating the Racal Dana 9917A!   

[PA0PBZ]

Ok, now I'm confused because that is not how I've been taught how to write the date down and almost everyone I know do it the same way as I do and is DD-MM-YYYY, so todays date becomes 24/01/2021 which normally will be shortened to 24/1/21 YMMV.

Wouldn't DD-MM-YYYY be 24-01-2021?

[URI]

Tell me, please, how does the average US American react to dates written like 2021-01-24? Having spent far too much of my life using computers to sort and otherwise disentangle dates, I now write it everywhere I'm not specifically required t use another format. Everyone (i.e. ordinary folk) seems to accept it without comment here

I've seen British people confused by 2021-01-24 style dates, it takes some people several minutes to work it out.

Yep, I really don't understand how we started using format month/day/year as apposed to most others year/day/month. If you are involved in international activities you're used to it....like airline pilots for example. But the average Joe Dirt can be very much confused by it and show up for an appointment in the wrong month.     

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

In other news. We're getting what nowadays passes for snow in London. Hardly worth the weather even bothering if that's all it's going to do.

Ok, now I'm confused because that is not how I've been taught how to write the date down and almost everyone I know do it the same way as I do and is DD-MM-YYYY, so todays date becomes 24/01/2021 which normally will be shortened to 24/1/21 YMMV.

Oh, interesting. As I wrote above; That's basically the non-ISO common style here in Germany, too.
Ok, we use dots instead of slashes, but that's a minor detail. 

[med6753]

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

OK, then how come old handwritten letters were format day/month/year?

I did originally post it in the format you are correcting me towards but I changed it to match what nfmax had written.

You managed to get me confused too. I meant to say "day/month/year" is the standard British/European way, not "year/day/month" as you'd written it was.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

Of course it's superior in every regard. It's British. 

Eh? ISO = International Standards Organisation - nothing to do with Britain. Calm down and have a nice cup of tea, without saltwater in it.

I'll stick with my coffee, thanks anyway. The first time ISO reared it's ugly head at IBM my first thought was "What kind of stupid bullshit is this?".

30 years later my attitude is the same. 

[med6753]

Great news 

Speak, don't hold us in suspense. 

[Specmaster]

Ok, now I'm confused because that is not how I've been taught how to write the date down and almost everyone I know do it the same way as I do and is DD-MM-YYYY, so todays date becomes 24/01/2021 which normally will be shortened to 24/1/21 YMMV.

Wouldn't DD-MM-YYYY be 24-01-2021?

I think either way is acceptable, however I have always used it this way 24/1/21.

[med6753]

Tell me, please, how does the average US American react to dates written like 2021-01-24? Having spent far too much of my life using computers to sort and otherwise disentangle dates, I now write it everywhere I'm not specifically required t use another format. Everyone (i.e. ordinary folk) seems to accept it without comment here

I've seen British people confused by 2021-01-24 style dates, it takes some people several minutes to work it out.

Yep, I really don't understand how we started using format month/day/year as apposed to most others year/day/month. If you are involved in international activities you're used to it....like airline pilots for example. But the average Joe Dirt can be very much confused by it and show up for an appointment in the wrong month.     

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

In other news. We're getting what nowadays passes for snow in London. Hardly worth the weather even bothering if that's all it's going to do.

Ok, now I'm confused because that is not how I've been taught how to write the date down and almost everyone I know do it the same way as I do and is DD-MM-YYYY, so todays date becomes 24/01/2021 which normally will be shortened to 24/1/21 YMMV.

This is hilarious. 

What's today's date? Beats the shit outta me. 

[Specmaster]

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

OK, then how come old handwritten letters were format day/month/year?

I did originally post it in the format you are correcting me towards but I changed it to match what nfmax had written.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

Of course it's superior in every regard. It's British. 

Med, thats the method that I've been taught as well, dd/mm/yyyy or dd/mm/yy.

[med6753]

Now you're being confused by it. The standard British, and most European country's way of writing the date is year/month/day, not "year/day/month" as you've written.

OK, then how come old handwritten letters were format day/month/year?

I did originally post it in the format you are correcting me towards but I changed it to match what nfmax had written.

The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).

Of course it's superior in every regard. It's British. 

Med, thats the method that I've been taught as well, dd/mm/yyyy or dd/mm/yy.

And I was taught month, day, year. Diversity.....it's what confuses us all. 

And fuck ISO. 

[mnementh]

I still like butterflies.

mnem

[med6753]

I still like butterflies.

mnem

Careful someone doesn't turn that butterfly net on you. 

[bd139]

Great news 

Speak, don't hold us in suspense. 

Oh that was in reply to the Racal counter.

There is great news here though. I’m rebalancing my finances, listing some shit on eBay and re-establishing test gear budget 

[mnementh]

I still like butterflies.

mnem

Careful someone doesn't turn that butterfly net on you. 

Ehhh.... I could do with some excitement right aboot now. 

mnem

[Cerebus]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner A big thanks to bd139, PA0PBZ and Specmaster for your support. The Racal Dana 9917A lives again.

[Cerebus]

Ok, now I'm confused because that is not how I've been taught how to write the date down and almost everyone I know do it the same way as I do and is DD-MM-YYYY, so todays date becomes 24/01/2021 which normally will be shortened to 24/1/21 YMMV.

See above, I was getting contact senility from med. 

[SilverSolder]

[...]
The ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) is, IMNSHO, superior in every regard to all the other ways of writing the date, not least because it has a natural monotonic sorting order if just treated as a decimal number (ignoring the punctuation).
[...]

All other date formats than the ISO one should be consigned to the dustbin of history...

I will never regain the time I have lost deciphering data sets containing DD/MM/YYYY vs MM/DD/YYYY  ...