Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

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.

Nothing wrong with it so long as you stay Hooked into the Prime drug How many 'free' photo sharing sites have come and gone leaving holes in forums over time? Think I will stick to selective use of my Google Drive 'free' lot and post photos here and keep my own backed up on NAS and PC.

[mnementh]

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.

Understood every word you said... and take it as gospel. Where I was going with that is that a SPL meter is hardly esoteric gear any more.

Now that I think of it, there are a dozen apps for iPwn that will give results close enough to a cal'd SPL meter that you don't need one unless you're actually a lab and need the paper trail. I know there are similar apps for Android, but with all the variations in actual hardware... no idea how accurate they could possibly be on every possible phone/tablet. 
   Hmmm... yeah, I guess that does kindof close circle on your original point, tho. No need for them to spend that kind of dosh when all they need to do is snurch their girlfriend's iPwn. 

mnem

[Zucca]

I think everybody here could write a book regarding HR fucked up stories.
Right now it's like I am in the Big Lebowski movie.



massive mappets alert!

[mnementh]

Oooooh... shiny.... 




Okay... maybe it's still a work in progress. 

mnem
But hey... today I got my son to solder some fan wires together on his new PC!

[bd139]

Just cram it all in there and button it all up. That’s why they invented that new style of case: hiding crimes 

[mansaxel]

Just cram it all in there and button it all up. That’s why they invented that new style of case: hiding crimes 

I remember the Sun pizza boxes. Those were well built. After that, not so much. Some office desktops are OK, I just commissioned a Lenovo micro-chassis for my parents (going from 1,5GHz Celery with 4GiB RAM and W10Home to 3+GHz Pentium Gold (still el-cheapo, but...) with 16GiB and W10Pro) and that hardware is quite OK.

[beanflying]

Just cram it all in there and button it all up. That’s why they invented that new style of case: hiding crimes 

Its about 'knowing' what is inside. Do it for others or buy it with NFI then yep cram it in and shut the door 

[beanflying]

Oooooh... shiny.... 


Okay... maybe it's still a work in progress. 

mnem
But hey... today I got my son to solder some fan wires together on his new PC!

Then you need to work on adding an inappropriate Case ornament

[bd139]

Just cram it all in there and button it all up. That’s why they invented that new style of case: hiding crimes 

I remember the Sun pizza boxes. Those were well built. After that, not so much. Some office desktops are OK, I just commissioned a Lenovo micro-chassis for my parents (going from 1,5GHz Celery with 4GiB RAM and W10Home to 3+GHz Pentium Gold (still el-cheapo, but...) with 16GiB and W10Pro) and that hardware is quite OK.

Dunno about that. I had a bent SPARCstation 10 once 

The Lenovo corp boxes I have to agree with. Although just had a run in with a rather ancient one my mother was using, I think an M93, which appears to have blown up.

Alas I’m not getting out of my PC build here as I’m doing her an i3 ITX build to replace it. Another Lenovo would do but I’m bored. Feel the need to build a PC. Mnem is not helping with that posting images. In fact I’m trying to come up with a justification to build myself one 

[mansaxel]

Ok, so a post-Brexit update. Just got a paper letter from Postnord that they want 13 SEK import VAT and a 75 SEK handling fee for a parcel with 5 T-shirts from the Tank Museum at Bovington.  Royal Mail gave Postnord the parcel February 25, and they've been sitting on it ever since. 

Right about now, UK shipping to the EU is on par with China in speed and attraction. Certainly goes in the same queue.

I feel I must congratulate the United Kingdom to their newly found freedom from the Brussels tyranny. And focus my Ebay shopping to Germany. (an envelope with 5 9V battery terminals, free shipping, 5 days from Germany. That's like a faster China from before Postnord decided to slap VAT  and handling on everything)

[Robert763]

Oooooh... shiny.... 


Okay... maybe it's still a work in progress. 

mnem
But hey... today I got my son to solder some fan wires together on his new PC!

Then you need to work on adding an inappropriate Case ornament

Stick a retro filament lamp on top and an AVO 8 graphic on the side 

[bd139]

Ok, so a post-Brexit update. Just got a paper letter from Postnord that they want 13 SEK import VAT and a 75 SEK handling fee for a parcel with 5 T-shirts from the Tank Museum at Bovington.  Royal Mail gave Postnord the parcel February 25, and they've been sitting on it ever since. 

Right about now, UK shipping to the EU is on par with China in speed and attraction. Certainly goes in the same queue.

I feel I must congratulate the United Kingdom to their newly found freedom from the Brussels tyranny. And focus my Ebay shopping to Germany. (an envelope with 5 9V battery terminals, free shipping, 5 days from Germany. That's like a faster China from before Postnord decided to slap VAT  and handling on everything)

Shipping from China is still good. I got a JLCPCB order this morning that was sent surface mail and it was dispatched on Wed last week.

But yes it's a massive shit show.

[Robert763]

Back to TEA.
I just increased my Tektronix TE stash by about 30% and it's not a 'scope.

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203299979899
I even have SWMBO permission, she thinks that "it looks better than the normal junk".
Unusually it comes complete with the front cover, external diplexer AND 26.5GHz external mixer 
I hope it works OK without a mass tantalum replacement. I'll also run through KE5FX's recommendations.
I used 492APs in the day job many years ago, itwill be nice to play with one again. It fills a gap in my SA coverage which previously stopped at 2.7GHz.
SA count now at 6, not counting FFT functions on 'scopes and ADC's or SDR functionality.
Now I just need to make space for it. Not being 19" rack it won't fit in the analyser "stack".
 

[nixiefreqq]

Back to TEA.
I just increased my Tektronix TE stash by about 30% and it's not a 'scope.

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203299979899
I even have SWMBO permission, she thinks that "it looks better than the normal junk".
Unusually it comes complete with the front cover, external diplexer AND 26.5GHz external mixer 
I hope it works OK without a mass tantalum replacement. I'll also run through KE5FX's recommendations.
I used 492APs in the day job many years ago, itwill be nice to play with one again. It fills a gap in my SA coverage which previously stopped at 2.7GHz.
SA count now at 6, not counting FFT functions on 'scopes and ADC's or SDR functionality.
Now I just need to make space for it. Not being 19" rack it won't fit in the analyser "stack".

6 spectrum analyzers?

you sir, have a serious problem.

seek help immediately.

[Brumby]

Didn't seem like a problem to me .... but, then, look at where we are.   

[SilverSolder]

Ok, so a post-Brexit update. Just got a paper letter from Postnord that they want 13 SEK import VAT and a 75 SEK handling fee for a parcel with 5 T-shirts from the Tank Museum at Bovington.  Royal Mail gave Postnord the parcel February 25, and they've been sitting on it ever since. 

Right about now, UK shipping to the EU is on par with China in speed and attraction. Certainly goes in the same queue.

I feel I must congratulate the United Kingdom to their newly found freedom from the Brussels tyranny. And focus my Ebay shopping to Germany. (an envelope with 5 9V battery terminals, free shipping, 5 days from Germany. That's like a faster China from before Postnord decided to slap VAT  and handling on everything)

The UK is in a total mess - there's no point dealing with them until they recover their common sense, which will take a while given how many otherwise intelligent people seem to think it is a good idea to have nothing to do with your local trade bloc...   unbelievable.

[psykok]

Back to TEA.
I just increased my Tektronix TE stash by about 30% and it's not a 'scope.

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203299979899
I even have SWMBO permission, she thinks that "it looks better than the normal junk".
Unusually it comes complete with the front cover, external diplexer AND 26.5GHz external mixer 
I hope it works OK without a mass tantalum replacement. I'll also run through KE5FX's recommendations.
I used 492APs in the day job many years ago, itwill be nice to play with one again. It fills a gap in my SA coverage which previously stopped at 2.7GHz.
SA count now at 6, not counting FFT functions on 'scopes and ADC's or SDR functionality.
Now I just need to make space for it. Not being 19" rack it won't fit in the analyser "stack".

6 spectrum analyzers?

you sir, have a serious problem.

seek help immediately.

grate means that I have the same problem.
I just figured  out that I currently also owning 6 SA , what is wrong with me 

And the worth part is that I'm currently looking for another  one

[tggzzz]

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 

I have a 492AP. Get the manual from ArtekMedia.

You'll have hours of fun if you have to remove the PSU: it is the entire rear-end "cap" of the case. (I had to remove it in order to replace the fan). The positions of cables and connectors is "imaginative", as in you have to use your imagination to insert/replace them.

Apart from that, I quite like it. I inserted a MiniCircuits 10MHz-18GHz high pass filter inside the case to reduce the chance of damaging the front end with DC.

[nixiefreqq]

Back to TEA.
I just increased my Tektronix TE stash by about 30% and it's not a 'scope.

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203299979899
I even have SWMBO permission, she thinks that "it looks better than the normal junk".
Unusually it comes complete with the front cover, external diplexer AND 26.5GHz external mixer 
I hope it works OK without a mass tantalum replacement. I'll also run through KE5FX's recommendations.
I used 492APs in the day job many years ago, itwill be nice to play with one again. It fills a gap in my SA coverage which previously stopped at 2.7GHz.
SA count now at 6, not counting FFT functions on 'scopes and ADC's or SDR functionality.
Now I just need to make space for it. Not being 19" rack it won't fit in the analyser "stack".

6 spectrum analyzers?

you sir, have a serious problem.

seek help immediately.

grate means that I have the same problem.
I just figured  out that I currently also owning 6 SA , what is wrong with me 

And the worth part is that I'm currently looking for another  one

see attachment.   but please note that this does not apply to counters.  counters don't mmmmmm eerrrrrrr......count.

[BU508A]

see attachment.   but please note that this does not apply to counters.  counters don't mmmmmm eerrrrrrr......count.

You could use this very nice equipement from Hewlett Packard to count your counters. 

[Cerebus]

see attachment.   but please note that this does not apply to counters.  counters don't mmmmmm eerrrrrrr......count.

You could use this very nice equipement from Hewlett Packard to count your counters. 

I'm not sure that the update rate on it is enough to keep up with him (or Tony for that matter). 

[med6753]

Back to TEA.
I just increased my Tektronix TE stash by about 30% and it's not a 'scope.

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203299979899
I even have SWMBO permission, she thinks that "it looks better than the normal junk".
Unusually it comes complete with the front cover, external diplexer AND 26.5GHz external mixer 
I hope it works OK without a mass tantalum replacement. I'll also run through KE5FX's recommendations.
I used 492APs in the day job many years ago, itwill be nice to play with one again. It fills a gap in my SA coverage which previously stopped at 2.7GHz.
SA count now at 6, not counting FFT functions on 'scopes and ADC's or SDR functionality.
Now I just need to make space for it. Not being 19" rack it won't fit in the analyser "stack".

6 spectrum analyzers?

you sir, have a serious problem.

seek help immediately.

grate means that I have the same problem.
I just figured  out that I currently also owning 6 SA , what is wrong with me 

And the worth part is that I'm currently looking for another  one

see attachment.   but please note that this does not apply to counters.  counters don't mmmmmm eerrrrrrr......count.

What is that film crew doing in front of my place? 

[Saskia]

see attachment.   but please note that this does not apply to counters.  counters don't mmmmmm eerrrrrrr......count.

You could use this very nice equipement from Hewlett Packard to count your counters. 

I'm not sure that the update rate on it is enough to keep up with him (or Tony for that matter). 

Just notify Count count.

[25 CPS]

Oooooh... shiny.... 


Okay... maybe it's still a work in progress. 

mnem
But hey... today I got my son to solder some fan wires together on his new PC!

Then you need to work on adding an inappropriate Case ornament

Stick a retro filament lamp on top and an AVO 8 graphic on the side 

I was thinking screw the light up octopus toy altogether and go with the genuine article instead of a lookalike: a mercury arc rectifier.

[Cubdriver]

Back to TEA.
I just increased my Tektronix TE stash by about 30% and it's not a 'scope.

I've been watching a Tektronix 492BP spectrum analyzer on ebay for a couple of weeks. I made a cheeky offer this morning and it was countered for an extra £25 so I just pulled the trigger 
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203299979899
I even have SWMBO permission, she thinks that "it looks better than the normal junk".
Unusually it comes complete with the front cover, external diplexer AND 26.5GHz external mixer 
I hope it works OK without a mass tantalum replacement. I'll also run through KE5FX's recommendations.
I used 492APs in the day job many years ago, itwill be nice to play with one again. It fills a gap in my SA coverage which previously stopped at 2.7GHz.
SA count now at 6, not counting FFT functions on 'scopes and ADC's or SDR functionality.
Now I just need to make space for it. Not being 19" rack it won't fit in the analyser "stack".

6 spectrum analyzers?

you sir, have a serious problem.

seek help immediately.

grate means that I have the same problem.
I just figured  out that I currently also owning 6 SA , what is wrong with me 

And the worth part is that I'm currently looking for another  one

see attachment.   but please note that this does not apply to counters.  counters don't mmmmmm eerrrrrrr......count.

I'm waaaaaaaaaay past that point...     (and I'm afraid to try to count my counters)