Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

We had one of those guys. The computer was quarantined and flattened. The user had badge revoked, was escorted from the building and fired.

[Vince]

My eyes hurt if I have to watch anything less than 720p.

Yeah, there are even people you thumb down a video if it's not in 4K ?! 
Me, I remember the early days when internet videos were like the size of a small time stamp, 256 colours and like 3 to 10 frames per second.
So when I can watch a Youtube video in 480p, it's plenty good enough when displayed in a small/stander YT window, about at 1/10th the size of my 17" CRT monitor hence 15,6" viewable area, running at 1280x1024.
Hell even when I play it full screen it scales up nicely I find, good enough for me.
For now it's more like 240 and 2 min of wait to load anything, because of my crappy 4G box. But when I had ADSL  I could watch 480p and it was fine to me...
Where I am critical however, is the quality of the AUDIO in a video. I don't care much about video resolution, however if the audio is painful of hard to hear, it's a no no. I can't stand bad or substandard audio, like I can easily do with substandard video.

Bandwidth at home is limited; I am a scrooge and pay for only 100Mbit/s. Apparently I can get it:

Well here telecom companies like to sell you dreams but at peaks / rush hours, ie when everybody is connected at the same time ie when YOU also are connected, then no, no way you get the full advertised speed... because they cheap out on the infrastructure to save money. So you get the speed you paid for only when at times of the day where you are either at work or sleeping. Not very useful.  Was like that with ADSL too. Since the beginning.

[mansaxel]

Where I am critical however, is the quality of the AUDIO in a video. I don't care much about video resolution, however if the audio is painful of hard to hear, it's a no no. I can't stand bad or substandard audio, like I can easily do with substandard video.

A lot of people react like so, so one thinks that TV audio should be treated properly. Right? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes not....

Bandwidth at home is limited; I am a scrooge and pay for only 100Mbit/s. Apparently I can get it:

Well here telecom companies like to sell you dreams but at peaks / rush hours, ie when everybody is connected at the same time ie when YOU also are connected, then no, no way you get the full advertised speed... because they cheap out on the infrastructure to save money. So you get the speed you paid for only when at times of the day where you are either at work or sleeping. Not very useful.  Was like that with ADSL too. Since the beginning.

Oh, and that was over v6 too, which because I'm on a shitty v4-only net is tunneled so pays a 24-byte tax per 1500 byte IP packet; I have done things like:

Code: [Select]

interface Tunnel25
 description tunnel
 ip address 192.0.2.254 255.255.255.254
 ip mtu 1476
 ip virtual-reassembly in max-reassemblies 64
 ip virtual-reassembly out max-reassemblies 64
 ipv6 address 2001:db8:a::123/127
 ipv6 enable
 ipv6 mtu 1280
 tunnel source 100.68.47.11
 tunnel destination 100.71.12.34
end

...and on the LAN interfaces I do:

Code: [Select]

interface GigabitEthernet0/3.30
 description lan
 encapsulation dot1Q 30
 ip verify unicast source reachable-via rx
 ip tcp adjust-mss 1436
end

(IP addresses have been changed to protect the guilty)

[Specmaster]

Then you'd be shocked at me. This laptop is generally set to go into sleep mode after 3 minutes non-use. Although during the day I may let cook. Before letting it go to sleep I close ALL programs, including my browser. If you don't have all kinds of crap constantly running in the background and have a reasonable internet connection when you return open up a fresh browser in about a second and back on the air.   

Not shocked at all Med ! 

You just do whatever suits your habits and desires best, like everyone else ! 

For me desire is to have the desktop computer  (don't have a laptop) running 24/7 as I spent so much on it. Do'nt want to have to wait for it to power up every morning either, neither do I want to wait for Firefox to load 20/40/60 tabs all over again every day, whch would take like an hour on a good day, because crappy 4G internet box here, no ADSL nor fiber. Just got the copper wires installed a couple months though, so I am planning on subscribing to ADSL in teh coming months. Fiber is well on its way in my village too, my street should be connected this year probably. However I don't need the speed of Fiber (and you never actually get the advertised speed anyway), ADSL is plenty fast enough for what I do. Wirse I need is watching YT videos in 240 or 480p and I mwitnessed it requires only 150KB/s or so, which is peanuts even for ADSL.

Anyway, I keep the computer and tabs open 24/7 because I do use them all the time, can have them open thanks to enough RAM, and because I am not prepared to wait for them all to load every day on my slow connection, especially since I don't have to.  However as I said I do have to limit myself to 20+ tabs to limit RAM usage otherwise with 60 tabs it does not go well atl. So I am already making compromises here, and making efforts.

As for sleep mode, well the whole point of it is precisely to let you recover all your programs very quickly, while still saving lots of power. RAM stays powered to maintain the state of your desktop. If you close all your programs before going to sleep, then might as well pwoer it off to turn it off for good and save on power.

15 years ago I did try the " Hibernate "feature", as a compromise.. before going to bed I would hibernate my desktop (dumps all the RAM contents into the swap partition) so that I can turn it off completely, hence save power, yet when you turn it back on, it restores teh desktop in the same state you left it in, i.e all your apps and tabs are still there 100% like you left them.
Sounded like a good compromise. Sadly it never worked well nor reliably. At least on Linux which I was using (still am) at the time : when powered back on, 80% of the time computer would freeze because the graphics card driver would not play well at all with the hibernate feture ! Or when the video did work, then it's the desktop /  user interface that failed to restore properly the apps and their contents.

So I gave up on hibernating the computer.... and just leave it on 24/7.


It all depends on your use case... the less you use something, the more you are prepared to work and wait to recover it... the more you can afford to tunr it off and put it away.

So everyone has different threshold.... for example following what you said, I might ask you

1) Why is it that you don't store Tek scopes in your toilet cabinet ?? It's like RAM. 99% of the time you are not using it, so it's wasteed space no ? So might as well use that precious space to store Tek scopes ! 
but you don't do that (well I don't know... just assuming  ), because although you spend very little time in the loo, WHEN YOU DO, you want it to be immediately available, and you are not prepared to spend an hour emptying it from all its Tek scopes, never mind the effort it represents...
You want to get to the loo... RIGHT NOW !   

Same for my computer.. I decide that I am not prepared to wait not make any effort every time I want to access it. I want it to be readily available, so that it can serve me rather than me having to work it before it can work for me...

Same goes for your Civic !  You don't use it much, certainly not 24H/7, so why not use it to store Tek scopes as well ?  When you need your car, you "just" need to unload the scopes and there you go ! 

So it's only a matter of where people draw the line, depending of their circumstances, habits, wishes, what they are willing to put up with....

In your case because you are restricted to only having the copper service, I can understand keeping tabs open while using the computer, however, keeping it running 24/7 is hardly helping with the global warming aspect of the CO2 being released into the atmosphere, it might be a small amount in the grand scale of things when compared with other sources, but every little helps.

I have an excellent fibre service and really must disagree with you on the point as you don't get the advertised speeds, well that point will depend on which provider you sign with, I'm with Virgin Media, and I'm on their M350 and I do get what I pay for. The thing that can and does slow things down is the site that you connect to, what bandwidth do they have available for you to take advantage of? I used to be on Virgins M600 service, but I decided that it was wasted money now that I'm retired.

In my house, there are always at least 3 computers connected to the internet 18 hours a day and many other devices, games consols etc. and you can see from the attached speed reading the current speed I get at my computer and so with websites saved to bookmarks, it only a second or two to open a bookmark from cold so I don't need to bog the memory down with loads of open tabs that I may or may not need that day etc.

Can you not get fibre services in France then, surely the UK is not getting something right is it? 


     

[mnementh]

I have close to 200 hours watching DUST alone. There is just so much great content out there now... life's too short to watch anything with bad video or audio.

mnem
Well, except the commercials. They can go piss up a rope.

[Specmaster]

Closing your browser down when not required is a major step in preventing unauthorised access to your computer by viruses and hackers alike, how long does it take for your browser to open and make connection when you need it?

In very, very short summary: No, you are wrong. You are equally vulnerable both cases, because it has nothing to do with how long you do what you do, it is 100% about what you do.

I've had users who got infected the minute they logged in, because they did not understand that going to the malware-infested gambling site in M$IE was going to own them in like 300ms, or whatever the pageload time was. Once they'd been there  the payload is resident, and will start as soon as they boot the computer up.

And the fucking idiot did go back there three times when he'd gotten his laptop back from the corporate purge-and-PXE grinder; the last time I was involved I simply walked to his room, unplugged the computer and walked away with it. Didn't say a word. Wrote his and my boss an email saying what I'd done and why I'd done it. Never heard anything about it again...

Well, if your running decent antivirus and anti malware programs, they should prevent idiots like him from logging into dodgy sites in the first instance. I do run decent protection programs but the hackers etc are not resting on their laurels, they are continually developing newer versions and ways to negate detection, hence the sheer number of updates to the protection programs as new malware etc is detected and new detection and neutralising methods are written to deal with them. I don't believe in being connected to the web when not actually using it, is a good thing, it is a risk to far that does NOT need to be taken. With the connection speeds I have, staying connected to save time is not necessary, it is a blink of an eye, and I'm on-line again.

[mnementh]

OK, I was just buying some dual banana plugs on Aliexpress. I've brought a few things on there in the last couple of weeks and I just scrolled through my purchase history to see where they'd got to. I got all the way to the bottom past connectors, chips, and some assorted mechanical things like an ER20 collect set but nothing that might have connected me to purchasers of the first item here in the "People who bought this also bought these box":

   Now, most of those things have some sense - but who buys cheap connectors and hardware and then splurges out on a £5000 1/3 scale catwoman statue?

   https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002916672705.html

So I was bored... 

Looks like it is a polystone sculpture of CatWoman draped across the BatCycle from Dark Knight. Now that is a thing where I can see some unfulfilled basement-dweller or script kiddie with a passel of stolen CC #s dropping 5K on it in a heartbeat.

mnem
Just don't look at the related products on that page... *shudder*

[mnementh]

Oh, and this is just to distract you from whatever it is you're doing, bd. 

mnem
youuuuuu're welllll-commmmmme!!! 

[mnementh]

Closing your browser down when not required is a major step in preventing unauthorised access to your computer by viruses and hackers alike, how long does it take for your browser to open and make connection when you need it?

In very, very short summary: No, you are wrong. You are equally vulnerable both cases, because it has nothing to do with how long you do what you do, it is 100% about what you do.

I've had users who got infected the minute they logged in, because they did not understand that going to the malware-infested gambling site in M$IE was going to own them in like 300ms, or whatever the pageload time was. Once they'd been there  the payload is resident, and will start as soon as they boot the computer up.

And the fucking idiot did go back there three times when he'd gotten his laptop back from the corporate purge-and-PXE grinder; the last time I was involved I simply walked to his room, unplugged the computer and walked away with it. Didn't say a word. Wrote his and my boss an email saying what I'd done and why I'd done it. Never heard anything about it again...

Well, if your running decent antivirus and anti malware programs, they should prevent idiots like him from logging into dodgy sites in the first instance. I do run decent protection programs but the hackers etc are not resting on their laurels, they are continually developing newer versions and ways to negate detection, hence the sheer number of updates to the protection programs as new malware etc is detected and new detection and neutralising methods are written to deal with them. I don't believe in being connected to the web when not actually using it, is a good thing, it is a risk to far that does NOT need to be taken. With the connection speeds I have, staying connected to save time is not necessary, it is a blink of an eye, and I'm on-line again.

Ummmm... no. A net-nanny plugin, might work... if the blacklist is current enough. You can even use policies on AD to prevent connections to known pud-sucker domains... but that again requires a very current blacklist.

But AV & AMW programs mostly only work after the fact, not so well with drive-by downloads... the realtime execution-prevention function built into Windoze is actually more effective here, tho far from perfect prevention.

mnem
 

[Vince]

In your case because you are restricted to only having the copper service,

As I thought transpired in my messages... it's only part of the issue. REgardless of que quality and speed of the connection  I would still leave all my tabs open.
Plus loading  all the same tabs over and over again is not good for the planet either ! 

All those CPU cycle needs electricity on the server side and use up bandwidth that could be better used. 

I have an excellent fibre service and really must disagree with you on the point as you don't get the advertised speeds, well that point will depend on which provider you sign with, I'm with Virgin Media,

No we are not in disagreement at all !    As stated I was only referring to FRENCH telecom copanies. I left the UK in September 2001 so I do'nt know what the situation is over there !    I am glad you get what you paid for, but it's never going to happen in France, just like the Britts will never stop going to pubs, drink beer and tea ! Some things never change ! 

Glad to hear that there are honest ISP's in England though, lucky you, may it long continue  ! 

Can you not get fibre services in France then, surely the UK is not getting something right is it? 

Of course we can ! France was a bit hard at hearing fiber wise, for the last 15 years... kept promising every one would be connected.... next year.. then next year... then next year.. god bored at some point so I just gave up on it ! But in the very recent years it seems whoever is in charge finally moved gtheir butt, and we are now at last busy deploying fiber all over the place, even tiny remote places that never got even ADS or cell phone coverage/services... will now get Fiber ! Quite a jump then !
As I said my little village (4000 thousands souls as many animals of all kinds), is well on its way fiber wise.
A month ago I got a flier in my mail box from the Telecom company asking to call a sales rep for information about getting the fiber, as it would soon be deployed in my street.

So yeah sure we have fiber... it's just again as I said that.... does NOT matter what this medium is capable of technically ! The only bandwidth, up or down, ping time etc that you will get.... is the one that the operator will be WILLING to give you ! And that's the problem ! They have NEVER been willing, Fiber or ADSL regardless, to give you what they charge you for ! NEVER !!! Some might get it...lucky them, but most will not ! Again they are just cheap skates that size the infrastructure cheaply to save money ! You can only get full speed when it's not rush hour : at 2AM or 2PM or whatever, and of course not on a Friday night or at the week-end, or when it's rainy or cold outside and everyone prefers to stay comfy at home... when do people when they are stuck at home ? They surf the web !!!  Hell, people are so used to being ripped off  that they don't even EXPECT any longer that they will get full speed.... so why would the ISP give them ! People would paradoxically find it "strange"! 

It's a commercial problem, not a technical problem.... you can't change ISP's mind set, you can only endure it and hope for better days....


Lucky for me I don't NEED silly speeds, as I don't download 4K movies or entire American series every day stored on a 50TB NAS...so even if I get 10% of the advertised fiber speed when I do get connected to it hopefully, it will still be PLENTY ENOUGH for my use case ! So I won't care that much begin that I get ripped off... because it still meets my needs.  Obviously if ever my needs / requirements change, then yes it will start bothering me as it will impact me..bui for now I do'nt care that much. It's more a matter of principle : I paid for XX, if only give me YY then please refund me the difference !!!

[Vince]

Now for some TEA !

Today my good friend visited me... the one who works in Telecom for Orange. You know the one who gave 2 weeks ago this very orange telephone hand set to test copper line, and these 2 huge Alcatel xDSL related boards.... well today he gave yet something ! 

In some technical building he was working in, as per usual... guess what he found ? Some other Tech left something behind ! A handheld xDSL test instrument !  Friend told me it works just fine, and battery even still fully charged ! Whoever lost it, was very recently !

Now I know squat about telecom stuff, but well I just got copper lines installed 3 months ago, and the house builder ran a few Ethernet cables in the house... so could have some fun running tests on that ?!

Device only does xDSL and LAN. At the front is has an RJ11 connector for DSL / copper lines, and an RJ45 for LAN.

Little LCD graphical screen. I don't understand 90% of it but I noticed at the top right a menu entry by the name of " DMM Test ". Hey at least I know what a DMM is so let's try that ! 

Apparently it can measure Vdc and Vac, as well resistance, inductance and capacitance. From that it can tell you the length of cable. Maybe it can do some TDR / fault finding this way ?! Don't know.

Learned something anyway : friend said that on a copper line/pair, a healthy line measures 50nF of capacitance to ground, per kilometer of cable, ... and that's what mostly explains why the signal gets weaker over distance, hence why ADSL speed quickly diminished as you get farther from the source/emitter, whatever it's called, I don't know ! 

The device bears no manufacturer name that I can see. Not too surprise, Orange / ex France Telecom was wealthy enough back in the day, to get their own stuff custom made. Might still be an off the shelf yet unbranded device, I don't know... maybe someone does...

Anyway, model number written at the back reads : " ST332B ".  Maybe I can find a user manual for it on the web.. would be helpful !

Quick tear down pics below.

Main board runs with this Micro :  " Nuvoton " never heard of them, model number NUC120RE3AN. Somehow I found the datashett for that !
It's apparently a 50MHz 32 bit ARM "Cortex 0" chip. Specs nothing special. ROM/RAM and peripheral wise, it's like your basic 8 micro, except it embeds a 32 bit core rather than 8 bit.

There is a daughter board that handles the Ethernet stuff I think... carries a big BROADCOM chip, P/N   BCM 63381 , for those who actually know this stuff.... ie not me !   

There are half a dozen cute little relays in the thing. Keyboard : tactile switches, however not the cheap kind : Look at them, 100% metallic construction ?!     Never seen luxurious ones like that... probably because all the ones I salvaged came form cheap consumer devices, not pro stuff made for field use !

[Vince]

....

[xrunner]

More French telecom stuff ... damn I already played the Pink Panther video. 

Oh maybe the person who lost it reads the EEVBlog - they might find you Vince! 

[Specmaster]

Fluke 85 update, it seems that my input jack block is in the UK and is now at the national sorting hub of Hermes, so I'm hopeful now of actually getting the item in my hand soon then I can install it, and I'll have myself a beautiful Fluke 85 in practically mint condition, yah.

[Specmaster]

Closing your browser down when not required is a major step in preventing unauthorised access to your computer by viruses and hackers alike, how long does it take for your browser to open and make connection when you need it?

In very, very short summary: No, you are wrong. You are equally vulnerable both cases, because it has nothing to do with how long you do what you do, it is 100% about what you do.

I've had users who got infected the minute they logged in, because they did not understand that going to the malware-infested gambling site in M$IE was going to own them in like 300ms, or whatever the pageload time was. Once they'd been there  the payload is resident, and will start as soon as they boot the computer up.

And the fucking idiot did go back there three times when he'd gotten his laptop back from the corporate purge-and-PXE grinder; the last time I was involved I simply walked to his room, unplugged the computer and walked away with it. Didn't say a word. Wrote his and my boss an email saying what I'd done and why I'd done it. Never heard anything about it again...

Well, if your running decent antivirus and anti malware programs, they should prevent idiots like him from logging into dodgy sites in the first instance. I do run decent protection programs but the hackers etc are not resting on their laurels, they are continually developing newer versions and ways to negate detection, hence the sheer number of updates to the protection programs as new malware etc is detected and new detection and neutralising methods are written to deal with them. I don't believe in being connected to the web when not actually using it, is a good thing, it is a risk to far that does NOT need to be taken. With the connection speeds I have, staying connected to save time is not necessary, it is a blink of an eye, and I'm on-line again.

Ummmm... no. A net-nanny plugin, might work... if the blacklist is current enough. You can even use policies on AD to prevent connections to known pud-sucker domains... but that again requires a very current blacklist.

But AV & AMW programs mostly only work after the fact, not so well with drive-by downloads... the realtime execution-prevention function built into Windoze is actually more effective here, tho far from perfect prevention.

mnem
 

Net nanny plug-in not required and is a waste of money IMV as the sites have to be detected by the net nanny vendors in the first place in order to be added to the long blacklist before it becomes an effective tool, thats true also for the AV and AMW programs as well, they can't block what they don't know about. Anyway, I mostly sit behind a VPN for added security and that assigns a different IP address each time I log on. I'm double jabbed, but I still wear a face mask when in company and out shopping or in proximity to others that aren't immediate family members, there is no sense in getting complacent and taking extra risks if there are easy and sensible alternatves that can be deployed. 

[GreyWoolfe]

500 series tips operate at 575*F/302*C
600 series tips operate at 675*F/357*C
700 series tips operate at 775*F/412*C

https://metcal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tips-and-cartridges-selection-guide-1.pdf

-Pat

Might need some education on this tip temperature thing... I don't get it.
Lab revival includes replacing (well, will keep it I mean but...) my trusty Weller "Magnastat" iron.

Would like a more modern station with adjustable temperature, more power (Weller is only 50W, not enough for some jobs) quick heating, automatic stand by to save the tips and save on electricity...

Looks like the modern iron achieve the fast heating by incorporating the heating element to the tip, with the down side that of course the tips cost a lot of money, need as many heating element as you have tips...

From what I understand what makes Metcal unique on the market (? Patented thing ?) is that they use inductive heating, with which they can achieve the best of both worlds if I understand it right ?  That is, fast heating/high responsiveness, yet affordable tips since they are just regular tips, no heating element built into them.

Have I got that right ??

If so then makes Metcal indeed very interesting, and with zero competition.

Now to my question... I don't understand what it means for tip to "designed/built" for a specific temperature ? I mean teh base station regulates the temperature to whatever you want, the tip has no say in this... it's just a tip, gets heated up to whatever it's asked to, no ?

What bad can/will happen if one uses a mid-range temperature tip and sets the base station to force it to run at lower or higher temperature ?!

I am puzzled I must admit ! 

Vince -

See the attached video - they work by curie point, along the lines of the magnestat, but with a different heating method.



Edit to add - the base station doesn't regulate anything - it's just an RF power supply.  Everything happens in the tip - temperature determines whether the RF flows through the higher resistance outer alloy layer and heats it, or flows in the more conductive copper with its lower resistance and much lower I²R losses, resulting in much less heat being generated.

Additional edit to add - the Metcal is actually close, temperature regulation-method-wise, to your Weller Magnestat, the main difference being that instead of the curie point magnetic changes operating a mechanical switch that then powers a resistance heater, it operates as described in the above video.  To change temperature, you must swap tips.  The Metcal makes this very easy compared to the Weller, however, as they just slide into place rather than requiring you to unscrew and remove a retaining collar.  There is a thick silicone pad ~50mm square on the iron's lead that is to be used as a 'potholder' to let you hot-swap tips if necessary.  Just grab the tip with the pad and pull it straight out of the handle, then replace it with the other tip.  (I turn the power switch off to do this though I'm not certain it's necessary, but it only takes seconds to change tips.  And truth be told, the amount of power it can dump through a tip is very impressive - the main reason I have for changing them is to get a different shape rather than temp.)

-Pat

Vince, Metcals are quite deceptive.  My MX-500 IIP is only a "40 watt" iron.  I can solder shields on PL-259 connectors just as easily with a 2.4 mm tip as I can with my small butane torch.  Change the tip out and I can solder 0402 just as easy.  The amount of heat that it can dump is astonishing.  I only use the 600 series tips and have yet to not be able to solder anything.  With the Metcal, it's not how hot the tip can get but the amount of heat it can supply.  There is almost no thermal recovery and the heat up time is very fast, just a few seconds.  I keep 1 800 series tip in its package for any lead free soldering I might do to avoid cross contamination.  Cub, you do have to shut it off to change tips or it errors, at least I do on my MX-500.  There are 2 versions, 450 KHz and 13.56 MHz.  The higher frequency units are more powerful.  The MX-5200 series are 80 watt stations.  I had a buddy years ago who was an ISO 9000 certified solderer.  He worked for a company that did work on defense contracts.  The specs were so stringent that at every new contract, they had to dispose of the old soldering stations and purchase new.  They strictly used Metcal.  In fact, he scored a setup for free at the end of a contract before the company figured out that they can make money selling the old equipment to any worker that wanted one for pretty cheap.

[wolfy007]

I collect old BWD scopes and I dont have the model 540 which was a 100MHz model.

Oh do you. 
A busted 835 was one I had on the path to today and got reasonably cheap from our Trademe Buy/Sell.
Nice little CRO it was too and quite easy to work on although it incorporated some unusual design features for a scope of its vintage. Fixed and flogged.
Guessing you already know about your fellow Aussie Keven Chant's repository of BWD manuals:
https://www.kevinchant.com/bwd.html

I do know Kevin's page, he has the 835 manual now because I managed to finally find a copy of one a few years back while trying to fix one of mine.

I love the BWD stuff, no exotic custom parts which makes them so much easier to repair, not to mention a legacy to when Australia actually manufactured stuff...

PS: Also remember using a 539d in one of the labs at University (long time ago)...   

[Vince]

Fluke 85 update, it seems that my input jack block is in the UK and is now at the national sorting hub of Hermes, so I'm hopeful now of actually getting the item in my hand soon then I can install it, and I'll have myself a beautiful Fluke 85 in practically mint condition, yah.

Well I wish the best of luck with that but I have my doubts ! 

Last week I sent my first / prototype OBD cable to my friend in Germany. Was checking tracking info on-lien every day.
Parcel had no problem going throughout France, via 3 hubs... then it arrived in Germany at some other hub over there. Last Friday Hub then went to deliver the parcel and... tracking says they could not find the place ?! Tried again next day, still couldn't find it !  Now his address is nothing special at all, just your usual one liner + post code. That's his company building in the industrial park of his town, Augsburg. Any monkey can find is place !!!

They sent him an e-mail, saying : " Could not find your address, please contact us. You have 10 days to clarify your address. We have returned the parcel to the sender. ".

Eh ? Aren't you contradicting yourself here ?!  You say you will keep the parcel for 10 days but you have already returned it, the same day you failed to deliver it ?! What ?!     YOu had my friends e-mail, you even e-mail him... so you have a means of contacting him... so why the hell would you return the fucking parcel ! Just communicate with the guy and sort it out ! Or tell him to pick it up directly at your hub, I don't know ! WHY on earth would you return the parcel without making any effort to deliver it ?! 


Bottom line : the hub is run by Hermes..... so I hope that Hermes UK is MUCH more competent and than Hermes Germany, or you may never get your Fluke I am afraid ! 

[Vince]

Vince, Metcals are quite deceptive.  My MX-500 IIP is only a "40 watt" iron.  I can solder shields on PL-259 connectors just as easily with a 2.4 mm tip as I can with my small butane torch.

What a sales man you make !  I was already sold but now I am double sold 

There are 2 versions, 450 KHz and 13.56 MHz.  The higher frequency units are more powerful.  The MX-5200 series are 80 watt stations.

Are you sure ?!

I am checking Metcal's website as we speak, for an overview of their product line and basic specs and... from I can see it's rather the other way around ?

- Entry level PS-900 is 60W RF power and runs at 450kHz

- Fancy and mega expensive MX / MFR / CV series are all 40W, so much less powerful, yet they all run at 13MHz...


80W is the power CONSUMPTION of the base station, not the DELIVERED RF power.  80W drawn, but 40 RF Watts actually delivered to the iron... lots of losses then, 50%, 40W to dissipate ! Might explain why they have a fancy aluminium case then ?! It's not to yell " it's a quality product, buy us not them ! "... no looks like it's more like an absolute necessity ! They are using the mass and thermal conductivity of the case as a huge heat sink to get rid of all that wasted power ! 

Still, one must wonder why the PS-900 is 50% more powerful than the MX/MFR/CV series, yet is 3 times cheaper.. literally ! Just checked prices on Farnel !     So why is the 60W cheapie PS-900 running at 450kHz and the LESS powerful ones running at a much higher frequency, 13MHz.

And why are the expensive models 3 times the price if they are way less powerful than the PS-900 ?
That means they must have a tremendous added value over the entry level PS-900.. but WHAT is it ?! 

Sure, the MX500 has a 2x16 text LCD, and the CV series a little colour graphical LCD, PS-900 has no display but an LCD to display basic stuff in 2021 is worth 10 bucks of added value, not 500 as it is here !    So it must be something else !

Sadly Metcal's website does not give you a summary / table  comparing all the key features and specs of the various series, to tell you very clearly what differs between the various series, precisely, technically, and how this is or that feature is actually beneficial in practice.

" Luckily " I don't have 600/900 Euros to put in an MX500 or MFR or CV series iron, can only afford the PS900, so my wallet already chose for me ! 

[Vince]

More French telecom stuff ... damn I already played the Pink Panther video. 

I am sure you will dig something else out !! 

Oh maybe the person who lost it reads the EEVBlog - they might find you Vince! 

If he does show up I will sell it to him for 2,000 Euros or else I will go tell his boss he lost it just so he can get into trouble ! 

[xrunner]

More French telecom stuff ... damn I already played the Pink Panther video. 

I am sure you will dig something else out !! 

Vince - 

Suicides at Orange? 

Maybe they get severe punishment for losing their equipment ... 

[timenutgoblin]

Any predictions as to when this discussion thread reaches 100,000 replies? I have attached a screenshot dated 30/08/2021 at 13:32 (GMT).

[xrunner]

Any predictions as to when this discussion thread reaches 100,000 replies? I have attached a screenshot dated 30/08/2021 at 13:32 (GMT).

No, but I am working up a 4000 page commemoration display using one or more pieces of my gear ... stay tuned.

 

[mnementh]

The Amazing Kreskin says... "Sooner than you think..."

mnem
Time is just the universe making sure everything doesn't happen all at once.

[Cerebus]

Still, one must wonder why the PS-900 is 50% more powerful than the MX/MFR/CV series, yet is 3 times cheaper.. literally ! Just checked prices on Farnel !     So why is the 60W cheapie PS-900 running at 450kHz and the LESS powerful ones running at a much higher frequency, 13MHz.

And why are the expensive models 3 times the price if they are way less powerful than the PS-900 ?
That means they must have a tremendous added value over the entry level PS-900.. but WHAT is it ?! 

Sure, the MX500 has a 2x16 text LCD, and the CV series a little colour graphical LCD, PS-900 has no display but an LCD to display basic stuff in 2021 is worth 10 bucks of added value, not 500 as it is here !    So it must be something else !

The giveaway is in the descriptions. PS = Production Series. The PS are sold for production use, and I have yet to met a production manager who isn't, let's be kind, highly conscious of the costs involved in things - especially when he has to buy them 20 at a time. The other range is sold for rework and R&D use. For rework the huge range of tips for difficult jobs means the range makes sense, for R&D the shiny displays etc add nerd appeal. In either case you're probably buying one for every twenty PS series the production folks are getting, so the higher price is easier to swallow. TLDR, "marketing" and "differential pricing".