Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Zucca]

New TEA project, sort of: building a conductive brush probe.
I already contacted a vape wire seller in Ebay....

Got a 10m NI80 32GA vape wire for 6.95€ shipped

[mnementh]

Cheaper to buy one yourself     More seriously, nice 

Yeah, but in all honesty... she's the reason I'm still around to enjoy it.

mnem
Put a price on that.

[Cerebus]

Got my Covid jab last Thursday and I'm under 60. SWMBO is vunerable so as her carer I got one the same time as her. Well why wouldn't you when I'm sat in a chair right next to her.  Hers was actually quite late as medical advice was she waited for the AstraZeneca.

Blood on equipment normally preceeded by the thought, if this slips....

Be prepared for a slightly sore shoulder and neck for a while now then. I had a flue jab about 4 weeks ago and the Covid jab last week, in the same arm and it is aching now.

I suspect it depends on which vaccine.

My mother had no side effects with the Oxford AstraZenica, I know of someone with muscular aches 2 days after the Pfizer. In addition it is not necessary to wait 15 mins after the AstraZenica vaccine to ensure no adverse reaction.

Thats strange because I had the AstraZenica jab, and I was asked if I walked or drove to the vaccination centre and I replied, drove, I was told to go and sit in the car for 15 minutes before attempting to drive. My Mother in Law had her jab at the same centre 3 weeks ago, also had the same vaccine but had to sit in another room for 15 minutes before they would let her go, she didn't drive, Brother in Law drove her. Seems to be conflicting advice being given out.

My mother wasn't driving, and maybe advice has changed with experience. She had it a couple of weeks ago.

I suspect that there is a lot of confusion among the clinicians as to what the procedures are and why they are what they are and to which vaccines they apply. My experience is that, in general, medics and nurses have a very poor grasp of the underlying biology and biochemistry of what they're doing. Add to that, this is immunology we're talking about here. At university the biochemists, who could happily tell you exactly what a drug does, how it does it and why it works, tended to fail two courses, immunology and statistics. The medics don't have a hope in hell.

The 15 minute wait period is intended to allow any serious allergic reaction (i.e. anaphylaxis) time to present itself. Anaphylaxis is life threatening and must be treated immediately, it can kill in single digit minutes. It makes sense to ensure that people stay in a medical setting that is prepared to treat anaphylaxis rather than letting them get 10 minutes down the road and then have to wait for medical aid to arrive, by which time the patient could be dead. Anaphylaxis is a particular concern for the  Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines; these are mRNA vaccines. It is not a particular concern for the Oxford-AstraZeneca which is a more conventional vaccine in that a harmless virus is injected. The Oxford-AstraZeneca carries risks of anaphylaxis, as does any vaccine, but only to the comparatively minor level that any vaccine does.

There's an excellent explainer, not dumbed down at all, here ("How the Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Works") from the New York Times on how the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine works. They also have similar explainers for "How the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine works" and "How Moderna's vaccine works". (Use "private browsing" mode to evade the NYT paywall.) Read those three and you'll know more than the doctors treating you. If you really want to run circles around the doctors find and read the datasheets for the vaccines, I can guarantee that less than 1% of them will have.

[med6753]

You would not believe how much fiddle farting plus with Moe's assistance it took to FINALLY get the Sweep A and B knobs properly synchronized on Larry. That is one complicated switch.   

Now I'm all tuckered out and gonna get lazy for the rest of the day. I'll finish the compensation/calibration tomorrow.

[25 CPS]

That’s a complete shit show and a half. I bet any cash that changed hands for the stand isn’t refundable either.

Had a crappy experience with one of those exhibitions in the very early 90s. My father bought a container full of clone PC shite from Taiwan to try and shift at one and in magazines. Our house was wallpapered up to the ceiling in every room with ISA cards and mice . We loaded enough stock into a 7.5t van and cruised off to the hall. Got in, started unloading onto the rented stand the day before opening. Literally got it all set up and the venue cancelled the show with the organisers due to a heated dispute over who had paid who and who hadn’t. It took a year to get rid of all of the stock 

Edit: just remembered what the cards were: anyone remember those shitty hand held scanners you had to roll over stuff? House full of them!

Oh, were these the Logitech Scanman type handheld ones that you did multiple passes over whatever you were scanning in and the software tried to stitch it together into one coherent image?

[bd139]

That’s a complete shit show and a half. I bet any cash that changed hands for the stand isn’t refundable either.

Had a crappy experience with one of those exhibitions in the very early 90s. My father bought a container full of clone PC shite from Taiwan to try and shift at one and in magazines. Our house was wallpapered up to the ceiling in every room with ISA cards and mice . We loaded enough stock into a 7.5t van and cruised off to the hall. Got in, started unloading onto the rented stand the day before opening. Literally got it all set up and the venue cancelled the show with the organisers due to a heated dispute over who had paid who and who hadn’t. It took a year to get rid of all of the stock 

Edit: just remembered what the cards were: anyone remember those shitty hand held scanners you had to roll over stuff? House full of them!

Oh, were these the Logitech Scanman type handheld ones that you did multiple passes over whatever you were scanning in and the software tried to stitch it together into one coherent image?

That's the ones. It was a very early attempt at those. Found some notes here finally on them.  Basically it was a CCFL+ CCD and a cheap ass gray code disk and reader on a shaft. When it detected a bit change from the encoder it'd blow an IRQ then clock the entire CCD out to the machine's RAM using DMA. It was a hack job made by the lowest bidder. They managed to get the ISA card side down to a couple of 74LS buffers and a PAL or two. I think the later version used some even more sneaky stuff so they could use a parallel port. Apparently the guy who invented the idea was called David Liu.

Edit: you can probably build your own now. Linear CCDs are cheap on ebay. Stuff an arduino on one and job done 

Edit 2: interestingly looking at the stuff here, the scan rate was limited by how fast your crappy 286 could handle IRQs. Turbo mode on! If you dragged it too fast it'd just miss a few lines. There was no provision for measurement of success either - it just did a bad job. They were crap! I'm so glad it's 2021 now.

[mnementh]

Ka-klik! 16-24MP snappy into a OCR app and done. Got a Bar/Q-code, it asks if you wanna open a browser. And don't forget real-time translation of text in Chinese... even on street signs!

mnem
I wonder how many Chinese/Russian servers have my entire camera roll on file...

[bd139]

Yep. Open notes app on iOS. Select camera option. Scan document. Job done.

[25 CPS]

That’s a complete shit show and a half. I bet any cash that changed hands for the stand isn’t refundable either.

Had a crappy experience with one of those exhibitions in the very early 90s. My father bought a container full of clone PC shite from Taiwan to try and shift at one and in magazines. Our house was wallpapered up to the ceiling in every room with ISA cards and mice . We loaded enough stock into a 7.5t van and cruised off to the hall. Got in, started unloading onto the rented stand the day before opening. Literally got it all set up and the venue cancelled the show with the organisers due to a heated dispute over who had paid who and who hadn’t. It took a year to get rid of all of the stock 

Edit: just remembered what the cards were: anyone remember those shitty hand held scanners you had to roll over stuff? House full of them!

Oh, were these the Logitech Scanman type handheld ones that you did multiple passes over whatever you were scanning in and the software tried to stitch it together into one coherent image?

That's the ones. It was a very early attempt at those. Found some notes here finally on them.  Basically it was a CCFL+ CCD and a cheap ass gray code disk and reader on a shaft. When it detected a bit change from the encoder it'd blow an IRQ then clock the entire CCD out to the machine's RAM using DMA. It was a hack job made by the lowest bidder. They managed to get the ISA card side down to a couple of 74LS buffers and a PAL or two. I think the later version used some even more sneaky stuff so they could use a parallel port. Apparently the guy who invented the idea was called David Liu.

Edit: you can probably build your own now. Linear CCDs are cheap on ebay. Stuff an arduino on one and job done 

Edit 2: interestingly looking at the stuff here, the scan rate was limited by how fast your crappy 286 could handle IRQs. Turbo mode on! If you dragged it too fast it'd just miss a few lines. There was no provision for measurement of success either - it just did a bad job. They were crap! I'm so glad it's 2021 now.

One of the neighbours had one and I got sent over to help out one day when it acted up badly.  She was trying to scan this massive, massive, massive huge sheet of paper that was laid out on a table next to the computer and it was simply running out of memory.

Anyways, for a more traditional imagery faux pas, there's this eBay ad from someone down the road in Niagara Falls, ON that I came across last night when I was searching for test equipment.  The seller had an HP item come up in my search so I clicked the "See other items" link to see what else they had.  And I saw this.  With the thumbnail.  And I cringed and clicked it open.  Then I couldn't stop laughing:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vintage-Kodak-Velox-F2-Film-Roll-2-Bundles-250Ft-Each/154232700330?hash=item23e8fc3daa:g:Nh8AAOSwoQZfzpne

Sure!  It's actually print paper cut to 35mm film form factor but either way, sure!  Sure!  Buy my film!  Buy my film that I opened up and exposed to light while I took the pictures for my ad!  Buy my ruined photographic materials!  Guaranteed to be to completely blown!

The sad thing is, the description's so earnest and so well-meaning, I'm sure the guy selling it doesn't realize that he did totally ruin it by opening it up and exposing it while he took those pictures.  Even despite the warning on the top of the boxes and the safelight filter being specified on label on the bottoms.  I think I'm going to take a pass with his test equipment as well since he may be well meaning, but he clearly doesn't understand the stuff he's working with.

[bd139]

LMAO that’s bloody hilarious 

I get the feeling not many people understand photographic film these days. 

[mansaxel]

Yep. Open notes app on iOS. Select camera option. Scan document. Job done.

How convenient. And too easy.

I'm more into the hard way. Looking for a sheet-fed scanner, have a few on the watch list, and will, if supply of round tuits does not dry up, build an integration for it so I can get them right into a document management system, and can classify them as "invoice", " for taxes", "probably should not have been bothered with", "Keep this, for real" et c.

This requires a networked scanner, of course. And one that does sftp or similar.

[bd139]

Yep. Open notes app on iOS. Select camera option. Scan document. Job done.

How convenient. And too easy.

I'm more into the hard way. Looking for a sheet-fed scanner, have a few on the watch list, and will, if supply of round tuits does not dry up, build an integration for it so I can get them right into a document management system, and can classify them as "invoice", " for taxes", "probably should not have been bothered with", "Keep this, for real" et c.

This requires a networked scanner, of course. And one that does sftp or similar.

Fairly simple solution here. The HP Laserjet Pro m148DW I just bought has a sheet feed scanner in it. The scanning software on macOS is actually fairly decent, works fine over the network and just pukes out a stitched PDF. This is then moved to a suitably named in the format:

~/Documents/archive/${class}/${year}-${month}-${day}-${summary}.pdf

Class = receipt, medical-${person}, id, financial etc etc

This immediately lands in iCloud and is available on my phone and iPad anywhere.

[nixiefreqq]

did some doodling with the new chinesium rf power meter.  can't tell you for sure what is in it because the stensils have been sanded off the ic's.

first hooked it directly to my yeasu ft818 at 432 Mhz.

the radio says it is producing 5 watts.  the bird says something like 4.6 watts.  the rf meter fed with a 60dB 10W attenuator says 5.09W.  not too shabby for a $35 three chip wonder.


next connected it to the output from my homebrew 100mW 902 Mhz transverter.  the hp 8569b was fed via 30 dB of external attenuator. it measured -10dBm.  so when you account for the atten that is +20 dBm (100mW).  the meter fed with the 30dB atten (and the appropriate correction factor) reads 98.4 mW.

last comparison was the output from my 1296 Mhz bulgarian transverter (nominal 5W).  fed into the 8569b via the 60 dB 10W attenuator it measured -24 dBm.    so when you account for the atten that is +36 dBm (4W).  the meter fed with via the same 60 dB attenuator says 4.33W.

all in all useful device for quick checks to make sure my radio crap is working.   AND you don't have to worry about blowing up an 800 buck thermocouple sensor.

good luck in the contest. 

[Cerebus]

Yep. Open notes app on iOS. Select camera option. Scan document. Job done.

One of those Apple "not quite as obviously there as it ought to be" features - if you've an iPhone/iPad associated with a desktop machine you can right click on the desktop and there is an "Import from iPhone or iPad" option with "Take Photo", "Scan Documents" and "Add Sketch" options for each associated device. Wakes up the iPhone/iPad with the camera open, lets you take the picture/whatever and then sends it back to the desktop over the local network.

[bd139]

Didn’t know that! Very handy. I know you can annotate screenshots with the iPad/pencil - that’s super handy.

Just won some TE  . Back on the wagon  .

So it’s a Racal 9917 counter. This is the same as the old 9915’s I had but doesn’t have the notoriously incendiary battery option. Also it comes with option 04A which is a 9442 crystal oven   

[kleiner Rainer]

The only part of such a scanner that survived here is the connection between scanner and ISA card. The 8-pin Mini DIN plug fits the ACC port of my FT-817 and 897. It is part of the serial interface to program their memories with CHIRP.

Greetings,

Rainer

[bd139]

did some doodling with the new chinesium rf power meter.  can't tell you for sure what is in it because the stensils have been sanded off the ic's.

first hooked it directly to my yeasu ft818 at 432 Mhz.

the radio says it is producing 5 watts.  the bird says something like 4.6 watts.  the rf meter fed with a 60dB 10W attenuator says 5.09W.  not too shabby for a $35 three chip wonder.


next connected it to the output from my homebrew 100mW 902 Mhz transverter.  the hp 8569b was fed via 30 dB of external attenuator. it measured -10dBm.  so when you account for the atten that is +20 dBm (100mW).  the meter fed with the 30dB atten (and the appropriate correction factor) reads 98.4 mW.

last comparison was the output from my 1296 Mhz bulgarian transverter (nominal 5W).  fed into the 8569b via the 60 dB 10W attenuator it measured -24 dBm.    so when you account for the atten that is +36 dBm (4W).  the meter fed with via the same 60 dB attenuator says 4.33W.

all in all useful device for quick checks to make sure my radio crap is working.   AND you don't have to worry about blowing up an 800 buck thermocouple sensor.

good luck in the contest.

Not bad. May have a bash at one of them myself. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

First weekend with my new Keithley 6500 A whole Sunday for myself at home and projects ready on the bench, what could go wrong...

A guy from the power company just called at the door. The new house down the road was wrongly connected to the grid and they are about to switch off the power for "several hours" to get it fixed!!   

McBryce.

WTF did they do? Connect it to the street lighting cable and the people moved in an wondered why they are without juice over the day? I would feel better if you had posted this one from abroad.
On the plus side: at least they told you.

[Neomys Sapiens]

New TEA project, sort of: building a conductive brush probe.
I already contacted a vape wire seller in Ebay....

Got a 10m NI80 32GA vape wire for 6.95€ shipped

Well, if you REALLY need it to be SUPERfine. I went an easier way by just making an adaptor for the small brass brushes which fit the glass fibre cleaning pens. They are always around and can be replaced quickly.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Gee, I thought Britannia ruled the waves? Apparently not. 

It's more than a century since that was true. Considerably more.

Wait until they visit Taranto. The Swordfishs know the way.

[Cerebus]

Didn’t know that! Very handy.

Yeah, UI discoverability failure. Since I discovered it I've used it all the time - Writing a post on here? Need a photo? Just right click and away we go.

Talking about UI discoverability, there's a chap who's started a new distribution of FreeBSD with a desktop that's based on rigorously following the old Apple UI guidelines. Still at an early stage but I'm kind of hoping that it evolves into the free/open Unix that you'd feel like recommending to people who want a free OS but aren't up to diving into the murky world of Linux desktops. It's called "hello" and the github repo is here: https://github.com/helloSystem/hello. I'm planning on downloading a development snapshot and trying it out in a VM sometime soon. (Now's as good as any time - ISO file now downloading)

Edit: Uses ZFS natively as the filesystem.

[bd139]

I think I’ve seen at least 90 attempts at that in the past. I’ll wait for that to die 

[mnementh]

Saskia -

https://www.amazon.ca/NVIDIA-Jetson-Developer-Computer-Development/dp/B07SHF9V4J/ref=pd_lutyp_rtpb_1_6/140-9024410-5026447

I stumbled across this while looking for Ardu sensors, and the advert seems to make it out as a pretty capable, if very small scale, AI dev platform supporting a lot of the stuff you were talking aboot in your project. Is there any portion of what you're doing that could be broken down into small enough chunks that it could do anything for you?

My thought was perhaps, since it's directly compatible with a lot of the core AI processing, something like a smarter user-end interface that preprocesses the user's requests into something the heavy iron could resolve quicker, thereby making for lower bandwidth needs for the same result...?

mnem
 

[Kosmic]

No wonder the price of TEA is getting higher on ebay 

At least he is using them and not trying to make guitar amps or lamps out of them.

[mnementh]

LMAO that’s bloody hilarious 

I get the feeling not many people understand photographic film these days. 

Given the obvious age thereof, and how improbable that it was stored properly for all those decades; odds are quite slim it was any fukkin' good before he got his little pud-polishers on it.

I mean, yeah... the photo shoot was that last nail in the coffin... and removed all doubt that it could possibly be serviceable as anything except hazardous decoration. But I think in this case, we didn't need to actually see Schrödinger's cat to know it was dead.

mnem