Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

If they don’t send it to the wrong country. Still got my UPS package stuck in Germany which was from UK to UK 

My ADSL router blew up last night at 6:30pm. Phoned Zen and they said they’d send another one out next day. Well surprisingly it just turned up at 09:45!  I am impressed. Delivery via DPD.

It will be interesting to see the address label on your awol parcel when it does arrive, to see if it was printed or hand written. Either way it’s a shit show and a half.

Ok it was one I sent and it had a UPS standard label on it 

£65 down thanks to that. Arguing with UPS and Packlink about it still.

Thats the problem these days, nobody wants to accept liability, despite their adverts stating that you get so much compensation free with their fee and then you add extra insurance if you like. They have no qualms about taking your money from for their services, but you paid for it to go point A to B, not C so you have had no service 

Just going to hit UPS with moneyclaim. They will pay up because it’s not worth defending it or arguing over who’s responsibility it is.

[Specmaster]

I had a UPS one (expensive one) go to Austria before it came to Australia... 

PS: Tracking was US, Asia then Austria and finally back to Australia.

I think that the guy who stuffed it in the cage must have been drunk that day. Australia, so probably true 

Nope, they can't claim that as an excuse, they all use automatic barcode readers and have automated routing systems on the conveyors.

[Robert763]

This is a current model of IR missile warning system test set
https://www.textronsystems.com/sites/default/files/_documents/Baringa%20IR%20Datasheet_0.pdf

[McBryce]

Is this a Ripoff of Dave's device? https://www.ebay.de/itm/143917094765
Seems incredibly similar. Has Dave given permission or is the design open source?

McBryce.

[wolfy007]

Is this a Ripoff of Dave's device? https://www.ebay.de/itm/143917094765
Seems incredibly similar. Has Dave given permission or is the design open source?

McBryce.

His description says a modified version of Daves.

[PA0PBZ]

Has Dave given permission or is the design open source?

The design is open source.

[McBryce]

Then I suppose it's above board.

McBryce.

[Robert763]

<SNIP>

That's about right. Remember when Clinton turned off SA on GPS? That was actually because of a major key leak that they decided was going to be a political shit show if they owned up to it 

<SNIP>

SA was turned off mainly because with it on GPS could not be used as a precision navigation aid for aircraft. With SA on the US GPS GNSS was likely to loose out to the EU Galileo was likely to take the key role. There was some thought that turning off SA might even kill Galileo off.
https://www.aviationtoday.com/2000/07/01/the-real-reason-selective-availability-was-turned-off/
A key leak is not a reason to turn it off. It would still reduce accuracy for those without the key and the longest GPS PPS key only lasted 12 months.

[Specmaster]

@mnementh I have just pulled the trigger on the same bench magnifier that you got from Bang em good, mine was £20.72 and is going to be shipped from a UK warehouse so should be here in a few days time. Just found the identical unit on Amazon for £33

Those AD584-M voltage reference units, it seems that nobody claims to have any with the calibration stickers giving the actual readings given on testing, any more. Found one on eBay but decided not to buy it because they are using the identical photos to the one on Amazon FFS.

[bd139]

<SNIP>

That's about right. Remember when Clinton turned off SA on GPS? That was actually because of a major key leak that they decided was going to be a political shit show if they owned up to it 

<SNIP>

SA was turned off mainly because with it on GPS could not be used as a precision navigation aid for aircraft. With SA on the US GPS GNSS was likely to loose out to the EU Galileo was likely to take the key role. There was some thought that turning off SA might even kill Galileo off.
https://www.aviationtoday.com/2000/07/01/the-real-reason-selective-availability-was-turned-off/
A key leak is not a reason to turn it off. It would still reduce accuracy for those without the key and the longest GPS PPS key only lasted 12 months.

I think that lined up nicely to be honest as a commercial decision. There was a lot of pressure from the defence agencies to leave it enabled. AFAIK the PPS keys weren’t randomly generated so you could rekey over longer periods in the field. It was the root key from which these were derived that was leaked so you could derive all future keys which compromised some operations. At which point your adversarial position was compromised so it was a cost centre rather than a benefit. Non issue since about 2007 as the respective militaries started buying kit without PPS support anyway!

[AVGresponding]

This is a current model of IR missile warning system test set
https://www.textronsystems.com/sites/default/files/_documents/Baringa%20IR%20Datasheet_0.pdf

The form factor would imply the big end on the one you bought is the power connector, and the small is the business end.

The heavy duty screw in plug is presumably to ruggedise the output optics against adverse conditions and penis fingered service personnel.

[Specmaster]

This is a current model of IR missile warning system test set
https://www.textronsystems.com/sites/default/files/_documents/Baringa%20IR%20Datasheet_0.pdf

The form factor would imply the big end on the one you bought is the power connector, and the small is the business end.

The heavy duty screw in plug is presumably to ruggedise the output optics against adverse conditions and penis fingered service personnel.

Someone trying to pretend to be a traffic cop then and wanting something to resemble a laser speed gun in order to slow traffic in their village down 

[AVGresponding]

This is a current model of IR missile warning system test set
https://www.textronsystems.com/sites/default/files/_documents/Baringa%20IR%20Datasheet_0.pdf

The form factor would imply the big end on the one you bought is the power connector, and the small is the business end.

The heavy duty screw in plug is presumably to ruggedise the output optics against adverse conditions and penis fingered service personnel.

Someone trying to pretend to be a traffic cop then and wanting something to resemble a laser speed gun in order to slow traffic in their village down 

That would be an expensive way to role play; cheaper and easier to make one out of an old washing up liquid bottle, toilet roll tubes, and some sticky backed plastic.

Here's one I made earlier:

[Saskia]

here you have a working speed trap ...

[factory]

@Saskia, Slappy Mirthday!

Here are some "presents" to treat yourself with, should you so desire:

Big nixie box:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-5245L-Frequenzzahler-mit-8-stelliger-Nixie-Anzeige-Glupschaugen-Typ/353371288269

Have a good look at that as it's not as described, in fact it's something much more unusual & early, hopefully someone will save it, it has already been pointed out by someone else on here that they aren't very many left.

David

[AVGresponding]

@Saskia, Slappy Mirthday!

Here are some "presents" to treat yourself with, should you so desire:

Big nixie box:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-5245L-Frequenzzahler-mit-8-stelliger-Nixie-Anzeige-Glupschaugen-Typ/353371288269

Have a good look at that as it's not as described, in fact it's something much more unusual & early, hopefully someone will save it, it has already been pointed out by someone else on here that they aren't very many left.

David

Yes, I know it's a 5243 and not a 5245, but isn't it just a counter that needs a plug-in to work?
Obviously there will be some flexibility in use, since there will be different plug-ins.

[factory]

No it doesn't need a plug-in to function, they work to 20MHz (50MHz for 5245) on their own, I guess someone either lost the blanking plate or they are going to sell the module separately. I have the modification for increasing the range of plug-in types, who knows it may have already been done. 

The 5243 wasn't available for too long before becoming obsolete by the 5245, note it also has the remote control connectors as standard, these were only available as an option later on.

David

[mnementh]

pssssst... Brumby...   BOOTY-FAB!

mnem
 

Burn in hell (just a suggestion).

As you wish...   

mnem
Methinks maybe Brumby had some idea what was coming... 

[iainwhite]

They could run it off a Hercules emulator, possibly avoiding a fat power and cooling bill. Bit of a problem to get Z/OS licensed on that machine, though. If, OTOH, it can be run under MVS or similar, (being 40yo it just might) it's free reign. IIRC. YMMV, Etc.

MVS releases up to MVS 3.8j  (released early 80s) are freely available.  I don't believe any of the more recent systems (MVS-XA, ESA, OS390, z/OS etc) can be run without a license from IBM.
However, I am sure that MVS 3.8 would be fine for Cobol program maintenance such as BD139 was talking about.

I got a warm fuzzy feeling seeing z/OS, ISPF and JCL being mentioned in the the forum - I spent maybe 25 years of my career working with IBM mainframes. 

[bd139]

I will say that the whole zOS stuff is an enticing rabbit hole and I can definitely see why it’d give people the warm and fuzzies. It’s one of those things while ugly just likely works and will until the end of time.

[Specmaster]

Last night had the need to use my microscope while working on my AD584-M and I discovered that the lens has contamination all over it but access to the lens is not possible it seems. I completely dismantled the microscope, screen, PCB and all the focusing system, only to discover the lens is glued inside the body with no access to the lens from within the main body. The only access is via the small hole which is 3 mm dia and the actual lens is 15 mm further behind that.

I can only assume that I must have been scrubbing a board with a toothbrush and IPA while observing the cleaning via the screen and some dirty IPA splashed up through the hole onto the lens. Has anyone ever managed to clean the lens on a similar microscope successfully?

I was thinking about carefully enlarging the hole enough to get some form of cleaning cloth onto the lens or would that destroy the scope by allowing too much light in?
 

[mansaxel]

I will say that the whole zOS stuff is an enticing rabbit hole and I can definitely see why it’d give people the warm and fuzzies. It’s one of those things while ugly just likely works and will until the end of time.

For those with a taste for adventure, there is a completed SYSGEN of a reasonably recent z/OS, for Hercules, floating around in the filesharing corners on the Internets. Not legal for anything, including production workloads.

On Hercules, there used to be a RedBook on how to run modern mainframe code on one. That is one of very few RedBooks that got pulled.

Obvious links regarding the mainframe world:



Serious enheavyment museal activity

The Tron guy

[Saskia]

as for the counter, I did place a bid on it.

OS/390, a former friend of mine used to run it on a P/390 card ...

Former, because when I phoned him that I got engaged and was about to marry my hubby, he said in a very peculiar tone that he wished me well and abruptly hung up.
I could not make head or tails of it...

We did have a kind of peculiar relationship. His wife told him to tell me not to be that obvious.
Hmmm.

In other news, I need a friggin thermocoupler or a thermometer. Seems our fridge decided to wave the white flag.
In which case I need a new one about now.

[doktor pyta]

UK guys, attention please:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DATRON-1271-WAVETEK-SELFCAL-DIGITAL-MULTIMETER-Operational-needs-refurbished/293991122672

[Specmaster]

That looks as if it has been pulled out of a river somewhere judging by the amount of rust on it, geez.