Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

[bd139]

It’s 2021. Do or die.

[med6753]

It’s 2021. Do or die.

I managed to hold out until about 2006. Then one day the Puerto Rican handed me a cell. I said I didn't need it. She insisted I did so SHE could get in touch with me whenever SHE wanted.     

[URI]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

It’s 2021. Do or die.

I don't have a credit card that needs to be verified through my phone. 
Also: Two phones. I'm offline when I want to.   

[URI]

Get well soon, Brumby!

[SilverSolder]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

Easy - you refuse to get a credit card as well!

[med6753]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

Easy - you refuse to get a credit card as well!

Yep, there are folks who pay cash only.

[tggzzz]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Except a burner phone... that you can use to verify your credit cards.

Useful for more than that. A burner phone for your bank account is useful...

Consider that people put their mobile phone number on many websites, and that these are sometimes "compromised". Add that phone companies are also very willing to swap your phone number to a malefactor's SIM. Then if a malefactor gains access to your bank account, they can easily transfer its contents to their account. The bank will, of course, say that "we authenticated your request via your mobile phone: go away".

Such attacks have been seen in the wild

[tggzzz]

It’s 2021. Do or die.

I managed to hold out until about 2006. Then one day the Puerto Rican handed me a cell. I said I didn't need it. She insisted I did so SHE could get in touch with me whenever SHE wanted. 

Precisely. Phones are for other people's convenience, allowing them to interrupt me.

[Saskia]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Except a burner phone... that you can use to verify your credit cards.

Useful for more than that. A burner phone for your bank account is useful...

Consider that people put their mobile phone number on many websites, and that these are sometimes "compromised". Add that phone companies are also very willing to swap your phone number to a malefactor's SIM. Then if a malefactor gains access to your bank account, they can easily transfer its contents to their account. The bank will, of course, say that "we authenticated your request via your mobile phone: go away".

Such attacks have been seen in the wild

credit card verification is actually bound to the phone IMEI. If I put the SIM into a different phone then it will not authenticate. Kind of a bummer if that first phone blew up.
In that particular case unfortunately not possible to not take the call.
But calling someone on vacation at 4 am in the morning is a feat that should be severely punished. I have camphor oil / capsaicin as a body rub in mind.

[mnementh]

That is a transgression which calls for no less than attitude adjustment via suborbital crowbar launcher.

mnem
*not joking; even a little bit*

[Zucca]

I tought Pomona was producing all sort of Banana jazz....
I could not find a Pomona shunt isolated >220VAC >16A

This is what I found:
https://www.tme.eu/en/details/skurz610019-4ni-rt/4mm-banana-plugs/schutzinger/skurz-6100-19-4-ig-2mb-ni-rt/

or

https://www.buerklin.com/de/%C3%98-4-mm-Verbindungsstecker-mit-federnden-MULTILAM-CAT-II-rot/p/22F661

[tggzzz]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Except a burner phone... that you can use to verify your credit cards.

Useful for more than that. A burner phone for your bank account is useful...

Consider that people put their mobile phone number on many websites, and that these are sometimes "compromised". Add that phone companies are also very willing to swap your phone number to a malefactor's SIM. Then if a malefactor gains access to your bank account, they can easily transfer its contents to their account. The bank will, of course, say that "we authenticated your request via your mobile phone: go away".

Such attacks have been seen in the wild

credit card verification is actually bound to the phone IMEI. If I put the SIM into a different phone then it will not authenticate. Kind of a bummer if that first phone blew up.
In that particular case unfortunately not possible to not take the call.
But calling someone on vacation at 4 am in the morning is a feat that should be severely punished. I have camphor oil / capsaicin as a body rub in mind.

I presume, without evidence, that banking SMSs are tied to IMSI. I've no idea whether they could or do detect the IMEI.

As for punishments, perhaps durian smeared on the back of a filing cabinet would be easier and less traceable.

[med6753]

This is not Larry. This is Moe. I noticed that the 50 ohm switching paths on both channels were a little noisy. And after discovering how relatively easily those attenuator assemblies could be removed I decided to pull both and clean them. And after reassembly gave the 1MEG compensation a touch up.




And so....Moe on top utilizing that wondrous 1MHz calibrator@50 ohm that tggzzz is so fond of.  None of that 1MEG rubbish. Larry on the bottom continuing the burn-in process utilizing the 5kHz* test signals. 



* I expect the purists to recognize and acknowledge that the "k" symbol is lower case and in proper use. After all, you bust my balls when it isn't used properly per current standards. 

[bd139]

It’s 2021. Do or die.

I managed to hold out until about 2006. Then one day the Puerto Rican handed me a cell. I said I didn't need it. She insisted I did so SHE could get in touch with me whenever SHE wanted. 

Precisely. Phones are for other people's convenience, allowing them to interrupt me.

There’s a Do Not Disturb option on mine which spends all day on. This has a breakthrough system and whitelist of anyone I do want to talk to. The phone is my convenience only. I offered my employer the option of purchasing a corporate handset and they declined that 

As for verification this will be required globally soon for most credit and debit cards to reduce lender risk and fraud. Without it don’t expect any support from your card vendor or bank. I’m mostly using Apple Pay which uses a proxy card for the device instead with the second factor being a 3D mugshot.

[Zucca]

well....

[Robert763]

So just won a 10MHz to 6GHz PCTel "scanning receiver" like this:
https://www.pctel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBflex-Brochure-web.pdf
on ebay. It's label says it has the Spectrum Analyser option 
Anyway it was under £100 total compared to the current list price of £30-40,000 so worth a punt. Always wanted to play with one of these wireless network analysis receivers. The HPAK ones go cheap butthe control software seems to be individually licenced.
Anyway it will be fun to play with this one when it arrives.

[SilverSolder]

It’s 2021. Do or die.

I managed to hold out until about 2006. Then one day the Puerto Rican handed me a cell. I said I didn't need it. She insisted I did so SHE could get in touch with me whenever SHE wanted. 

Precisely. Phones are for other people's convenience, allowing them to interrupt me.

There’s a Do Not Disturb option on mine which spends all day on. This has a breakthrough system and whitelist of anyone I do want to talk to. The phone is my convenience only. I offered my employer the option of purchasing a corporate handset and they declined that 

As for verification this will be required globally soon for most credit and debit cards to reduce lender risk and fraud. Without it don’t expect any support from your card vendor or bank. I’m mostly using Apple Pay which uses a proxy card for the device instead with the second factor being a 3D mugshot.

Cash is still a good fallback.  Last year we had a bad storm that knocked out power for a week.  Shops & gas stations were open, running on generators...  but comms was down, so they couldn't take credit cards!   That pile of cash for "rainy days" came in really handy, suddenly...

[SilverSolder]

well....

I remember traveling in Eastern Europe many decades ago...  I decided to rent a car in Bulgaria, and - against the advice of the rental agent - chose a Ford Escort instead of a Lada, simply based on me being more comfortable with the idea of a Ford.   After driving around for just one day on terrible roads with moon-crater pot holes, having the suspension bottom out several times and almost losing my teeth, I took it back to the agency.  "I told you to take the Lada", he said, as he handed over the keys.  -  and, of course, the Lada dealt with the very rough roads with no problems whatsoever...  it sailed over the craters without losing composure even for a second.  I left Bulgaria with a new found respect for the Lada marque...

[Saskia]

I just accepted a few shiny bits of metal as payment for a PC. 40 grams vs 10 kgs ... Bad deal ...

[URI]

[..]
Larry on the bottom continuing the burn-in process utilizing the 5kHz* test signals. 
[..]
* I expect the purists to recognize and acknowledge that the "k" symbol is lower case and in proper use. [..]

Well done!        

[Zucca]

I just accepted a few shiny bits of metal as payment for a PC. 40 grams vs 10 kgs ... Bad deal ...

40g of gold are right now 2308$.

[AVGresponding]

After I got back from there I found a new but faulty light had been left for me to try & fix, after a bit of testing it became apparent the HT7330-A 3V LDO regulator was only providing 1.2V for the mystery IC, need to order some as I haven't got any 3V regulators of any kind, will see what Farnell have.


David

Oooff... and I just stripped out two of those (working) today, they may still be retrievable from the rubbish bag...

[bd139]

It’s 2021. Do or die.

I managed to hold out until about 2006. Then one day the Puerto Rican handed me a cell. I said I didn't need it. She insisted I did so SHE could get in touch with me whenever SHE wanted. 

Precisely. Phones are for other people's convenience, allowing them to interrupt me.

There’s a Do Not Disturb option on mine which spends all day on. This has a breakthrough system and whitelist of anyone I do want to talk to. The phone is my convenience only. I offered my employer the option of purchasing a corporate handset and they declined that 

As for verification this will be required globally soon for most credit and debit cards to reduce lender risk and fraud. Without it don’t expect any support from your card vendor or bank. I’m mostly using Apple Pay which uses a proxy card for the device instead with the second factor being a 3D mugshot.

Cash is still a good fallback.  Last year we had a bad storm that knocked out power for a week.  Shops & gas stations were open, running on generators...  but comms was down, so they couldn't take credit cards!   That pile of cash for "rainy days" came in really handy, suddenly...

I always carry 50 quid cash but even in times of extreme problems I never needed it, not once in 30 years. The last time there was a power cut here, it took the whole street out. Generators aren't usual thing to have here so you just don't go shopping until they fix it.

If power went out permanently it'd be zombie apocalypse within 3 days though. Cash isn't worth a lot then 

[Zucca]

Sweden/Iceland is the target/paradise, cards only.

Also for crime stop... everything is trackable.

Maybe after this COVID world war the new system will accellerate in that direction, no more touchy touchy papers/coins.