Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

one of these is on the way to my fortress of solitude , but stuck at the big sorting center in harrisburg.

anyone have experience with them?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP363-RF-Power-Meter-50-to-0dBm-1M-10GHz-Attenuation-Value-for-Radio-Instrument/373290120533?hash=item56e9d33555:g:68UAAOSwPJRfkXo4

No experience but I’m interested in your findings!

[Brumby]

Stage 4 lockdown in Vic because we seem to have some Pommie Germ escape. But everything must be fine as the all important Tennis continues

You forgot to mention that the tennis continues WITHOUT live spectators.

[Saskia]

hmm. I kinda prefer watching idiots on overpowered sailboats. Like vendee globe or similar.

[tautech]

hmm. I kinda prefer watching idiots on overpowered sailboats. Like vendee globe or similar.

Those downunder ?

They're at it again here this arvo, Poms vs Italians in the challenger final but the forecast is for light winds so any big spills are unlikely. 
Those are fun to watch. 

[Saskia]

sumthang like that.

[Specmaster]

Hmm, this is certainly causing some discussion, and I have to admit I can see both sides of the equation here, and I too have been at rock bottom, upto my neck in debt, 3 babies to care for and basically almost just the clothes I had on my back, no PC and no mobile phone, and I was working in 3 jobs to try and keep my head just above the water line, so I could continue to supporting my family and my Mum at the same time. So I fully understand the position that some of these sellers on Gumtree, Shpock, Craigs List etc might feel that they are being denied the chance of providing for their family by perhaps selling off some of their most treasured items. Well, quite frankly this is a load of BS, they are not, they are asked to consider giving their buyers the option of a delivery service at zero cost to them, as in eBay, it is at the buyers cost.

So nothing untoward there. All that the government is doing here is acting on the science (and about time too IMO)

If the buyer still wants to drive long distances and collect their goods, thats fine, but they have to fully shoulder the fact that they do in fact face being stopped by police and possibly fined a not insignificant sum of money, they have to pay for their fuel and time etc, and also live with the guilt if they then subsequently become diagnosed as having the virus and then having to disclose their movements, and if they managed to avoid being stopped in the first instance, they might then be fined afterwards because of their disclosure. They would also have with the guilt if it subsequently proves they also passed on the virus to the seller and thus exposed their family needlessly to it as well.

Personally, I do not wish to be in that position.

Proper business people will be registered and have company logos, headed paper and maybe sign written vehicles and are still encouraged to go about their business but take social distancing etc seriously, and hence where the couriers come in. Those genuine business people have nothing to worry from being stopped as they can prove what they are doing. As Robert stated, his company had to provide him with a proper paperwork in case he was stopped to prove that he was on official company business in an essential service capacity.

If we had done what NZ did from very early days, shut the borders to all but purely essential people, the current Draconian measures might not have been required and thousands of lives saved as well.

I rest my case.

[Specmaster]

Stage 4 lockdown in Vic because we seem to have some Pommie Germ escape. But everything must be fine as the all important Tennis continues

You forgot to mention that the tennis continues WITHOUT live spectators.

Yes and equally wrestling in the states continues with virtual spectators as well.

[Specmaster]

There is of course the other side that by making that TEA trip you are putting your family at risk of Covid  or loosing the breadwinner from it. I've known hard times too but health is more important than property.

Refer to my original point about health. Covid will kill you if you have chronic heart disease. So will a windy day.

As the “breadwinner” I’m healthy, fit, already had Covid with no lasting side effects or concerns. Yet still my body decided to try and kill me two weeks ago. Ergo I have life insurance cover. And a paid up property. Mitigate all risks not one.

The universe can choose to smite you at a moment’s notice. Covid is fairly low on the list of things that scares me.

While there is a grain of truth in what you say about the virus taking some with poor health that had poor prognosis anyway, it still is a horrible way to die, and that a windy day could kill any of us if a tree etc was to fall on us, but come on now, surely you have to admit that we should not be anywhere near the 112,000 or deaths that we currently have had since March last years due to Covid. We have the 2nd worst death rate from it, in the World, 2nd only to the USA.

[tautech]

If we had done what NZ did from very early days, shut the borders to all but purely essential people, the current Draconian measures might not have been required and thousands of lives saved as well.

Hey our geographical isolation was our greatest asset against CV not so much the decisions from our bumbling politicians.
Last year while you were still part of the EU did you even have the right to close borders ?

[bd139]

There is of course the other side that by making that TEA trip you are putting your family at risk of Covid  or loosing the breadwinner from it. I've known hard times too but health is more important than property.

Refer to my original point about health. Covid will kill you if you have chronic heart disease. So will a windy day.

As the “breadwinner” I’m healthy, fit, already had Covid with no lasting side effects or concerns. Yet still my body decided to try and kill me two weeks ago. Ergo I have life insurance cover. And a paid up property. Mitigate all risks not one.

The universe can choose to smite you at a moment’s notice. Covid is fairly low on the list of things that scares me.

While there is a grain of truth in what you say about the virus taking some with poor health that had poor prognosis anyway, it still is a horrible way to die, and that a windy day could kill any of us if a tree etc was to fall on us, but come on now, surely you have to admit that we should not be anywhere near the 112,000 or deaths that we currently have had since March last years due to Covid. We have the 2nd worst death rate from it, in the World, 2nd only to the USA.

Yes - I made that point perhaps too succinctly earlier without delving too far into politics. The point is that being alive is pretty dangerous business. Best not to take any unnecessary risks which lead to avoidable health outcomes. One of the reasons our death rate is so high is also because like the US we are an unhealthy lot as a country. I am becoming healthier and more risk averse as I get older so the next pandemic doesn’t finish me off as an sudden comorbidity.

Also this is why I’m no longer interested in playing with HV stuff 

[mansaxel]

There is of course the other side that by making that TEA trip you are putting your family at risk of Covid  or loosing the breadwinner from it. I've known hard times too but health is more important than property.

Certainly. But if you are starving, your health will be deteriorating, too.

And this lockdown is detrimental to our health, physical and psychological. And there is no real factual evidence that one of the main principals of healers, doctors , ... is being preserved (primum non nocere). Naturally there are assholes partying. On the other hand there are small business owners whose financial existance is being ruined.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden  (Folkhälsomyndigheten) is getting a serious amount of shit thrown at them by people who IMNSHO can think of only one thing at a time and are ravingly adamant about getting more lockdown. Because covid.

At the same time, the agency has a research team that reads every snippet of science on this disease, and then they assess that with what they know about the adverse health effects of various recommendations, like closing society down.

Very often, they end up with the end sum being "the benefits from severely limiting what people can do, in terms of stopping the pandemic, are at the same time counteracting public health because people in lockdown beat their family members or lose their income" to name but a few of the side effects.

The net result is "Wash your hands, keep your distance, don't travel unless you really have to, don't meet people outside your family you don't really must meet, and you might not infect others if you wear a mask when you must be too close to them." Which isn't as sexy and DOING THINGS as locking down with armoured squad cars on empty streets and military at the border.

Most often, ironically, (at least among the ones I communicate with, which of course is a fat bias) the men hollering loudest for More Oppressive Measures are liberal engineers. Who should think twice before asking to be oppressed for not scientifically provable reasons.

Finally, on death tolls. There's been a lot of talk about our comparatively high death tolls.  Pro primo, we have a NPM style care system for elders. Constantly starved of resources, and with the second or third most common employment form for staff being temporary, by the hour. (are those people going to take the chance of getting a few hours work even if they've got a cold? You bet. And then they'll go to the next care facility, because you'll have to work everywhere to make ends meet. You'll see which nice superspreaders they become..) Pro secundo, in our statistic reporting, if a car crash victim is (as they are) tested and turns out positive with the virus at autopsy, they become a "covid victim." I'm not certain that is so everywhere. 

I think we can tell which method worked best some 4 years after we've gotten this virus down to normal "winter flu" levels. Until then, we're just guessing based on bent and twisted derivata curves.

[tggzzz]

Yes - I made that point perhaps too succinctly earlier without delving too far into politics. The point is that being alive is pretty dangerous business. Best not to take any unnecessary risks which lead to avoidable health outcomes. One of the reasons our death rate is so high is also because like the US we are an unhealthy lot as a country. I am becoming healthier and more risk averse as I get older so the next pandemic doesn’t finish me off as an sudden comorbidity.

Also this is why I’m no longer interested in playing with HV stuff 

The stats are fairly simple. For adults,COVID doubles your chance of dying in the nextyear, whatever your age. Of course your chance of dying is 100%.

As for avoiding HV, ... Boring.

[VK5RC]

If we had done what NZ did from very early days, shut the borders to all but purely essential people, the current Draconian measures might not have been required and thousands of lives saved as well.

Hey our geographical isolation was our greatest asset against CV not so much the decisions from our bumbling politicians.
Last year while you were still part of the EU did you even have the right to close borders ?

I would add that here in Sth Australia we 'lucked out', other side of the world, not a major international trade/travel centre - covid has not visited aggressively. It allowed our (also) slowly functioning 'public health services' to get their act into gear. I say 'public health services' as for years they have been mostly about having committees, getting promoted up to the next pay grade and good retirement benefits. Almost having nothing to do with actually sick or potentially sick people!

Re covid and working / making $: for decades it is well known that if you make someone poor you make them sick.
(grump mode off)

[beanflying]

Stage 4 lockdown in Vic because we seem to have some Pommie Germ escape. But everything must be fine as the all important Tennis continues

You forgot to mention that the tennis continues WITHOUT live spectators.

Having it like Horse Racing declared 'essential workers' is the BS bit. The State is at Stage 4 except for the gambling revenue.....

Just to be clear on the hypocrisy at NO stage even during the initial full lockdown Racing continued.

[mansaxel]

Some on-topic, for a change:

As I'd swapped in a new RIFA, changed the mains plug, and set the transformer winding switches to 240V in the 6237b, I plugged it in, and flipped the switch. With a BANG and a small flash on the secondary side of the transformer, it blew the mains fuse. 

Now, I'm out of suitable fuses, I think. Must get fuses, recheck the winding switches, then rig the variac and a bulb. Damn!

[AVGresponding]

I suspect the risk of increasing R falls much more in the area of the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of selfish and ignorant people socialising with their friends without distancing or masks, rather than the likely handful of people travelling to pick up TE, and who are far more likely to follow social distancing and infection control measures in general.

[bd139]

Yes - I made that point perhaps too succinctly earlier without delving too far into politics. The point is that being alive is pretty dangerous business. Best not to take any unnecessary risks which lead to avoidable health outcomes. One of the reasons our death rate is so high is also because like the US we are an unhealthy lot as a country. I am becoming healthier and more risk averse as I get older so the next pandemic doesn’t finish me off as an sudden comorbidity.

Also this is why I’m no longer interested in playing with HV stuff 

The stats are fairly simple. For adults,COVID doubles your chance of dying in the nextyear, whatever your age. Of course your chance of dying is 100%.

As for avoiding HV, ... Boring.

That’s a fairly narrow interpretation of the data. For any age and some people it makes them 500% more likely to die and some 10% more likely to die. This averages out to 100% across all. Best to try and stay at the 10% end of things. Which is my point. If avoidable conditions were avoided then perhaps the average would end up significantly lower.

It’s kind of like mixing the people who run across the road with their eyes shut versus those who don’t in the same dataset and drawing conclusions.

Quite frankly if my father in law didn’t live on a diet of fags, fried chicken and Stella he’d probably still be around.

[mnementh]

Hmm, this is certainly causing some discussion, and I have to admit I can see both sides of the equation here, and I too have been at rock bottom, upto my neck in debt, 3 babies to care for and basically almost just the clothes I had on my back, no PC and no mobile phone, and I was working in 3 jobs to try and keep my head just above the water line, so I could continue to supporting my family and my Mum at the same time. So I fully understand the position that some of these sellers on Gumtree, Shpock, Craigs List etc might feel that they are being denied the chance of providing for their family by perhaps selling off some of their most treasured items. Well, quite frankly this is a load of BS, they are not, they are asked to consider giving their buyers the option of a delivery service at zero cost to them, as in eBay, it is at the buyers cost.

So nothing untoward there. All that the government is doing here is acting on the science (and about time too IMO)

If the buyer still wants to drive long distances and collect their goods, thats fine, but they have to fully shoulder the fact that they do in fact face being stopped by police and possibly fined a not insignificant sum of money, they have to pay for their fuel and time etc, and also live with the guilt if they then subsequently become diagnosed as having the virus and then having to disclose their movements, and if they managed to avoid being stopped in the first instance, they might then be fined afterwards because of their disclosure. They would also have with the guilt if it subsequently proves they also passed on the virus to the seller and thus exposed their family needlessly to it as well.

Personally, I do not wish to be in that position.

Proper business people will be registered and have company logos, headed paper and maybe sign written vehicles and are still encouraged to go about their business but take social distancing etc seriously, and hence where the couriers come in. Those genuine business people have nothing to worry from being stopped as they can prove what they are doing. As Robert stated, his company had to provide him with a proper paperwork in case he was stopped to prove that he was on official company business in an essential service capacity.

If we had done what NZ did from very early days, shut the borders to all but purely essential people, the current Draconian measures might not have been required and thousands of lives saved as well.

I rest my case.

So perhaps then... this is an example of noblesse oblige for the modern age...? We have the means, we have the discretionary funds to buy these for-pickup-only items, it is therefore also our obligation to take the risk of being fined but still pursue those items (within reason), as doing so stimulates the borked economy?

And even if we do take one for the team, we can console ourselves with the hope that we kept some poor unfortunate from getting a ticket for desperately far from home for desperately needed income...?

Another concern... I do not consider having things delivered by courier to be any bit safer than doing a properly-arranged curbside pickup; I've seen some downright skeevy individuals delivering my Amazon goods, and those people still have to go to every skeevoid and his brother's drippy-all-winter house before they bring me my goods.

mnem
that reminds me; I need to make a pilgrimage to the one semi-nearby pharmacy that has both my Sudafed and bottled IPA sometime soon...

[bd139]

Some on-topic, for a change:

As I'd swapped in a new RIFA, changed the mains plug, and set the transformer winding switches to 240V in the 6237b, I plugged it in, and flipped the switch. With a BANG and a small flash on the secondary side of the transformer, it blew the mains fuse. 

Now, I'm out of suitable fuses, I think. Must get fuses, recheck the winding switches, then rig the variac and a bulb. Damn!

Whoops! Fingers crossed it’s ok. Doesn’t sound healthy though if something on the secondary has blown. 

[mnementh]

one of these is on the way to my fortress of solitude , but stuck at the big sorting center in harrisburg.

anyone have experience with them?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP363-RF-Power-Meter-50-to-0dBm-1M-10GHz-Attenuation-Value-for-Radio-Instrument/373290120533?hash=item56e9d33555:g:68UAAOSwPJRfkXo4

Oh lordy... just what I need. Another $50 power meter that needs one or two $80 attenuators to work in my application.

Bastard. 

mnem
*finger hovering over the BIN button anyways*

[beanflying]

Going to practice Social Distancing for a few days seems how Bike riding and fishing and walking on the Beach is cancelled. Steamtime

[mnementh]

Some on-topic, for a change:

As I'd swapped in a new RIFA, changed the mains plug, and set the transformer winding switches to 240V in the 6237b, I plugged it in, and flipped the switch. With a BANG and a small flash on the secondary side of the transformer, it blew the mains fuse. 

Now, I'm out of suitable fuses, I think. Must get fuses, recheck the winding switches, then rig the variac and a bulb. Damn!

Bummer. Is the fuse that came out the right value...?

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

If we had done what NZ did from very early days, shut the borders to all but purely essential people, the current Draconian measures might not have been required and thousands of lives saved as well.

Hey our geographical isolation was our greatest asset against CV not so much the decisions from our bumbling politicians.
Last year while you were still part of the EU did you even have the right to close borders ?

Yes, well aware of your geographical isolation and like you, we are an island nation, and we have always been free to close / control our borders just as many other countries within the EU have done so already. Don't fall for the lies that the leaders of the Brexit movement were pushing and the media never challenged them on it. Why, because they were among those that stood to benefit big time by Brexit and have been pushing the lies for years about how bad the EU was. Strange now that people are actually seeing how bad things have become already since Jan 1st, some of them are questioning its merits.

I could go on, but I won't otherwise we risk deviating from a friendly discussion to people taking sides etc and bad feelings are created.

[tggzzz]

Yes - I made that point perhaps too succinctly earlier without delving too far into politics. The point is that being alive is pretty dangerous business. Best not to take any unnecessary risks which lead to avoidable health outcomes. One of the reasons our death rate is so high is also because like the US we are an unhealthy lot as a country. I am becoming healthier and more risk averse as I get older so the next pandemic doesn’t finish me off as an sudden comorbidity.

Also this is why I’m no longer interested in playing with HV stuff 

The stats are fairly simple. For adults,COVID doubles your chance of dying in the nextyear, whatever your age. Of course your chance of dying is 100%.

As for avoiding HV, ... Boring.

That’s a fairly narrow interpretation of the data. For any age and some people it makes them 500% more likely to die and some 10% more likely to die. This averages out to 100% across all. Best to try and stay at the 10% end of things. Which is my point. If avoidable conditions were avoided then perhaps the average would end up significantly lower.

It’s kind of like mixing the people who run across the road with their eyes shut versus those who don’t in the same dataset and drawing conclusions.

Quite frankly if my father in law didn’t live on a diet of fags, fried chicken and Stella he’d probably still be around.

Well, yes.

I should have been more precise. If infected, it doubles your chance of dying in the next year.
https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3259.full?ijkey=f1FMGWUz2L39yzC&keytype=ref
https://mobile.twitter.com/d_spiegel/status/1304374544136916992

[Specmaster]

There is of course the other side that by making that TEA trip you are putting your family at risk of Covid  or loosing the breadwinner from it. I've known hard times too but health is more important than property.

Certainly. But if you are starving, your health will be deteriorating, too.

And this lockdown is detrimental to our health, physical and psychological. And there is no real factual evidence that one of the main principals of healers, doctors , ... is being preserved (primum non nocere). Naturally there are assholes partying. On the other hand there are small business owners whose financial existance is being ruined.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden  (Folkhälsomyndigheten) is getting a serious amount of shit thrown at them by people who IMNSHO can think of only one thing at a time and are ravingly adamant about getting more lockdown. Because covid.

At the same time, the agency has a research team that reads every snippet of science on this disease, and then they assess that with what they know about the adverse health effects of various recommendations, like closing society down.

Very often, they end up with the end sum being "the benefits from severely limiting what people can do, in terms of stopping the pandemic, are at the same time counteracting public health because people in lockdown beat their family members or lose their income" to name but a few of the side effects.

The net result is "Wash your hands, keep your distance, don't travel unless you really have to, don't meet people outside your family you don't really must meet, and you might not infect others if you wear a mask when you must be too close to them." Which isn't as sexy and DOING THINGS as locking down with armoured squad cars on empty streets and military at the border.

Most often, ironically, (at least among the ones I communicate with, which of course is a fat bias) the men hollering loudest for More Oppressive Measures are liberal engineers. Who should think twice before asking to be oppressed for not scientifically provable reasons.

Finally, on death tolls. There's been a lot of talk about our comparatively high death tolls.  Pro primo, we have a NPM style care system for elders. Constantly starved of resources, and with the second or third most common employment form for staff being temporary, by the hour. (are those people going to take the chance of getting a few hours work even if they've got a cold? You bet. And then they'll go to the next care facility, because you'll have to work everywhere to make ends meet. You'll see which nice superspreaders they become..) Pro secundo, in our statistic reporting, if a car crash victim is (as they are) tested and turns out positive with the virus at autopsy, they become a "covid victim." I'm not certain that is so everywhere. 

I think we can tell which method worked best some 4 years after we've gotten this virus down to normal "winter flu" levels. Until then, we're just guessing based on bent and twisted derivata curves.

The points you raised say a lot about the state of our society today where the rich become mega rich and the poor become even poorer, especially during an event like we all are going through at the moment, like Jeff Bezos has become the worlds first centi-billionaire  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos and https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/02/tech/amazon-earnings-bezos/index.html .

Don't get me wrong, I like to see people do well for themselves but at what cost to the rest of us. He is not alone in this respect, most of the worlds top earners, evade paying the correct level of taxes to the countries where they operate in, thus leaving the shortfall to people like us who cannot avoid the taxes to make up the shortfall, so while they get richer we of course are getting poorer through their greed. They also exploit their workers in so many ways and also ask the impossible from them for as little pay and job security as they can get away with.

If rich people and large companies paid their fair share of taxes than the welfare state would be able to afford to look after people correctly when hard times hit and people would not then be in a position where they have to go to work even if they have a cold, flu, COVID-19 or whatever and spread it onto others. Hospitals etc could also be better funded as a result and that is something that everyone regardless of their ranking in the rich list, social standing etc would benefit from. In fact, it might be that with a healthier and happier work force, that big businesses and those that own them, could actually a major benefit from less absenteeism and a better more motivated workforce would result if they didn't feel down trodden.

I doubt that people involved in accidents etc that require an autopsy would be recorded as having Covid as cause of death because history will show those governments up in a very bad light indeed, and they would be more likely to try to disguise many Covid deaths as something else entirely, I don't see having a high number deaths from it as a badge of honour. The world was warned about such an event years ago and they chose to do nothing about it.