Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mansaxel]

And now for something completely different:

Today The Wife and I celebrate 15 years since our first lunch date. We've forgotten our wedding anniversary; might as well, since one of our children was born before that day. What counts is our time together.

I gave her a original red LED display TI-30 that I'd found on the local auction site. In working good condition, with original leatherette case, and instruction manual booklet.  Only fit a battery, and you're good to calculate.  Happyness.

[McBryce]

The rattling coins help shake the bad volts out during transit.

More seriously that sort of shit makes me think “ex school” 

Reminds me of a repair I did many years ago. Front-loader VHS player that was spitting the tapes back out immediately. After opening it, I removed a selection of toys soldiers, lego and random small things. Turns out the children had been playing "Postman Pat" (Ask a UK member). I was about to leave after a sucessful repair when the owner suddenly had a look of terror on his face, then called his children to find out where the other "letterboxes were??". Ended up spending the afternoon removing things from a toaster, a gap in the boiler and "The magic CD player" (if you feed it small pieces of paper, they're gone the next time you open it!".

McBryce.

[Robert763]

Difficult to tell. Both look like a set of listings from one of the regular eBay scammers, however both have feedback >12 months old for quite eclectic activity as a seller. If it's a scam it's a well executed one.

Third seller in Blackpool
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-Technologies-54845A-Infinium-1-5-GHz-oscilloscope/224378541752?
0 feedback on that one.
If nothing else it looks like one seller breaking ebay rules by having multiple accounts.

[dl6lr]

And now for something completely different:

Today The Wife and I celebrate 15 years since our first lunch date. We've forgotten our wedding anniversary; might as well, since one of our children was born before that day. What counts is our time together.

I gave her a original red LED display TI-30 that I'd found on the local auction site. In working good condition, with original leatherette case, and instruction manual booklet.  Only fit a battery, and you're good to calculate.  Happyness.

Congrats. It's now almost 35 years that I am with my wife.

[dl6lr]

Reminds me of a repair I did many years ago. Front-loader VHS player that was spitting the tapes back out immediately. After opening it, I removed a selection of toys soldiers, lego and random small things. Turns out the children had been playing "Postman Pat" (Ask a UK memeber).

 
We watched our son playing with the VCR. We got him on tape with a camera.  He was very busy trying to get his hand out of the slot with the door. Whenever he opens the door with his other hand, he got stuck again.    Took some time for him to ask for help

[Robert763]

As for dB Drags... there you're dead wrong. We all had our own meters back in the day; we were serious aboot SPL. A lot worse than not being able to back up your claims was putting yourself in the wrong class and making a Ben Quadinaros showing for yourself.

mnem
#cringetacular

20B @ 10k RPM on the 2 step with 40lb of boost on methanol is the loudest thing I've ever heard. 
Man did that thing turn heads at the drags. 

If you want loud try two 20,500lb Spey 202 turbine engines on full reheat at zero feet AGL.

[Robert763]

Reminds me of a repair I did many years ago. Front-loader VHS player that was spitting the tapes back out immediately. After opening it, I removed a selection of toys soldiers, lego and random small things. Turns out the children had been playing "Postman Pat" (Ask a UK memeber).

 
We watched our son playing with the VCR. We got him on tape with a camera.  He was very busy trying to get his hand out of the slot with the door. Whenever he opens the door with his other hand, he got stuck again.    Took some time for him to ask for help

Many years ago my boss brought in a VCR for me to look at. It was a top loader and was full of sticky pink goop that smelled like strawberries.  apparently he asked his young son what as in the VCR and the reply was "I don't know but it's not yoghurt...."
The VCR was totally wrecked.

[Cerebus]

Difficult to tell. Both look like a set of listings from one of the regular eBay scammers, however both have feedback >12 months old for quite eclectic activity as a seller. If it's a scam it's a well executed one.

Third seller in Blackpool
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-Technologies-54845A-Infinium-1-5-GHz-oscilloscope/224378541752?
0 feedback on that one.
If nothing else it looks like one seller breaking ebay rules by having multiple accounts.

I can think of someone we know who thinks of them more as guidelines than rules. 

[BU508A]

Got lucky today on ebay. 20 AD584JH and 20 LM358H.   

There are two new batches around from the same seller (NAWTS):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133686293046



https://www.ebay.com/itm/402736440928


Got mine for around EUR 80.- (AD584JH) and EUR 20,- (LM358H)
The AD584JNZ is at Mouser's ca. EUR 9.10 (+VAT) per piece. (The AD584JH isn't available anymore, EOL)
The LM358H is at Mouser's ca. EUR 7.70 (+VAT) per piece.

Datasheets (PDF):
AD584
LM358

[bd139]

Difficult to tell. Both look like a set of listings from one of the regular eBay scammers, however both have feedback >12 months old for quite eclectic activity as a seller. If it's a scam it's a well executed one.

Third seller in Blackpool
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-Technologies-54845A-Infinium-1-5-GHz-oscilloscope/224378541752?
0 feedback on that one.
If nothing else it looks like one seller breaking ebay rules by having multiple accounts.

I can think of someone we know who thinks of them more as guidelines than rules. 

Yeah I've got three accounts  . But realistically that's because two are business and you have to have separate accounts for that.

And i don't double list.

[Cerebus]

Reminds me of a repair I did many years ago. Front-loader VHS player that was spitting the tapes back out immediately. After opening it, I removed a selection of toys soldiers, lego and random small things. Turns out the children had been playing "Postman Pat" (Ask a UK memeber).

 
We watched our son playing with the VCR. We got him on tape with a camera.  He was very busy trying to get his hand out of the slot with the door. Whenever he opens the door with his other hand, he got stuck again.    Took some time for him to ask for help

Many years ago my boss brought in a VCR for me to look at. It was a top loader and was full of sticky pink goop that smelled like strawberries.  apparently he asked his young son what as in the VCR and the reply was "I don't know but it's not yoghurt...."
The VCR was totally wrecked.

Halfway through I was expecting the punchline to be "jam sandwich", a perennial favourite for VCR insertion according to people I knew who were parents at the time there was a VCR in every living room - based on 'phone conversations that went something like this: "Watcha.", "Hello Nick.", "Mate, you know something about electronics. What would you do with a VCR that had a jam sandwich jammed in it?", "[Sigh] Bring it round...".

[Specmaster]

I've seen these two eby sellers before. Both in Blackpool, no recent feedback, same photo on feedback page.
Kit looks like ramco stuff. Two examples, claerly the same item
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CASELLA-SOUND-LEVEL-METER-CEL-430-M2-cased-and-fully-calibrated/174672870266?
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CASELLA-A-SOUND-LEVEL-METER-CEL-430-M2-calibrated-before-storage/274712323828?

What do you think, weird seller or scam?

The photos are identical so its either 1 seller with 2 accounts and he hedges his bets by having 2 prices, or its a scam being perpetrated by 2 sellers using stock photos, either way, I'd give it a very wide berth.

Edit.
I just looked at their other items and they both list very similar items to each other and both have items that have come from the MOD, so my "more" educated guess is that they are the same seller and the listings have been altered very slightly in each of them, so I'm more sitting on the fence with this and wondering just what is happening here, its very odd to say the least.

[BU508A]

What about reporting this thing case to ebay so they can have a closer look? 

[Robert763]

What about reporting this thing case to ebay so they can have a closer look? 

I've done that but there is no way to link the three sellers in one report.

[Specmaster]

I just received an email from Amazon inviting me to use their unlimited photo storage which can be shared or private. Apparently its part of their "prime" customer package and I never knew about it. So that got me thinking, and I was wondering if anyone else here is using that service and is it any good. Can you store photos and provide links to them that could be included posts to forums etc? Does anyone actually know?

[bd139]

I wouldn’t bother with that. There will be restrictions. Amazon make a hell of a lot of money selling outbound bandwidth and they’re not going to give that away at prime prices.

And now for something completely different. Sinclair and High Voltage. Run to the hills! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274712694142

[tggzzz]

And now for something completely different. Sinclair and High Voltage. Run to the hills! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274712694142

What?!?!

I wonder in what way he shaved 10% too much off the manufacturing cost.

[mnementh]

As for dB Drags... there you're dead wrong. We all had our own meters back in the day; we were serious aboot SPL. A lot worse than not being able to back up your claims was putting yourself in the wrong class and making a Ben Quadinaros showing for yourself.

mnem
#cringetacular

20B @ 10k RPM on the 2 step with 40lb of boost on methanol is the loudest thing I've ever heard. 
Man did that thing turn heads at the drags. 

If you want loud try two 20,500lb Spey 202 turbine engines on full reheat at zero feet AGL.

Pretty sure Saskia has made louder noises than that. 

mnem
"Oh dear... my backup stockpile of ampho is nearing its expiry date... what will I do...?!?" 

[med6753]

And now for something completely different. Sinclair and High Voltage. Run to the hills! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274712694142

Maybe not. That looks surprisingly similar to the HV probe my Father had dating back to the 1950's. I don't recall who made it but it was high quality. Perhaps Sinclair simply re-branded it? 

[mnementh]

Sound-check gear making the rounds of rando wannabe DJs and/or dB Drag heroes...?

mnem
 

Not likely. Those people don't carry SPL meters; they're more likely to avoid those who carry them. (There might be a bragging angle here, though -- I've not seen very often.)

Well, DJ-ing has gotten a lot more hardcore technical in the last couple decades; pretty sure if you saw it in a deadmau5 workshop vid, there will be a demand for it.

As for dB Drags... there you're dead wrong. We all had our own meters back in the day; we were serious aboot SPL. A lot worse than not being able to back up your claims was putting yourself in the wrong class and making a Ben Quadinaros showing for yourself.

mnem
#cringetacular

It's the systems engineer who has the dB meter, not the DJ. I did from time to time carry a Bruel & Kjær meter in that rôle. My personal record is 126 dB, C-weighted, with just the bass bins running. That was impressive.

Even more impressive than that was, IMNSHO, that we managed to play vinyl in that room. At those levels.

Well yes, now he has "people for dat"; but I imagine even deadmau5 started out as a one-man-show.   

The advent of things like YoobToob celebrities has made a lot of the knowledge AV folks used to consider their own personal stock in trade much more general knowledge. I had conversations with teenagers more than once in Houston while flying RC... who had good grasp of Ohm's Law and power, as well as understanding of the difference between impedance and resistance and even the technical know-how to make a reasonable estimate of just how much wattage and speaker capacity they needed to make enough noise for a dance party in almost any random space.

Were these kids expert Sound Reinforcement professionals...? Hell no. But this generation certainly can surprise the hell out of you with just how much they have learned the hard way.

it's a whole new world man...

mnem
*currently nuking a water-cooled GPU*

[Specmaster]

And now for something completely different. Sinclair and High Voltage. Run to the hills! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274712694142

Maybe not. That looks surprisingly similar to the HV probe my Father had dating back to the 1950's. I don't recall who made it but it was high quality. Perhaps Sinclair simply re-branded it? 

You beat me to it, I think its rebranded as well.

[Specmaster]

I wouldn’t bother with that. There will be restrictions. Amazon make a hell of a lot of money selling outbound bandwidth and they’re not going to give that away at prime prices.

And now for something completely different. Sinclair and High Voltage. Run to the hills! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274712694142

Well, I've looked through a lot of their info and I there doesn't seem to any restrictions other than as long as you're a "Prime" customer, its all included, along with 5GB of space for general files.

[25 CPS]

It's the systems engineer who has the dB meter, not the DJ. I did from time to time carry a Bruel & Kjær meter in that rôle. My personal record is 126 dB, C-weighted, with just the bass bins running. That was impressive.

Even more impressive than that was, IMNSHO, that we managed to play vinyl in that room. At those levels.
[/quote]

Interestingly, I was doing something like that the other night to help test out a pair of speakers I picked up.



Where you measured 126 dB just on the bass units, do you think playing records in that environment might’ve helped you get to that 126 dB via mechanical feedback loop sound to phono cartridge even if it didn’t break out into full out howling or motor boating?

[mansaxel]

It's the systems engineer who has the dB meter, not the DJ.

Well yes, now he has "people for dat"; but I imagine even deadmau5 started out as a one-man-show.   

<snip>

Were these kids expert Sound Reinforcement professionals...? Hell no. But this generation certainly can surprise the hell out of you with just how much they have learned the hard way.

it's a whole new world man...

mnem
*currently nuking a water-cooled GPU*

Typically, in the one-man shows, you still don't. I call it "the wedding circuit", because that's what you play. A lot of the time today it's probably replaced with a Spotify playlist on a Bluetooth speaker, [*barf*] (mostly at the speaker) but yes, the kids are impressive with what they pick up, while at the same time being very naîve.

We were naîve and clueless, perhaps more in harmony but definitely worse off. Things get better.

Finally, those who get gear are going to get weighted down by it. Those who play other people's gear and focus on the art of the performance, they're set for something big. I've been employed at a small gear shop, who still exist, but they do nothing cool today, simply bolt Bose crap and projectors to hotel walls. (but a major metric butt-load-ton of respect to them for getting a Triple-A credit rating and staying in business for 40+ years in a sometimes very shady field of work, where the competition can play very ugly.)  Not until I went free-lance did I get to work at the cool gigs. One of the cool gigs, in retrospect, was building TV trucks, which is a big part of why I'm really good at what I do today.

[mansaxel]

Where you measured 126 dB just on the bass units, do you think playing records in that environment might’ve helped you get to that 126 dB via mechanical feedback loop sound to phono cartridge even if it didn’t break out into full out howling or motor boating?

No, the test was made with a CD. We then tried records, and got as loud. With some tweaking, of course.

There are frequencies you need to be aware of in using the SL-1200 record player; first you need to lose everything below 30Hz-ish, then you take a few dB at 100Hz and then you're mostly set. Providing you're mechanically sound in your set up, see below.

There is a tonearm resonance at 400Hz but to get there, you have to be really far out. That one can be triggered even if you're really well isolated mechanically; because it gets through simply on air pressure variations. I've never had the problem in the wild, but I've provoked it in the shop just to get a feel for it.

Most of the bass resonances OTOH come in through the feet, so you fight them with a setup of the sturdiest table you can find, then four fist sized pieces of soft yet sturdy "flightcase foam" placed in a rectangle like the feet of the record player; on top of that a 30mm steel plate the size of the record player, then the record player on top of that. Nothing may touch the record player except the feet, and the cables must be looped loosely.

The realities of playing mechanically stored music at insane levels with intoxicated people around do prepare you for accurate judgement of the misconceptions of the more scientific-word-using audio-phools, because their claims of "dramatic influence on music" are made at levels 40dB lower than what you usually get people to dance at -- which means two things;

• People dance more if it sounds good, so you did good. By definition.
• The phools play at levels that are ~ 1% of what you do, and consequently they have a much easier problem. You're a 100 times better at what you do than they are.

Brag-ingly,