Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

I've been traveling last week, up north in Sweden; at least a bit above center. Among the places we passed through was Trångsviken, a small village known for being a watering stop for steam engines, and the birthplace of the most iconic outdoor stove -- the Trangia. The factory still is sited in Trångsviken and they've got a museum and factory store along the E14 road.  Couldn't resist. Got a Duossal frying pan and  large kettle, and topped off with a grid for placing a moka coffee pot on, if boiling or filter drip is not up to the task of providing morning initiative.

Attached image is proof that the items are factory direct, much like going to Palo Alto in the old days to buy an oscillator.

Very cool  . Let us know how the Duossal fry pan goes. I’m going to buy one when I’ve knackered the non stick one which will probably be next time I use it.

I was scheduled to go on a three day hike with mine but it’s too close to my middle ones birthday so that is shelved.


Edit: keeping it TE related. Been playing with the broken tinySA. The thing has some interesting trigger functions. If you set it to trigger mode -70dBm and zero span, set centre to 433MHz and ping your car key fob it’ll give you a nice packet dump 

[Martin.M]

5245L + 4 plugins, waiting to go on the table.

[mansaxel]

I am looking for a managed 1Gb/POE switch to slap there, I want to do VLAN and maybe other jazz which make sense in 2021.

Ubiquiti's Unifi stuff. Yes, it's (partly) closed-source Yes, it's expensive. But it Just Works™. I did the whole cheap Linux device thing for years and years. I tired of every change to the network turning into a weekend project. The Unifi WiFi stuff works great, too.

I'd said that too until I got to work with people who'd put all their gear on Ubiquiti.

I'm less impressed. Ok, it's cool for a little IOT and some web browsing and some 10% of capacity streaming. But, buffers, QoS, priority, console config (A console is not a fucking 115200bps thing. Consoles are 9600 1n8, period. Fucking Linux users.) and such are sorely missing. I've actually got a pole-mounted router of theirs here, that I've only tested to power on. I was planning to use it for a bit of WISP'y stuff, (I'm trying to tell the people who operate the Swedish part of AMPRNet how ISP routing works...) but the water tower I'd been ogling has been made "critical infrastructure" and is very hard to rent space on top of. I would have gotten almost free line-of-sight towards several other nice tower sites from there, with some air to spare for fresnel lobes and such.

[Cerebus]

I've been traveling last week, up north in Sweden; at least a bit above center. Among the places we passed through was Trångsviken, a small village known for being a watering stop for steam engines, and the birthplace of the most iconic outdoor stove -- the Trangia. The factory still is sited in Trångsviken and they've got a museum and factory store along the E14 road.  Couldn't resist. Got a Duossal frying pan and  large kettle, and topped off with a grid for placing a moka coffee pot on, if boiling or filter drip is not up to the task of providing morning initiative.

Attached image is proof that the items are factory direct, much like going to Palo Alto in the old days to buy an oscillator.

Very cool  . Let us know how the Duossal fry pan goes. I’m going to buy one when I’ve knackered the non stick one which will probably be next time I use it.

But the critical question is: Can you reflow in it? 

[nixiefreqq]

5245L + 4 plugins, waiting to go on the table.

footloose!

[tggzzz]

I've been traveling last week, up north in Sweden; at least a bit above center. Among the places we passed through was Trångsviken, a small village known for being a watering stop for steam engines, and the birthplace of the most iconic outdoor stove -- the Trangia. The factory still is sited in Trångsviken and they've got a museum and factory store along the E14 road.  Couldn't resist. Got a Duossal frying pan and  large kettle, and topped off with a grid for placing a moka coffee pot on, if boiling or filter drip is not up to the task of providing morning initiative.

Attached image is proof that the items are factory direct, much like going to Palo Alto in the old days to buy an oscillator.

Very cool  . Let us know how the Duossal fry pan goes. I’m going to buy one when I’ve knackered the non stick one which will probably be next time I use it.

But the critical question is: Can you reflow in it? 

Wouldn't try: too much chance of exploring the long term effects of PTFE getting too hot. Just use the cheapest saucepan with a glass lid

[bd139]

Duossal is stainless steel/aluminium laminate. No nasty teflon crap.

No Teflon here! Swapped my frying pans out a few months ago for stainless ones. Took a couple of weeks to work them out but can cook anything on them now. Can't beat steak seared in stainless.

[0culus]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

[xrunner]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

WOW - what a monster. No I've never seen one of those. I read up a bit on it - sez no vert. amps so it has a 1 GHz BW. Have you ever checked that spec out?

I did find me another hp 436A for $40. I paid for it and hopefully (if this person doesn't also lose track of it like the last one) I'll have it next week. 

[med6753]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

My floor loading is insignificant compared to that. 

Are you sure you trust that table? The floor? The entire structure? 

[0culus]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

WOW - what a monster. No I've never seen one of those. I read up a bit on it - sez no vert. amps so it has a 1 GHz BW. Have you ever checked that spec out?

I did find me another hp 436A for $40. I paid for it and hopefully (if this person doesn't also lose track of it like the last one) I'll have it next week. 

Indeed, it will show a 1 GHz+ sine from an RF generator. I haven't tested the 3 dB point but it's definitely much higher than 1 GHz, to account for the exceptionally clean step response. At the time the 519 was designed, the only way to get optimum step response was to eliminate the amplifier. By the time the successor (the 7104) came out they had made advances in the special hybrids that allowed the 7104 to have useful amplifiers.

 Tek also made a 519C with an even smaller 2x4cm viewing area but with 3 GHz bandwidth! I have *never* seen one of those, just seen a mention of it in an old paper that was surveying high speed oscilloscopes.

[0culus]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

My floor loading is insignificant compared to that. 

Are you sure you trust that table? The floor? The entire structure? 

Oh yeah. It's on a concrete slab, and the table is very very sturdy.

[Cerebus]

Duossal is stainless steel/aluminium laminate. No nasty teflon crap.

No Teflon here! Swapped my frying pans out a few months ago for stainless ones. Took a couple of weeks to work them out but can cook anything on them now. Can't beat steak seared in stainless.

With my old camp stove, one of those MSR "run ons on anything" jobs, there was a severe risk of melting the pan if you ran the stove on full go on an empty pan and looked the other way to get the water to put in it for a brew-up. Teflon would have decomposed and evaporated in 5-10 seconds. It sounds like the design was overkill but it wasn't, it's not uncommon to use those MSRs to turn -20ºC snow or ice into boiling water and you don't want to wait all week for it.

[med6753]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

My floor loading is insignificant compared to that. 

Are you sure you trust that table? The floor? The entire structure? 

Oh yeah. It's on a concrete slab, and the table is very very sturdy.

They said the Titanic was unsinkable too. 

[BU508A]

Yeah, I know, I'm a bit late to the party but here are some pictures of my DIY Kelvin cable set, made with RG316.
The RG316 is a bit stiff but it's doing its job.

But first: arrival from Saturday, the ten LM723H/883Q from National:


And here is my Kelvin cable set:



The bananas are 4mm Stäubli/MultiContact hollow plugs. I've soldered some wires to the shielding right under the heatshrinking tube next to the cable ties. The Kelvin clips itself I've bought in Belgium from this seller: https://www.ebay.com/itm/164360896467

[0culus]

Did some lab rearranging today, mainly to take advantage of vertical space.  This led to the attached photo...for those of you who have perhaps never seen a Tek 519 in person, here's my 7104 sitting on top of it. If you are familiar with about how large a 4 bay 7k mainframe is, you'll note that the 519 is more than twice the volume. And easily twice the weight, if not more...

My floor loading is insignificant compared to that. 

Are you sure you trust that table? The floor? The entire structure? 

Oh yeah. It's on a concrete slab, and the table is very very sturdy.

They said the Titanic was unsinkable too. 

Shaddap!!! don't jinx me!!!   

[duckduck]

I am looking for a managed 1Gb/POE switch to slap there, I want to do VLAN and maybe other jazz which make sense in 2021.

Ubiquiti's Unifi stuff. Yes, it's (partly) closed-source Yes, it's expensive. But it Just Works™. I did the whole cheap Linux device thing for years and years. I tired of every change to the network turning into a weekend project. The Unifi WiFi stuff works great, too.

Ubiquiti were good right up until they got to the "Your gear will phone home" and "You will need a login on our cloud platform to use your own gear" point. From that point on they were dead to me.

Expensive? Not in this skinfint's books. I got a 16 port 10G switch from them for circa £500, that's a bargain.

I can't speak to phoning home, but you do not need a cloud account to use their network gear. I do not have a cloud account. You lose out on remote management, but I don't feel the need to manage my home network while I'm on holiday.

Their security camera system DOES require a cloud account. I have one listed for sale on ebay.

EDIT:

I am looking for a managed 1Gb/POE switch to slap there, I want to do VLAN and maybe other jazz which make sense in 2021.

Ubiquiti's Unifi stuff. Yes, it's (partly) closed-source Yes, it's expensive. But it Just Works™. I did the whole cheap Linux device thing for years and years. I tired of every change to the network turning into a weekend project. The Unifi WiFi stuff works great, too.

I'd said that too until I got to work with people who'd put all their gear on Ubiquiti.

I'm less impressed. Ok, it's cool for a little IOT and some web browsing and some 10% of capacity streaming. But, buffers, QoS, priority, console config (A console is not a fucking 115200bps thing. Consoles are 9600 1n8, period. Fucking Linux users.) and such are sorely missing. I've actually got a pole-mounted router of theirs here, that I've only tested to power on. I was planning to use it for a bit of WISP'y stuff, (I'm trying to tell the people who operate the Swedish part of AMPRNet how ISP routing works...) but the water tower I'd been ogling has been made "critical infrastructure" and is very hard to rent space on top of. I would have gotten almost free line-of-sight towards several other nice tower sites from there, with some air to spare for fresnel lobes and such.

It does support QoS to an extent. You could rig up a "proper" console with a bit of wrangling. Nevertheless, you hit the nail on the head. It is pro-sumer / SOHO gear. If you want the full set of enterprise features you either have to go down the painful road of a more DIY Linux/BSD solution, or pony up and go full Avaya (or Cisco if you are a wealthy masochist).

EDIT EDIT:

I'm never one to waste a post on the TEA thread.

Yeah, I know, I'm a bit late to the party but here are some pictures of my DIY Kelvin cable set, made with RG316.
The RG316 is a bit stiff but it's doing its job.

[...]

And here is my Kelvin cable set:



The bananas are 4mm Stäubli/MultiContact hollow plugs. I've soldered some wires to the shielding right under the heatshrinking tube next to the cable ties. The Kelvin clips itself I've bought in Belgium from this seller: https://www.ebay.com/itm/164360896467

Those are quite fetching. What's the reason for using coax and what is the shield connected to, and at which ends?

I ended up buying the AST-branded ones from an online retailer that shares its name with a large river in South America. They seem to be quite decent. They use 18AWG silly-cone wires and, as Marco Reps would say, "proper" banana plugs. I don't understand why they went for safety plugs since there will never be more than about 1V between them (I measured 0.910 volts while measuring a 20kR).  Maybe because a foolish person might measure the resistance of a charged 600V capacitor?

[Cerebus]

I am looking for a managed 1Gb/POE switch to slap there, I want to do VLAN and maybe other jazz which make sense in 2021.

Ubiquiti's Unifi stuff. Yes, it's (partly) closed-source Yes, it's expensive. But it Just Works™. I did the whole cheap Linux device thing for years and years. I tired of every change to the network turning into a weekend project. The Unifi WiFi stuff works great, too.

Ubiquiti were good right up until they got to the "Your gear will phone home" and "You will need a login on our cloud platform to use your own gear" point. From that point on they were dead to me.

Expensive? Not in this skinfint's books. I got a 16 port 10G switch from them for circa £500, that's a bargain.

I can't speak to phoning home, but you do not need a cloud account to use their network gear. I do not have a cloud account. You lose out on remote management, but I don't feel the need to manage my home network while I'm on holiday.

Their security camera system DOES require a cloud account. I have one listed for sale on ebay.

Sure, we made your Wi-Fi routers phone home with telemetry, says Ubiquiti. What of it?
You didn't ask for it, we didn't tell you about it, but hey, it clears GDPR so what you gonna do?
Shaun Nichols in San Francisco   Thu 7 Nov 2019 // 20:56 UTC

Ubiquiti Networks is fending off customer complaints after emitting a firmware update that caused its UniFi wireless routers to quietly phone HQ with telemetry. ...

They also changed the management software (UNMS) that you run locally to require a cloud account. I'm guessing you just manage individual boxes via the web interface, or haven't updated UNMS in a while, or perhaps if you got in before they foisted cloud accounts on everyone then they let you carry on without one. The last time I tried to run up UNMS it wanted me to register a cloud account before it would play.

[tautech]

I got the first Moderna shot last Monday and had no side effects other than slight sore spot in the arm which disappeared after 2 days. I'm already scheduled for the 2nd shot on the 30th.

I've had 2 Pfizer shots, with no problems what so ever. Probably my least problematic flu shot ever.

The 5G reception is really stellar.

That made me laugh !
Have to wait to see if that kicks in for us ....but only 2hrs yet so the nano's need time to multiply. 

[cyclin_al]

Oh, some " Bonne Maman " jam ?!   Didn't know they exported overseas, wow...

Thanks for supporting our economy / jobs Mnem ! 

Easy to get anywhere as far as I know. Certainly in the UK.

Of course, if you want proper strawberry jam you want Wilkins & Sons "Tiptree" brand jams and preserves from Essex (of all places). Not only do they make the best jam in the world, but they actually grow their own fruit for their jams. Obviously only those fruit that will grow locally. They're not growing apricots in Essex, oh no. They also sell the same fruit fresh locally.

I'm lucky and my local supermarket actually gets some of their strawberries from Wilkins at Tiptree Farm. These are strawberries like you used to get in my childhood - not breed for transportability or shelf life but for strawberryness, absolutely bloody delicious. I had some last week and it was like being transported back to the 1960s.

Sorry... the best jam in the world is made by my grandmother in her kitchen from red/black raspberries, black cherries, concord/white grapes, apples, peaches, nectarines and strawberries hand-picked by myself, my mother, and my cousin Chris.

Well, made from the ones that made it home after we ate them fresh-picked until our bellies ached.

Almost 50 years ago... and lost to the foggy mists of time... *sigh*

*~mnemories~*

Nope, best jams are still made by none other than Mom !!!
I give you some credit, since she learned it from Grandma.

Yep, my Dad always insisted we go berry picking with him.  Yes, he is just as Scottish as I am.  He actually told people that berry picking at the berry farm was the only way to do it, since he did not have to pay for the berries in our tummies, only for the berries in the baskets.

[beanflying]

48kg of Frequency Generating Door Stop. Pickup only in Sydney if you are prepared to risk a fine for breaching stay at home orders.... eBay auction: #154569906786

Go on @Brumby you know you NEED it and its only $2/kg 

[cyclin_al]

Well fudge ... got message from seller of the hp 436A - "I have misplaced or lost this item. I am issuing a refund. thank you."   How can you lose a power meter?     Oh well, I found another - may get it for a little less than the other one. Making offer at this time ... 

Huh... given that  am still going back and forth with that dickwad who put his borked Lenovo touchscreen digitizer on fleaBay instead of in the garbage where it belongs... and my last purchase of bicycle parts that never arrived... is there anybody left on fleaBay who isn't some douchnugget ripoff motherfucker...?

mnem

Nope 
.... also, still going back and forth on PayPal resolution centre messages (expires Escalates August 30th or ) regarding 2.4GHz battery thingies with wheels.

[cyclin_al]

Well what to do now?

I have 12 coax and 15 Eth CAT5 coming out from the wall in my US home. The coax are for the dish/satellite service which in 2013 made sense somehow to some people.

I am looking for a managed 1Gb/POE switch to slap there, I want to do VLAN and maybe other jazz which make sense in 2021.

Mikrotik?

What to do with all the coax? 10MHz network to sync the TEA in the kitchen?

What about a 10MHz network to sync the TEA in the kitchen bedroom? 
It is north america; there has to be a coax running there, or several?

Need to clean that stuff out of my place too ...

[cyclin_al]

Duossal is stainless steel/aluminium laminate. No nasty teflon crap.

No Teflon here! Swapped my frying pans out a few months ago for stainless ones. Took a couple of weeks to work them out but can cook anything on them now. Can't beat steak seared in stainless.

With my old camp stove, one of those MSR "run ons on anything" jobs, there was a severe risk of melting the pan if you ran the stove on full go on an empty pan and looked the other way to get the water to put in it for a brew-up. Teflon would have decomposed and evaporated in 5-10 seconds. It sounds like the design was overkill but it wasn't, it's not uncommon to use those MSRs to turn -20ºC snow or ice into boiling water and you don't want to wait all week for it.

MSR Whisperlite or MSR Whisperlite International. 
Yep, you definitely don't want to wait all week for it when at high altitude.  It will do it, just not as quickly as at lower altitudes.

[mnementh]

Well what to do now?      I have 12 coax and 15 Eth CAT5 coming out from the wall in my US home. The coax are for the dish/satellite service which in 2013 made sense somehow to some people.

I am looking for a managed 1Gb/POE switch to slap there, I want to do VLAN and maybe other jazz which make sense in 2021.

Mikrotik?

What to do with all the coax? 10MHz network to sync the TEA in the kitchen?

What about a 10MHz network to sync the TEA in the kitchen bedroom?  It is north america; there has to be a coax running there, or several?   Need to clean that stuff out of my place too ...

He's probably got enough coax in place to do Token Ring throughout the house. 

mnem
*toddles off to ded*