Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Your numbers talk only about numbers of people employed; not the net worth of the company. They more likely support my point; the bigger the net worth of the company, the more it tries to eliminate skilled jobs in favor of machinery tended by a few drones. Smaller businesses employ people who know what they are doing, not phone banks in India or Mexico.

And just look at those numbers; even from just a finger in the air guess, those numbers look to me very low for any healthy economy; I would expect many more "small businesses" even for a region as geographically small as the UK.

If we taxed businesses based on the disparity between their gross earnings (as reported to the stock exchanges or their board) and the number of actual full-time employees in the markets where they sell their goods, it would deter the drive to try and replace every warm body with a row in a Excel column.

Cheers,

mnem
 

What's small, 1.4 million businesses in a nation of 60 million people, or an annual turnover of 3.8 trillion (10¹²) pounds sterling in a nation of 60 million people (including babes in arms)? I don't think you can actually have looked at those numbers to think that any of those numbers are small.

[mnementh]

Is it really that small...? As noisy as you motherfuckers are, I'd have expected more than a billion.

Okay... given that, probably a lot more small businesses over there. But that's over there, not here. And still, those numbers don't reflect size of a company and the resources it consumes vs how much it really feeds the local economy; only the number of employees. We both know the two are not mutually inclusive.

mnem
 

[BU508A]

From our discussion on our last discord session:

This is the ideal-tek plier, model nr. P-500, which I'm using now since more than 15 years
and I was looking for a replacement, just in case. It is working nicely after all this years but
I was also curious what is available nowadays. The P-500 is discontinued by ideal-tek.

I've found the PN2016 from Piergiacomi hand tools (Italy) which nice, but I liked the handles more of the P-500.

Any suggestions for a replacement of the P-500?

The P-500:


The PN-2016:

[xrunner]

Agilent E4411B Firmware Saga

Interesting finding ...

I had looked at upgrading the FW years ago and the only FW I found was here -

Firmware

As it states, it requires the option B72 Expanded Memory to be installed. As I didn't have that, I never did any FW updates to the unit.

Also if you look at the link "Previous Versions" you will find nothing there ... no previous versions.

However in my research today I found this web page -

ESA Spectrum Analyzer Firmware, A.07.06

Sez there -

"A.07.06    Firmware for ESA instruments without increased memory, Option B72"

 

LOL, so you claim there are no previous versions available ... except for the previous version that is available.

Very funny Keysight. 

So I am going to attempt this upgrade for the time being. I only have five 3.5" floppies though (requires seven). So I'll make disks 1 - 5, and after the first two are installed, I'll go back to the PC and make them into disk 6 and 7 while the other disks are loading.

To brick or not to brick - that is the question. 

[mnementh]

PSA: Keep your eyes on your online orders.

I ordered an item on AliExpress a few weeks ago. Got the alleged "shipped" notification. A week later, the shipment was cancelled. Neither AliExpress nor the seller notified me let alone bothered to refund my order. I had to explicitly file a dispute with AliExpress. At least that part was easy and quick to get my refund. Intentional shiftiness? I don't know. But with the long shipping times these days, you've got to keep your eyes peeled.

I placed four orders at the same time a bit more than a month ago. Three orders arrived between 1 and 2 weeks ago, including a NanoVNA V2plus4
However, the fourth order is still in international shipping. I am suspicious since all the others shipped at the same time and have arrived.
At what point is it better to raise it up, rather than just giving them more time?

Don't hesitate to open the dispute the day it's overdue for delivery; as you know, it is so easy to forget in a month. You can still do the "allow another week or two" thing without giving up your right to redress.

As to the "intentional shiftiness" thing... you know, these guys are making their money literally selling stuff for the kind of money we blow on candy or a drive-thru. Given that they wholesale buy the goods, pack them and ship them halfway around the globe for that pittance, they have to be working their asses off for a dollar or 5 per box.

I don't know that kind of business model can possibly engender a whole lot of GAF in the people who choose it... I certainly wouldn't expect more than UDP-class "best effort packet delivery" in this case, if you know what I mean. I have no doubt there's a certain number who really are doing the best they know how, but may get dogpiled by sudden demand or a sudden uptick in the wholesale cost and just cannot fulfill.

OTOH... of course, whenever you have such a scenario, you will also have a percentage of those who engage purely to play the numbers and scalp the ones who forget to check on time.

That is one of the reasons I often seek out and buy such items on Banggood; their customer service is slow, but eventually will take care of you.

Cheers,

mnem
 

[bd139]

From our discussion on our last discord session:

This is the ideal-tek plier, model nr. P-500, which I'm using now since more than 15 years
and I was looking for a replacement, just in case. It is working nicely after all this years but
I was also curious what is available nowadays. The P-500 is discontinued by ideal-tek.

I've found the PN2016 from Piergiacomi hand tools (Italy) which nice, but I liked the handles more of the P-500.

Any suggestions for a replacement of the P-500?

The P-500:


The PN-2016:

Just a warning on the Piergiacomi pliers. I have a pair of those. The side-cutters are really nice but the flat pliers are crappy. The internal surface is slightly slippery and the tips bend out fairly quickly giving away the slightly less durable steel than a more reputable brand. This results in things shooting all over the place when you're trying to get hold of them

[Cerebus]

Is it really that small...? As noisy as you motherfuckers are, I'd have expected more than a billion.

Okay... given that, probably a lot more small businesses over there. But that's over there, not here. And still, those numbers don't reflect size of a company and the resources it consumes vs how much it really feeds the local economy; only the number of employees. We both know the two are not mutually inclusive.

mnem
 

You can quibble off in another direction if you like. Your thesis was, that "They've all been squeezed out of existence by the megas". The numbers don't bear that out - SMEs make up 48% of the UK private sector economy. Worldwide it looks like it's more, according to the International Federation of Accountants (themselves quoting the WTO):

According to the World Trade Organization, small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent over 90 per cent of the business population, 60-70% of employment and 55% of GDP in developed economies. SMEs therefore do not just significantly contribute to the economy – they ARE the economy.

Would the giant corporations like to be the only, ideally monopolistic, game left on the planet? Sure. But as of now they are not, they are still only half the game, possibly less worldwide if the WTO is correct.

[Cerebus]

From our discussion on our last discord session:

This is the ideal-tek plier, model nr. P-500, which I'm using now since more than 15 years
and I was looking for a replacement, just in case. It is working nicely after all this years but
I was also curious what is available nowadays. The P-500 is discontinued by ideal-tek.

I've found the PN2016 from Piergiacomi hand tools (Italy) which nice, but I liked the handles more of the P-500.

Any suggestions for a replacement of the P-500?

The P-500:


The PN-2016:

Just a warning on the Piergiacomi pliers. I have a pair of those. The side-cutters are really nice but the flat pliers are crappy. The internal surface is slightly slippery and the tips bend out fairly quickly giving away the slightly less durable steel than a more reputable brand. This results in things shooting all over the place when you're trying to get hold of them

I used to have a pair of pliers similar to the first set of pictures - bought from RS as RS own brand. They were really good and about a zillion times better than you'd expect pliers essentially made out out of a steel metal pressing to be. Might be worth a look to see if they still carry the same tool.

[Specmaster]

PSA: Keep your eyes on your online orders.

I ordered an item on AliExpress a few weeks ago. Got the alleged "shipped" notification. A week later, the shipment was cancelled. Neither AliExpress nor the seller notified me let alone bothered to refund my order. I had to explicitly file a dispute with AliExpress. At least that part was easy and quick to get my refund. Intentional shiftiness? I don't know. But with the long shipping times these days, you've got to keep your eyes peeled.

I placed four orders at the same time a bit more than a month ago. Three orders arrived between 1 and 2 weeks ago, including a NanoVNA V2plus4
However, the fourth order is still in international shipping. I am suspicious since all the others shipped at the same time and have arrived.
At what point is it better to raise it up, rather than just giving them more time?

Don't hesitate to open the dispute the day it's overdue for delivery; as you know, it is so easy to forget in a month. You can still do the "allow another week or two" thing without giving up your right to redress.

As to the "intentional shiftiness" thing... you know, these guys are making their money literally selling stuff for the kind of money we blow on candy or a drive-thru. Given that they wholesale buy the goods, pack them and ship them halfway around the globe for that pittance, they have to be working their asses off for a dollar or 5 per box.

I don't know that kind of business model can possibly engender a whole lot of GAF in the people who choose it... I certainly wouldn't expect more than UDP-class "best effort packet delivery" in this case, if you know what I mean. I have no doubt there's a certain number who really are doing the best they know how, but may get dogpiled by sudden demand or a sudden uptick in the wholesale cost and just cannot fulfill.

OTOH... of course, whenever you have such a scenario, you will also have a percentage of those who engage purely to play the numbers and scalp the ones who forget to check on time.

That is one of the reasons I often seek out and buy such items on Banggood; their customer service is slow, but eventually will take care of you.

Cheers,

mnem
 

Don't lose sight of the fact that a dollar doesn't really buy you much in the GWN or in Tejas, but that Dollar in China is possibly multiplied by a good factor. It is all relative to the local economy 

[bitseeker]

PSA: Keep your eyes on your online orders.

I ordered an item on AliExpress a few weeks ago. Got the alleged "shipped" notification. A week later, the shipment was cancelled. Neither AliExpress nor the seller notified me let alone bothered to refund my order. I had to explicitly file a dispute with AliExpress. At least that part was easy and quick to get my refund.

Intentional shiftiness? I don't know. But with the long shipping times these days, you've got to keep your eyes peeled.

I placed four orders at the same time a bit more than a month ago.
Three orders arrived between 1 and 2 weeks ago, including a NanoVNA V2plus4
However, the fourth order is still in international shipping.
I am suspicious since all the others shipped at the same time and have arrived.
At what point is it better to raise it up, rather than just giving them more time?

Before your ability to file a dispute expires. I think it's around 60 days and then auto-resolves to "received".

[bitseeker]

I guess I'm bored so I'm going to start a project to upgrade the firmware in my Agilent E4411B Spectrum Analyzer. Shahriar of The Signal Path channel has a video showing how he did it here in an E4407B -

https://youtu.be/gb1QMJtwumQ?list=TLPQMTEwNTIwMjFBvsbySV9qqA

...

Oh, cool. I didn't recall you had one of these. I noticed how some displayed color and others B&W, but never looked into it. I ended up getting an 8560E (in need of CRT alignment or repair) and stopped hunting for an E44xx.

Looking forward to seeing your upgrade.

[mnementh]

From our discussion on our last discord session:

This is the ideal-tek plier, model nr. P-500, which I'm using now since more than 15 years
and I was looking for a replacement, just in case. It is working nicely after all this years but
I was also curious what is available nowadays. The P-500 is discontinued by ideal-tek.

I've found the PN2016 from Piergiacomi hand tools (Italy) which nice, but I liked the handles more of the P-500.

Any suggestions for a replacement of the P-500?

The P-500:


The PN-2016:

   https://xuron.com/index.php/main/downloads

You might more like the handles on the XURON product line. These are my 485FN Flat-jaw pliers; they are one of my go-to tools. The grips are medium-hard rubber and have held up well for ~3 years now.

Xuron has both a professional/industrial line and a craft/hobbyist line; if you can find the exact tool (like those above bought off Amazon) you need in the hobbyist line, it is usually such great value as to be just a no-brainer. Even the industrial line is generally less expensive than like Lindstrom, etc, and many of their tools are still made in the USA, if you care aboot such things.

Cheers,

mnem
*toolish ol' dwagon*

[BU508A]

Just a warning on the Piergiacomi pliers. I have a pair of those. The side-cutters are really nice but the flat pliers are crappy. The internal surface is slightly slippery and the tips bend out fairly quickly giving away the slightly less durable steel than a more reputable brand. This results in things shooting all over the place when you're trying to get hold of them

Thanks for the heads-up. Since I'm using much more the P-500 I didn't have that problem actually. 

I've found another possible replacement for the P-500 but this one is a bit pricey (I've paid for the P-500 ca. CHF 25.- back in the days) and it has also the thicker handles.

It comes from ideal-tek as well, it is the E6025.CR.BG.



Bürklin in Germany has it, I think, I might give it a try.

[bitseeker]

...

OTOH... of course, whenever you have such a scenario, you will also have a percentage of those who engage purely to play the numbers and scalp the ones who forget to check on time.

That is one of the reasons I often seek out and buy such items on Banggood; their customer service is slow, but eventually will take care of you.

Yep, there's always a percentage.

Speaking of percentages, my overall success rate with AliExpress is about 80%. 20% have some issue, don't show up, get damaged, etc. However, AliExpress takes care of it without issue. So, it's been OK, all things considered.

[cyclin_al]

And by slavishly using Amazon for more and more you (I include us all here) are slowly seeing the end of any chance of small local retails survival and even mid to large wholesale/retail suppliers. This shitstorm started a long while ago with Costoco etal and Amazon is the evolution of the model of decimate and dominate as a corporate plan. 

What do you want me to do about it.

Like all of us we should consider what it is doing to our communities that is all. Anything specialty retail is going or has gone the way of the Dodo and mid level is heading that way.

It doesn't mean don't use them just think if what you are ordering. Cutting out local whenever you can is ultimately cutting your own throat.

Let's be honest here there are a few factors that are affecting local communities:

1. Migration of first world countries to service industries.
2. 90% of retail purchases are unnecessary lumps of conspicuous consumption and that is dying off in favour of necessity.
3. Entertainment and experience have replaced things.
4. Local businesses as a rule offer the worst experience, service and support unless they are very niche and most of those are doing online trading now because a singular local area doesn't have enough customers to sustain business.

Quite frankly everyone's living a pipe dream of local being best.

Your community is more than local businesses. It's parks, sports, recreation, social interactions, events and leisure and we're being sold a lie by a dying sector that it's about local businesses selling tat that no one wants or needs any more.

Loom smashers can stay in the last century thanks.

Local Businesses and in particular Small Business were among the largest employers. I think the decline and direction is likely irreversible at least in Country Oz and at minimum I need to have freighted in from Melbourne raw materials due to this dumbing down of retail to Big Box style stores not carrying what is needed.

If we take Electronic components then what was here 6 or 7 years ago was a 'reasonablely' run by a Lady Engineer Store with a great idea of what her customers needed including a mix of the usual E-Toys and PC gear to keep the component side viable. She retired and  the low cost PC making entity that brought her business fucked it totally in two years due mainly to NFI and the rise of Evilbay/Amazon for a lot of what they used to carry. I now have a poor attempt at an Electronics store 2 1/2 hours away which certainly isn't worth the drive to be disappointed.

The lack of quality support be it repair or service of goods is also screwing us over as the solution becomes junk it and buy another 2-3 year solution for the least possible $ from Evilbay/Amazon.

Living in a major Capital I suggest you are out of touch with small retail and community as the jobs in YOUR area are certainly more likely to be Service or Government ones. We unlike you do not have same or even next day delivery and fortunately so far AmazonOz sucks Donkey Balls.

For me, it really depends on what the local business is providing and whether they offer anything of value.
I do make a point of looking local, but I still make careful decisions about my purchasing.
In fact, I often search locally and then widen my search until I find what I am looking until I find a reasonable value.

We have a local small engines shop.  That is where I purchased my chain saw sharpener mentioned today.  I could have bought it cheaper online/elsewhere.  The shop also provides services and local support, which is highly valuable.  I support them by purchasing items there in order to maintain the services.  Yes, it also helps the local economy and local jobs. 
The local farm store is much the same way with building supplies and provides incredible value when it comes to emergency repairs.

There is another local roadside place that has a restaurant and gas bar.  I do order pizzas there once in a while since the food is quite good and the convenience factor is worth it, especially on Fridays.
However, I do not buy any gas there.  Their gas price is 40% higher than in town.  I cannot justify that when I buy a couple of hundred litres at a time, partially for the purpose of travelling back and forth to town.  Their market is people who forgot to get gas elsewhere or who do not justify going in to town, which I do not fit.

Electronics is a whole other matter.  The nearest shop is more than one hour of driving and carries a poor mix of items.  It is impossible to get everything for a single project there. 
The Great White North has few and far between options.  I will order sometimes from shops/online in Ontario or elsewhere in Canada that can ship and have reasonable prices.
Even DigiKey Canada orders are fulfilled by DigiKey USA more than half the time...
I think there are likely only two people in this region that order electronic components, so there is no local business case to be made.
Even if I search local to my office, there almost nothing to be found, and my office is in a national capital.

In summary of all that, it depends on value and what your definition of value is.
Exclusively local or avoiding local are not viable solutions here; finding a decent balance is the only practical thing to do up here.

[BU508A]

   https://xuron.com/index.php/main/downloads

You might more like the handles on the XURON product line. These are my 485FN Flat-jaw pliers; they are one of my go-to tools. The grips are medium-hard rubber and have held up well for ~3 years now.

Thanks for that. I'm having on my Amazon wish-list this one, but I wasn't sure about their quality.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00TQ3R1DQ

Xuron has both a professional/industrial line and a craft/hobbyist line; if you can find the exact tool (like those above bought off Amazon) you need in the hobbyist line, it is usually such great value as to be just a no-brainer. Even the industrial line is generally less expensive than like Lindstrom, etc, and many of their tools are still made in the USA, if you care aboot such things.

I do care about good quality. There are not much more things in the world which makes me more angry,
than tools which are promising high quality and doesn't keep that promise.
As Cerebus stated above: these ideal-tek pliers (or his ones from RS) are amazingly good.
I didn't trust them at first, but over time they have convinced me.

But thank you again for the confirmation, that Xuron is a good brand. Maybe I'll order one, just out of curiosity.

[mnementh]

Is it really that small...? As noisy as you motherfuckers are, I'd have expected more than a billion.

Okay... given that, probably a lot more small businesses over there. But that's over there, not here. And still, those numbers don't reflect size of a company and the resources it consumes vs how much it really feeds the local economy; only the number of employees. We both know the two are not mutually inclusive.

mnem
 

You can quibble off in another direction if you like. Your thesis was, that "They've all been squeezed out of existence by the megas". The numbers don't bear that out - SMEs make up 48% of the UK private sector economy. Worldwide it looks like it's more, according to the International Federation of Accountants (themselves quoting the WTO):

According to the World Trade Organization, small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent over 90 per cent of the business population, 60-70% of employment and 55% of GDP in developed economies. SMEs therefore do not just significantly contribute to the economy – they ARE the economy.

Would the giant corporations like to be the only, ideally monopolistic, game left on the planet? Sure. But as of now they are not, they are still only half the game, possibly less worldwide if the WTO is correct.

You're not getting my point. You're arguing a completely different point from the one I was making.

Your figures are the wrong sample set for the discussion I'm talking aboot; they reflect only the number of employees, not the true size of the company by its dollar value or by the resources it consumes. The megas don't employ a lot of people compared to what they take out of a local economy, so in your figures, they will look like a smaller company than they really are. By looking at only the number of people employed, the scope is self-limiting, and cannot reflect the way small businesses are being squeezed out of existence.

Small businesses are the ones who feed the economy... they always have been the ones who actually employ people; that is a given. These figures by their nature cannot show how small businesses are being squeezed out en masse; they can only show the numbers of a dwindling resource compared to itself.

The whole problem with the megas is the money they take out of circulation, that goes only to filling the vaults of a few thousand people worldwide, and does NOT stimulate the economy in any other way than buying politicians. Yet we consistently bend over backwards to keep the megas right where they can take the most money out of the local economy, while deliberately employing absolutely as few people as they can get away with.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Just a warning on the Piergiacomi pliers. I have a pair of those. The side-cutters are really nice but the flat pliers are crappy. The internal surface is slightly slippery and the tips bend out fairly quickly giving away the slightly less durable steel than a more reputable brand. This results in things shooting all over the place when you're trying to get hold of them

Thanks for the heads-up. Since I'm using much more the P-500 I didn't have that problem actually. 

I've found another possible replacement for the P-500 but this one is a bit pricey (I've paid for the P-500 ca. CHF 25.- back in the days) and it has also the thicker handles.

It comes from ideal-tek as well, it is the E6025.CR.BG.



Bürklin in Germany has it, I think, I might give it a try.

Mmmhmmm... those are supposedly for medical market. Yummeh. But probably also commensurately priced to that expensive market, I'm sure...

Oooh... lookit the datasheet for the steel these are made of: https://www.ideal-tek.com/public/files/550-TDS_Ball_bearing_steel_type_CR.pdf

That's mildly pornographic...   

mnem
 

[med6753]

40 years ago in this local area from an electronics/parts perspective we had Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio (with a yearly catalog just like RS), and a big local firm called Greylock Electronics. Plus all the local small TV repair shops. By 1981 Lafayette went under. Soon after Greylock closed up. And slowly all those local TV repair shops disappeared. And we all know what happen to Radio Shack. Today we have 0, nada, nothing local. In the pre-internet days it was scanning electronics magazines for companies offering mail order catalogs. Many of those companies are no longer around plus the electronics magazines went bust too. So today it's basically Mouser or Digi-Key plus a few others.       

[Cerebus]

You're not getting my point. You're arguing a completely different point from the one I was making.

No, the point was "Me: small companies historically pay better", "You: There are no more small companies", "Me: Yes there are, here are the figures (by number of companies, number of employees and turnover)" and you've wandered off somewhere completely different.

[med6753]

Danger Will Robinson, the predictable shit storm is approaching. 

[Cerebus]

40 years ago in this local area from an electronics/parts perspective we had Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio (with a yearly catalog just like RS), and a big local firm called Greylock Electronics. Plus all the local small TV repair shops. By 1981 Lafayette went under. Soon after Greylock closed up. And slowly all those local TV repair shops disappeared. And we all know what happen to Radio Shack. Today we have 0, nada, nothing local. In the pre-internet days it was scanning electronics magazines for companies offering mail order catalogs. Many of those companies are no longer around plus the electronics magazines went bust too. So today it's basically Mouser or Digi-Key plus a few others.     

Lafayette were obviously ubiquitous enough in their day because I immediately knew the name despite, unlike Radio Shack, them having no UK or European presence that I'm aware of.

[med6753]

40 years ago in this local area from an electronics/parts perspective we had Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio (with a yearly catalog just like RS), and a big local firm called Greylock Electronics. Plus all the local small TV repair shops. By 1981 Lafayette went under. Soon after Greylock closed up. And slowly all those local TV repair shops disappeared. And we all know what happen to Radio Shack. Today we have 0, nada, nothing local. In the pre-internet days it was scanning electronics magazines for companies offering mail order catalogs. Many of those companies are no longer around plus the electronics magazines went bust too. So today it's basically Mouser or Digi-Key plus a few others.     

Lafayette were obviously ubiquitous enough in their day because I immediately knew the name despite, unlike Radio Shack, them having no UK or European presence that I'm aware of.

Yes, they were. I think they had several hundred stores but don't hold me to that. I still have several of their catalogs. And the Sony ICF-5500W radio was purchased from them.

[vk6zgo]

And Back on topic nicely made one off TEA dual power supply eBay auction: #184761588137 I could but I won't 

The Cannon power connector screams "Telecom Australia, circa early 1980s".

[vk6zgo]

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

Pissing in a bottle is nothing new. Way back in 1973 when I joined IBM pissing in the bottle was required. When I became an IBM contractor in 2009 pissing in the bottle was required. Personally I don't see it as a big deal. If you're clean you have nothing to worry about.

It's not even that pissing in a bottle. It's for the sake of needing a piss but having nowhere to do it.

I pissed in an empty beer can once at Sainsburys and left in the warehouse because they locked the toilets. At least they give you bottles at Amazon  - far less dangerous

How would anyone tell if the can was empty, or just half consumed, knowing English beer?