Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[vk6zgo]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

and you did not build in a self destruct ?
sloppy ....

Back in antiquity, WW2 surplus military radios were everywhere, "cheap as dirt".

One ham found an unknown, unmarked, component in his latest "prize", & tried to work out what it was, to no avail..
Eventually, he took a photo & "snail mailed" it off to an electronics magazine, who "asked around".

It turned out it was a demolition charge!
Cue immediate "panic stations" amongst the surplus community.
it was quite safe, however, as even though the charge had inadvertently been forgotten, the activation circuit had been removed.

[Robert763]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

and you did not build in a self destruct ?
sloppy ....

Back in antiquity, WW2 surplus military radios were everywhere, "cheap as dirt".

One ham found an unknown, unmarked, component in his latest "prize", & tried to work out what it was, to no avail..
Eventually, he took a photo & "snail mailed" it off to an electronics magazine, who "asked around".

It turned out it was a demolition charge!
Cue immediate "panic stations" amongst the surplus community.
it was quite safe, however, as even though the charge had inadvertently been forgotten, the activation circuit had been removed.

Removing the activation circuit does not make this sort of thing safe. Depending on the energetic materal used it can decompose over time and become so sensitve the slighest shock can detonate it. The purity of chemicals used in wartime can be less than optimal and even trace amounts of some elements can cuse unwanted effects over time.  There has been at least one case in the UK were a shed exploded due to one of these. Fortunatly the owner was not in it a the time. 

[vk6zgo]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

and you did not build in a self destruct ?
sloppy ....

Back in antiquity, WW2 surplus military radios were everywhere, "cheap as dirt".

One ham found an unknown, unmarked, component in his latest "prize", & tried to work out what it was, to no avail..
Eventually, he took a photo & "snail mailed" it off to an electronics magazine, who "asked around".

It turned out it was a demolition charge!
Cue immediate "panic stations" amongst the surplus community.
it was quite safe, however, as even though the charge had inadvertently been forgotten, the activation circuit had been removed.

Removing the activation circuit does not make this sort of thing safe. Depending on the energetic materal used it can decompse of time and become so sensitve the slighest shock can detonate it. The purity of chemicals used in wartime can be less than optimal and even trace amounts of some elements can cuse unwanted effects over time.  There has been at least one case in the UK were a shed exploded due to one of these. Fortunatly the owner was not in it a the time.

Thanks for that.
Your comment reminded me that there was continuing discussion in the mag after the first article, & someone brought up exactly that point.

It also reminds me of a story my old Prospector Uncle told me many years ago.
An old mate of his had taken his own life.

My Uncle & another friend discovered him, & Unc volunteered to sit with the deceased as the other guy went to get a cop.
These old blokes were a bit cavalier about explosives, & whilst sitting there, he wasn't particularly surprised to see about half a dozen
"plugs of gelignite" (similar to "sticks of dynamite") in a open box under the bed.
Looking closer, he discovered they were "weeping" with definite tracks of nitroglycerin visible. 

Unc decided to wait outside!

[tggzzz]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

and you did not build in a self destruct ?
sloppy ....

Back in antiquity, WW2 surplus military radios were everywhere, "cheap as dirt".

One ham found an unknown, unmarked, component in his latest "prize", & tried to work out what it was, to no avail..
Eventually, he took a photo & "snail mailed" it off to an electronics magazine, who "asked around".

It turned out it was a demolition charge!
Cue immediate "panic stations" amongst the surplus community.
it was quite safe, however, as even though the charge had inadvertently been forgotten, the activation circuit had been removed.

Removing the activation circuit does not make this sort of thing safe. Depending on the energetic materal used it can decompse of time and become so sensitve the slighest shock can detonate it. The purity of chemicals used in wartime can be less than optimal and even trace amounts of some elements can cuse unwanted effects over time.  There has been at least one case in the UK were a shed exploded due to one of these. Fortunatly the owner was not in it a the time.

And when it is too big to be in a shed, and you can't think what to do with it....

"MoD reportedly warns of ‘mass damage and potential loss of life’ if ordnance on SS Richard Montgomery triggered"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/30/navy-to-dismantle-sunken-warship-on-thames-holding-unstable-explosives

[BU508A]

Analog computer time!

Why am I posting this here?
Because, it contains an oscilloscope (R&S RTB 2002) 

[SeanB]

Analogue computing is still very common in industrial controls, where it is used for a lot of process control in industry.

[mnementh]

Anyone want a Keithely 2001 with leaky caps and no VFD inverter? Comes with a bag of new caps.
Open to silly offers.

In other news, just walked across the kitchen floor and a tile cracked. Stood on the tile again and water cae through the crack   
Floor is lage stone tiles with electric underfloor heating in special rubberised adhesive on top of plywood flooring over a void.
We've had a lot of rain receently but no flooding.   
I looked under the cabinets under the sink and by the dishwasher & washing machine. The tiles stop just under the cabinets.
And.. the plywood floor is soaking wet 
Looks like the water connection to the washing machine has had a slow leak which has saturated he plywood underfloor causing it to swell and crack the tiles. The whole floor will have to be ripped out and that means removing cabinets and appliances on 3 walls 
So off to call the insurance company.

Ugggh. The laundry room in this '20s-40s 2-story Colonial has similar damage; "classic" 12-in lino tiles over hardwood.     

The tiles are shrunk/warped/curling up, but thankfully the floor long ago dried out and still solid as bedrock; when I rebuilt the washing machine I took no chances and replaced the drain pump with a brand-new Supco unit along with the other usual Calypso family wear items.

I can live with the ugly tile floor at least for now; definitely have higher priorities ATM.

mnem

[mnementh]

From the THANK IFNI FOR SMALL FAVORS Dept...

Made an appointment yesterday for tomorrow to go to DMV and hopefully get the Saturn registered, plates, etc. After I had all that, and the paperwork filled out, discovered from a third party site that you have to have an emissions cert first. No, nothing in the "new residents, here's how you do this" pages on the DMV site made that in any way clear.

So, I go find a local garage which offers the service; very "interesting" in that the entire process is: You give them $20 cash and the keys to the car, they do their thing and give you a receipt. PERIOD. 



1/4 million miles, 23 years old, sitting in storage almost 3 years: Bump the key, it starts up, runs like a Seiko and all happy at the inspector's. Good for another 2 years; I literally spent more time worrying about it than it took to get it done. 

mnem
*knocks on wood*

[mnementh]

Analog computer time!

Why am I posting this here?
Because, it contains an oscilloscope (R&S RTB 2002) 

Thanks for this... timing is excellent, as my son has been having trouble with his math classes due, IMO, to the same problem I had last time I went back to school: The subject is no longer "taught" by actual mathematics-minded people; it is entirely canned materials "presented in review format" as if you already know it by people who may or may not even understand all the concepts they are supposedly teaching. 

I'm going to set up a free account with this Brilliant.org website. If their approach helps him get a leg up, even a little bit, I'll gladly spring for the full subscription.

mnem
*does not compute*

[mnementh]

Well, fuckadoodle. I subscribed to Brilliant.org over 6 years ago... and I have coursework history. Just one of those things that got backburnered into oblivion when I lost myself after mum died... 

mnem
another ghost in the machine...

[ch_scr]

(...)
Thanks for this... timing is excellent, as my son has been having trouble with his math classes due, IMO, to the same problem I had last time I went back to school: The subject is no longer "taught" by actual mathematics-minded people; it is entirely canned materials "presented in review format" as if you already know it by people who may or may not even understand all the concepts they are supposedly teaching.  (...)
mnem
*does not compute*

One of my math teachers (actually mathematically minded and a good teacher as well) has "problem collections" on all the stuff he teaches on.
He always said "I can talk all day long, but you'll only learn by doing it over and over again by hand". While all other math teachers had us manually copy over & solve one problem at a time,
he gave pages and pages of problems on the subject with enough space to solve in between before hand to print out at home. Much quicker and tidier! Now the good part: he has his collections
online and if you ask nicely, he'll provide the answers as well. Even though he is at retirement age, he continues to teach and to update his teaching materials and website. A work of passion indeed!
https://www.bommi2000.de/mathematik/index.php

[Saskia]

Eff. I have an Engineering Sample Board.
The Engineering Sample firmware is nowhere to be found.

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

[mnementh]

(...)
Thanks for this... timing is excellent, as my son has been having trouble with his math classes due, IMO, to the same problem I had last time I went back to school: The subject is no longer "taught" by actual mathematics-minded people; it is entirely canned materials "presented in review format" as if you already know it by people who may or may not even understand all the concepts they are supposedly teaching.  (...)
mnem
*does not compute*

One of my math teachers (actually mathematically minded and a good teacher as well) has "problem collections" on all the stuff he teaches on.
He always said "I can talk all day long, but you'll only learn by doing it over and over again by hand". While all other math teachers had us manually copy over & solve one problem at a time,
he gave pages and pages of problems on the subject with enough space to solve in between before hand to print out at home. Much quicker and tidier! Now the good part: he has his collections
online and if you ask nicely, he'll provide the answers as well. Even though he is at retirement age, he continues to teach and to update his teaching materials and website. A work of passion indeed!
https://www.bommi2000.de/mathematik/index.php

Oh dear... all the .PDFs are in Deutsche.  He is not so good with the translate-fu, and is already taking Español & Français; I fear it will break his fuzzy widdle brain. 

mnem
*sticks a pin in this for later*

[mnementh]

Eff. I have an Engineering Sample Board.   The Engineering Sample firmware is nowhere to be found.

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

I bet it's in a box with the appropriate programmer dongle. 

mnem
I would never admit to having done this; no, no, no...

[Cerebus]

Eff. I have an Engineering Sample Board.
The Engineering Sample firmware is nowhere to be found.

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

Have you looked down the back of the sofa? 

[med6753]

Look what showed up today. My order from hvstuff.com. This order was originally placed on 21st December. Around the end of January I sent an inquiry about the order that was not answered. PayPal also sent an inquiry which also went unanswered so I was refunded full price and order cancelled. About a week and half later I get notification that the order shipped.

There was no invoice with the capacitors. As far as I'm concerned this is unsolicited goods and I'm under no obligation to pay for it and I have no intention of paying. The order was cancelled. They sent it anyway. That's the law and I always obey the law. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Eff. I have an Engineering Sample Board.
The Engineering Sample firmware is nowhere to be found.

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

It could be already loaded, even if the manual states the contrary.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Nothing that hasn't happened in the past, I have a pair of 1960's Solartron voltmeters, one has a two pole connector & the other a three pole, not that this makes any difference to me at the moment as I have yet to find any connectors that fit, I'm hoping they were a standard part at the time.




David

Well these unobtainium connectors were definitely made by P.E.T. (Precision Electronic Terminations Ltd.), the LM1420.2 book I have in front of me, gives P.E.T. part no. 242/B/3 for the panel input socket (3 way), still no idea what the part no. for the test lead plug is though, it only quotes a Solartron number for that. 

Was hoping the LM1426 would have arrived by now, but I'm suspicious that it won't, seller claims it was collected a while back and if it still hasn't arrived tomorrow the seller will refund. 

David

Now you have done it. Brain frozen by shock.
I have never seen this connector before!
 

[capt bullshot]

And.. the plywood floor is soaking wet 
Looks like the water connection to the washing machine has had a slow leak which has saturated he plywood underfloor causing it to swell and crack the tiles. The whole floor will have to be ripped out and that means removing cabinets and appliances on 3 walls 
So off to call the insurance company.

Ouch!
Two years ago, I had a water damage in the house, also a slow leak, discovered after one or two weeks. One wall and part of the living room ceiling area soaked. Insurance company sent their own handymen services, they appeared quickly and did their job in a professional way, I was quite happy with this service.

[mnementh]

Look what showed up today. My order from hvstuff.com. This order was originally placed on 21st December. Around the end of January I sent an inquiry about the order that was not answered. PayPal also sent an inquiry which also went unanswered so I was refunded full price and order cancelled. About a week and half later I get notification that the order shipped.

There was no invoice with the capacitors. As far as I'm concerned this is unsolicited goods and I'm under no obligation to pay for it and I have no intention of paying. The order was cancelled. They sent it anyway. That's the law and I always obey the law. 

As no invoice, my guess would be a attempted bribe to not shitpost them. A wee bit late for that; the time for good customer service was before you had to call in the PayPal gendarmes... 

mnem
*coughASSHOLETAXcough*

[Saskia]

Eff. I have an Engineering Sample Board.
The Engineering Sample firmware is nowhere to be found.

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

It could be already loaded, even if the manual states the contrary.

nope, it ain't.
opened call and fessed up to boss man

[Saskia]

testing rtx2070 super vs rtx2060 on spare PC I have ...
will post figures if anyone wants them.

[Saskia]

the replacement card is running. 16150 3d mark vs 13800 for the 2060. no reason to go for that bit of perf plus unless you need the additional GPU mem.

[mnementh]

The difference for the 2070 Super's intended market is "high-end 1K GPU" vs "Solid 2K GPU". Most people won't notice the diff between either and my son's xXx Edition RX580. 

mnem
*toddles off to forage in the kitchen*

[Saskia]

yarp. but at least it works. better to have a working GPU than a brick.