Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Ice-Tea]

There’s another 34401A appeared, this time a 2009 Agilent one, so I will attempt to obtain that, get it calibrated, check the HP 34401A against it and then lose that one. So keep your hands off with the competition 

Keep an eye out for  an Agilent 34410A? They are essentially the same, except the VFD has a second line with mean/min/max/stddev/count statistics. I find those stats to be a killer advantage, and wouldn't want a 34401.

Unfortunately not suitable for my requirements otherwise I would. No serial port and has a fan. The place I’m moving to I don’t want to run Ethernet around or futz with cabling so I am using a USB-serial bridge.

The USB bridge in the 34410A is unfortunately a complete unknown when it comes to Macs.

They also command a serious price premium over a 34401, of the order of 50% or so iirc. Don't see that many of them on the bay of fleas tbh.

Not sure what 34401s go for, but last week a 34410 went for ~£650+VAT at the MediaKind Systems auction. Rack mounted, probably in good condition.

800€ on eBay.

[AVGresponding]

800€ on eBay.

€800 for a 34401A?!? That's fecking insanity, BNIB and signed by Bill Hewlett himself it would scarcely be worth that much!

[Neper]

Ha, you might have trouble flogging a car right now, I saw the other day that diesel in central London was £2.50 a litre

Owing to Chipageddon and other supply probs our European car production is way down and dealers have long waiting lists. As a consequence, prices for used cars are at an all-time high.

[bd139]

This is why I am getting rid of my car. Apart from the not using it bit, it's going to be fun watching everyone else paying for the fuel 

Anyway something else painful but at least TE related. Expensive cables arrived 

Ha, you might have trouble flogging a car right now, I saw the other day that diesel in central London was £2.50 a litre

Mine is ULEZ exempt and 0.99L engine that runs on gnat farts. It’s worth £900 more than I paid for it back in 2018 because it’s one of the only cars to affordably run in London. 

Anyway selling it to the ex wife. Easy transaction then 

[Cerebus]

My world is shattered with a reality kick in the arse. I've pretty much accepted that to fill up the CR-V with gas requires a mortgage. What I didn't expect that today it cost me over $50 USD just to fill up the Civic. 

I know...."welcome to my world". Well, screw that. "Beam me up Scotty. I don't want to be here." 

It would be ~£100 here. But our government has a plan: https://newsthump.com/2022/06/14/government-to-ease-petrol-prices-with-monthly-finance-packages-at-the-pumps/

It would cost a lot less than £100, the tanks in those are only about 8 gallons (imperial, not sure about US, about 9 I guess).

NB: It's a good idea to only half fill your tank, as for every extra gallon of fuel you carry, your consumption increases.

Extra weight, to a first order, only makes a difference when increasing speed or going up a hill. Weight is unimportant at a steady speed on the flat. Hence people in fenland won't care much (always presuming they could comprehend such arguments).

At least they've got the extra fingers and toes to make doing the sums easier.

[25 CPS]

Ha, you might have trouble flogging a car right now, I saw the other day that diesel in central London was £2.50 a litre

Owing to Chipageddon and other supply probs our European car production is way down and dealers have long waiting lists. As a consequence, prices for used cars are at an all-time high.

Car production everywhere is down and it's made a mess of the used car market here.  You won't believe what I'm driving now.  I'm having a blast!

[Ice-Tea]

800€ on eBay.

€800 for a 34401A?!? That's fecking insanity, BNIB and signed by Bill Hewlett himself it would scarcely be worth that much!

I don't understand it either but thats what Terapeak tells me. And they've been going prices to match at auctions.

[med6753]

Missing -15V on the 475A.

No longer. Fixed. Replaced CR1472. Did a quick power up BEFORE re-installing the trigger board. -14.99V. Perfect. Will now install the trigger board.

[Specmaster]

Ha, you might have trouble flogging a car right now, I saw the other day that diesel in central London was £2.50 a litre

Owing to Chipageddon and other supply probs our European car production is way down and dealers have long waiting lists. As a consequence, prices for used cars are at an all-time high.

Chipageddon is one factor that works in your favour, but, if the fuel keeps rising in price, that advantage will be wiped out in flash as more and more folk like BD decide to ditch their cars and use public transport.

[Neper]

You won't believe what I'm driving now. 

Try me.

[mnementh]

Now you're seeing the effects of the "instability" I was talking about when I posted the not-politics that got me spanked a while back. 

For certain groups of people, anything newsworthy means "ka-ching!"

mnem
that is all. 

Oh I caught that back hand, loud and clear. You think I'm one of those sheeple who only care about things that affect my wallet. How wrong you are. 

It's not all about you, med.    In this case, it literally is not at all about you.

If you'd bothered to actually look at the article, or even ask about what I was on about, I was talking about the fact that the shenanigans of that nutbag in the Kremlin will doubtlessly be used by those in big oil to jack prices sky high, as they've always done... and as they are in fact doing now, even though the oil in motion now has been sitting in tankers moored all around the world waiting for the chance to sell when prices are high.

Those are the certain groups of people for whom anything newsworthy means "ka-ching!"

mnem
Personally, I believe he's literally doing exactly as he's been instructed to do by those who own his shriveled little black soul...

[bd139]

You won't believe what I'm driving now. 

Try me.

?

[25 CPS]

You won't believe what I'm driving now. 

Try me.

?

I had to laugh at the picture because, in a manner of speaking, it's not too far off.  If you look back at the picture I posted of the Dynaco ST-70 and decade boxes several months ago, you'll see why.

[tggzzz]

You won't believe what I'm driving now. 

Try me.

[Cerebus]

Oh, a man on a Honda CB400F, haven't seen that since the 1980s. 

[med6753]

Now you're seeing the effects of the "instability" I was talking about when I posted the not-politics that got me spanked a while back. 

For certain groups of people, anything newsworthy means "ka-ching!"

mnem
that is all. 

Oh I caught that back hand, loud and clear. You think I'm one of those sheeple who only care about things that affect my wallet. How wrong you are. 

It's not all about you, med.    In this case, it literally is not at all about you.

If you'd bothered to actually look at the article, or even ask about what I was on about, I was talking about the fact that the shenanigans of that nutbag in the Kremlin will doubtlessly be used by those in big oil to jack prices sky high, as they've always done... and as they are in fact doing now, even though the oil in motion now has been sitting in tankers moored all around the world waiting for the chance to sell when prices are high.

Those are the certain groups of people for whom anything newsworthy means "ka-ching!"

mnem
Personally, I believe he's literally doing exactly as he's been instructed to do by those who own his shriveled little black soul...

OK, so it's not about me. Fine. But it's apparent that.....first.....you're still butt hurt that you got called out and threatened with a banning concerning your political BS. And second....you'll dance around that threat and still try to post political shit as you are here. I should be an asshole and report it but I won't. Why? Because there's only room for one asshole on this forum.     

[bd139]

To all involved 

[mnementh]

OK, so it's not about me. Fine. But it's apparent that.....first.....you're still butt hurt that you got called out and threatened with a banning concerning your political BS. And second....you'll dance around that threat and still try to post political shit as you are here. I should be an asshole and report it but I won't. Why? Because there's only room for one asshole on this forum.     

Actually no... because again it's not all about you. This is the first time that I've known that you complained, ya manky git.  Suspected, sure. But not known.

What I was trying to do is to bring around the non-political part of that original discussion, because the posts about the cost of petrol made it relevant. Again, not just the ones you made, but rather the fact that many of us were talking about it.

If anybody here is butt-hurt, it's you. And you have nobody to blame except yourself.

mnem

[med6753]

OK, so it's not about me. Fine. But it's apparent that.....first.....you're still butt hurt that you got called out and threatened with a banning concerning your political BS. And second....you'll dance around that threat and still try to post political shit as you are here. I should be an asshole and report it but I won't. Why? Because there's only room for one asshole on this forum.     

Actually no... because again it's not all about you. This is the first time that I've known that you complained, ya manky git.  Suspected, sure. But not known.

What I was trying to do is to bring around the non-political part of that original discussion, because the posts about the cost of petrol made it relevant. Again, not just the ones you made, but rather the fact that many of us were talking about it.

If anybody here is butt-hurt, it's you. And you have nobody to blame except yourself.

mnem

Then please kiss it and make it better. 

[mnementh]

100% analog. Nixie choobs. Turing-era logic. And you get to see Sam have a ElectroBOOM! moment.

What's not to love...?

mnem
*back to the dwagon cave*

[med6753]

The 475A is fixed, sort of. Alternate mode doesn't work. Appears to be nothing more than a dirty alternate switch. Other than that everything looks good, finally.

I still have some tants that I want to swap out then do a quick check of the calibration/compensation.

[mnementh]

OK, so it's not about me. Fine. But it's apparent that.....first.....you're still butt hurt that you got called out and threatened with a banning concerning your political BS. And second....you'll dance around that threat and still try to post political shit as you are here. I should be an asshole and report it but I won't. Why? Because there's only room for one asshole on this forum.     

Actually no... because again it's not all about you. This is the first time that I've known that you complained, ya manky git.  Suspected, sure. But not known.

What I was trying to do is to bring around the non-political part of that original discussion, because the posts about the cost of petrol made it relevant. Again, not just the ones you made, but rather the fact that many of us were talking about it.

If anybody here is butt-hurt, it's you. And you have nobody to blame except yourself.

mnem

Then please kiss it and make it better.     

And there you go... the trifecta. Right back to it being all about you.

You accuse me of bully-pulpit BS, but that's just you projecting.

You are the bully here: You repeatedly hold this entire thread hostage to your ego; if you see something you find offensive you either pitch another childish tantrum and drag it on for days or post more and more vulgar pics... because that's the only response you can come up with when you stick your foot in your own mouth.

mnem
Just the latest installment of a monkey's arse posting pics of a monkey's arse. 

[Vince]

TIME OUT !!!

Today is a good day... finally replaced the tired thermostat in my fridge.. with that Ranko VT9 compatible thermostat... involved some hacksaw lots of cursing and still doesn't fit well at all but... it works. Daddy even gave me a replacement light bulb (the old one died when I removed the old thermostat, " of course "...), and wow how modern, it's an LED bulb... an LED bulb in my 30+ year old fridge, how anachronistic... not sure if I like it or hate it. From an ecological perspective it's most definitely nonsensical but...it's a "cool"/white light which I find quite fitting in a fridge, so from a purely egotistic selfish point of view, I will say that I like it.


Anyway, that means I can relieve my home made FridgeTimer (tm) from its duties !  Time flies, and it's been running for over 3 weeks now !!    Never missed a beat, super reliable ! I definitely have to add that to my R&D portfolio, will help finding a job ! 
I can now reclaim the proto board and 4060 CMOS chip and 2N2222A  that were on it. I socketed them so why not.
Can reclaim the mains relay as well, and mains sealed/water proof power socket as well, expensive that one.

Also today, how fitting, I got a packet from daddy.... he sent me an old mechanical timer ! Might be useful for something else one day. 45+ years old probably, so pardon the yellowed plastic 

That's all for now, you shall now resume your normal activities.

[mnementh]

So how's your bottle of apple juice and litre of milk...? Still fresh? 

mnem
"It been macGyverfied!" 

It Been MacGyverfied.mp3

[Vince]

Tastes wonderful