Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

And I'm in as co-author of the sequel "How to Live With a Japanese Wife and Survive"

I thought Japanese wimens were submissive and meek? No?

  

I've known a lot of westerners with Japanese wives and the immediate image that comes to my mind is some poor bloke being scolded and slapped about the body with both hands. So, no. At least not the kind of Japanese women who take westerners as partners.

[Cerebus]

I would buy that based on my social circle at the moment. The woman in question was offended at my mention of Wagamama being quite good on a hiking trip and has made it a mission to take me to some decent Japanese restaurants. Going out again with her on Tuesday… 

Oh oh, you're going to get asked to try Shirako, aren't you?

[tggzzz]

And I'm in as co-author of the sequel "How to Live With a Japanese Wife and Survive"

I thought Japanese wimens were submissive and meek? No?

LOL the one I’m friends with is a deeply cynical vicious sick and twisted individual. Conversion diverged into anal polyps and how good laughing gas is last time. Just how I like them 

You like anal polyps?!

Over time laughing gas knackers your bones and B12; that's why dentists don't use it any more. Ambulance crews can; when they gave it to me, I was transported back to childhood!
"Long-term exposure to high concentrations of nitrous oxide may cause megaloblastic bone-marrow depression and neurological symptoms" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12751548/

I haven't come across Udemy before. A quick glance reminds me of the "for Dummies" books.

I believe that traditionally Japanese wives have sole and complete authority over the family finances.

Yeah nasty stuff. I experienced it when I broke my ankle via ambulance crew. Decided the pain was less annoying.

Udemy is quite good. Well some of the courses are.

In this case she had sole and complete authority over her ex husband's finances 

Yup

The ambulance crew gave N₂O to me because they couldn't believe I wasn't going to experience pain when they "manipulated" my strangely angled knee.  "On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it hurt?" "0, there is no pain"

[tggzzz]

I would buy that based on my social circle at the moment. The woman in question was offended at my mention of Wagamama being quite good on a hiking trip and has made it a mission to take me to some decent Japanese restaurants. Going out again with her on Tuesday… 

Oh oh, you're going to get asked to try Shirako, aren't you?

I buy herring soft roe in Waitrose, when it is going cheap. Nice addition to a homemade soup.

Used to be able to get hard roe, but nowadays it is all turned into ersatz caviar.

[bd139]

I would buy that based on my social circle at the moment. The woman in question was offended at my mention of Wagamama being quite good on a hiking trip and has made it a mission to take me to some decent Japanese restaurants. Going out again with her on Tuesday… 

Oh oh, you're going to get asked to try Shirako, aren't you?

Fortunately she's a vegetarian so no, unless that doesn't count

[Saskia]

not joining discord, you'llforgive me

Hope you feel better soon 

thanks everybody for the get well wishes.
fever is subsiding. still feeling rotten, weak, with a lot of stuff still clogging my lungs.
Hubby is down with a high fever.
don't feel like staying up

[tggzzz]

I would buy that based on my social circle at the moment. The woman in question was offended at my mention of Wagamama being quite good on a hiking trip and has made it a mission to take me to some decent Japanese restaurants. Going out again with her on Tuesday… 

Oh oh, you're going to get asked to try Shirako, aren't you?

Fortunately she's a vegetarian so no, unless that doesn't count

I was under the impression that most Japanese are vegetarian, even those that consume seafood.

Vegetarianism, in all its guises, is full of quasi-religious distinctions. The whole area is ripe for a good old-fashioned troll along the lines of dropping into a feminist forum and asking why all women shouldn't be treated as potential wives. (That was my ex's response to the rabid feminist claim that all men are potential rapists).

[Cubdriver]

not joining discord, you'llforgive me

Hope you feel better soon 

thanks everybody for the get well wishes.
fever is subsiding. still feeling rotten, weak, with a lot of stuff still clogging my lungs.
Hubby is down with a high fever.
don't feel like staying up

Glad to hear that at least you're trending in the right direction.  Fingers crossed that hubby follows suit soon.

-Pat

[Saskia]

while I was out cold, umm, with nasty fever, my new war instrument arrived.

[bd139]

[mansaxel]

New TE arrival!

TDS520, with acquisition and processor errors at boot!  More data to come. Optical state: Grimy but with all parts accounted for.

Arrival shot:

[vk6zgo]

I don't know if USA ham licenses have to be renewed or not.

As I recall my 11 meter license was permanent. I still remember my call sign even though no one ever used them. KBHY5427.   

The various Oz Amateur Radio Certificates Of Proficiency are for life, but the callsign is on a yearly basis ---if you forget to pay, after a "grace period", you lose permission to use it, & it goes back into the system, although in principle, it isn't re-issued for a fair while.

CB callsigns in Oz were non-conforming to international allocations, as they were assumed to be for "short distance communications", only.
Hence, my CB callsign was WAC 927.

[GreyWoolfe]

I don't know if USA ham licenses have to be renewed or not.

As I recall my 11 meter license was permanent. I still remember my call sign even though no one ever used them. KBHY5427.   

Yes every ten years.

Gee, that must really stretch some of those Hobo's abilities. 

You have to get an FCC account and log in, figure out how to do what you need to do using the system of a massive bureaucracy ...

so yes you are right. 

Just went through the dance on the FCC universal licensing system to renew mine.  You use the FRN number on your license as the user ID to create an account.  Even though I have a current email on file, never did receive notification of renewal.  Had to navigate the site again to find/download it.  Med, my 11 meter license was KND3913.

EDIT: forgot to add that it was $35 USD to renew as I have a vanity call sign.  I was licensed as KG4BOM, then became K9WLF and when I got my amateur extra license I became NW0LF as I wanted a 2X2 callsign-that is 2 letters, number and 2 letters that designate amateur extra.

[vk6zgo]

I don't know if USA ham licenses have to be renewed or not.

As I recall my 11 meter license was permanent. I still remember my call sign even though no one ever used them. KBHY5427.   

Yes every ten years.

Gee, that must really stretch some of those Hobo's abilities. 

I received my yearly "Amateur Radio Station renewal form", duly paid it using "online banking", & congratulated myself at getting that out of the way.
I had nearly forgotten about it, until an "official-looking" envelope arrived from the licencing authority, ACMA.

In it was a missive informing me that "I had not paid my licence renewal", & warning of the penalties for use after the "grace period".
As I was  sure I had paid it, I dug around amongst my paper records, then, not immediately finding it, had a look online.
Sure enough, there it was, so I dug into the paper again, & found it.

I was now ready to "play merry hell" with ACMA, but because they have retreated to the other side of the country, it was after their working hours.
Just as well, because, while looking at the original bill, "stoking my wrath", it suddenly occurred to me that they had the payment listed as :-
Licence Tax            $51.00
Admin Charge        $4.00
Total GST               NIL
AMOUNT DUE         $55.00

For some reason, Dumbo, here, just read the top line & paid $A 51.00!!!

They did put the bottom line in all upper case, but I can only plead that most of the other bills I pay using online banking present the "Amount Due" in a larger font, some times either in red, or at least underlined in that colour.

My phone call to ACMA was a much more subdued one than I had envisaged, the lady there was very understanding, commenting "quite few people get caught like that".
She relieved me of $4.00 off my Visa card over the phone, & the cumbersome machinery of State creaked into motion, so I was now legal to speak to the other "Hobos".

[Neomys Sapiens]

What.. I think you did that, I think that has become the most commonly used phrase by BMW, Volvo and Audi drivers at least here in the UK 

How could any of those three things be caused by driving a BMW? On the other hand I can quite understand how someone might want to throw themselves under a Škoda so that they didn't have to look at it for even a few seconds more, or stop immediately, turn their back and phone for emergency emotional support, or turn around to go and arrest someone for indecent (motor) exposure. 

LMAO... most drivers of those three makes of car seem to think that everyone else is the idiot and those idiots all seem to flock to them, its been a long-standing joke in the petrolhead world. Škoda have had their spot in that light as well, e.g. what do you call a Škoda with a sunroof...A skip. But Škoda left that stage many years ago and are now one of the most popular cars around, as indeed are BMW, Audi and Volvo, but the reason for them being the butt of the idiot's joke is more to do with many of their drivers, many of whom don't give a rats arse about anybody else, and I'm sure that you don't fit into that category, so its nothing personal

Having formerly driven both Mercedes and BMW, I can tell from experience that many other drivers fail to recognise that they are coming from the first or the second left!

[mnementh]

damn you. damn you to... New Jersey. 

mnem

You’re welcome.       -Pat

On the Bench Tonight: INFINITY RS-3000 Driver Refurb

http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/infinity-rs3000-221.html

      

So all y'alls may remember that I got this far aboot a month ago; well, the surround kit from Springfield Speaker has been here for a while, so today they finally came back on the bench.




Getting the last little bits of old foam took a little more than IPA; the corner of a towel soaked in Goo Gone worked, and was then followed by another corner soaked with IPA to get that residue cleaned up.




Here I've propped up the cone with some felt rings and foam tube from my plastic junk drawer; I've applied the cement to the underside of the roll foam and gave it ~30 seconds to tack up.




When I apply the roll foam to the cone, I'll work from the bottom inside the gap as well as the top. This allows me to make certain the roll foam is centered exactly on the edge of the cone. Then I'll go all the way around the cone pinching the roll edge tight between thumb and forefinger of both hands.

I don't usually distort the cone this much when I'm working; it's easy to permanently crease or rip a paper cone doing this. But to show the the work and with the flexible polypropylene cone, for this pic I felt it was okay.




Here I'm getting ready to do the final assembly of the roll foam; the advertised bass resonance of this speaker is 55 Hz, so I'm going to set my old Protek Function Gen to do a sweep from ~30-80 Hz to make sure it passes through the free air resonance frequency of the driver while I'm centering the cone. I've set amplitude so I can clearly hear it when it gets up around the higher end of the sweep; this is applying ~1-2V P-p under load.




Before I actually glue things down, I'll do a reality check on the driver to make sure I actually can get the cone to center properly using the dynamic method. I do this by holding the roll foam like so to find center where the speaker has normal excursion without the VC rattling.

If I can't find the "sweet spot", or if I do find it and horizontal inspection shows the cone is cocked off at a angle, then I know the voice coil has suffered damage from over-excursion and will need to be repaired.

This requires cutting out and replacing the domed dust cap, which is something I try to avoid doing, as on modern speakers it can really affect the vocal range sound of the speaker.




Here I'm applying cement to the basket of the driver; I'll let it tack up for about 30 seconds before removing my felt and foam blocks and sticking the roll foam down in 4 spots based on how the sound reacts.

This is a very time-critical step; as soon as I have those 4 spots down, I will turn off the sweep gen and deliberately press on the cone unevenly in those same 4 quadrants to see if I can make it deflect and rub the voice coil. If I can, I'll lift the roll foam with curved tweezers and move it towards the side where rubbing does not occur; just a mm or two.

Once I get the foam situated so I cannot make the VC rub by pressing unevenly on the cone, or I if get it so it rubs with about the same deflection in all 4 quadrants, I'll turn the sweep generator back on while I finish stitching the glue down all the way around the basket.



And here the speaker is after the glue is stitched down all the way around. I've turned the amplitude up so I can hear the full 30-80 hz sweep clearly; this has the sweep generator producing ~15V p-p unladen across the entire sweep, with laden signal ~2.5V p-p to a max of ~6.7V p-p at its free-air resonance of ~39 Hz.




Here I've finished gluing down the gasket shims; next up will be the relatively boring part of doing cabinet rehab. I'm knackered, so we'll visit that tomorrow after all the cement has time to cure overnight.   

mnem

[Cubdriver]

Nice writeup, mnem!  Thanks.

-Pat

[Neomys Sapiens]

5440 5B40 update:

U165 is toast.  The trigger signal arrives, in-spec, to it, and does not depart. There's no blown tant on its supply; it has just below 5V on the supply pin, and it's not noisy. It does also draw some power.

Parts list sez:

Code: [Select]

U165     155-0109-00    B010100  B021739    MICROCIRCUIT,LI:MONOLITHIC,TRIG       80009   155-0109-00
So, a quick Ebay glance gives that it is not Unobtanium; there are a couple sellers on the bay who want around 25 money for one, plus transatlantic shipping. Stiff prices, them.  Does anyone here sit on a few?

Is that thing in all 5Bxx plugins? In that case I would have one - the plugin is destined to be used in TM500 anyway.

[cyclin_al]

I don't know if USA ham licenses have to be renewed or not.

As I recall my 11 meter license was permanent. I still remember my call sign even though no one ever used them. KBHY5427.   

Yes every ten years.

Gee, that must really stretch some of those Hobo's abilities. 

You have to get an FCC account and log in, figure out how to do what you need to do using the system of a massive bureaucracy ...

so yes you are right. 

Just went through the dance on the FCC universal licensing system to renew mine.  You use the FRN number on your license as the user ID to create an account.  Even though I have a current email on file, never did receive notification of renewal.  Had to navigate the site again to find/download it.  Med, my 11 meter license was KND3913.

EDIT: forgot to add that it was $35 USD to renew as I have a vanity call sign.  I was licensed as KG4BOM, then became K9WLF and when I got my amateur extra license I became NW0LF as I wanted a 2X2 callsign-that is 2 letters, number and 2 letters that designate amateur extra.

I quite like your callsigns!

My own experience with HAM licensing has been mixed positive and negative.

Industry Canada (what it was when I got licensed) HAM licenses are free for the first one, and there is a charge for additional licenses, $75CAD at the time I did my second IIRC.  There are no renewals or regular fees.
These licenses do not indicate ratings or operating limitations.  2 letter callsigns (2 letters after the number) are highly desirable, and it depends on availability of the callsign and who gets their request done first.

I met my examiner at a public library, wrote the exam and filled in the paperwork for my new callsign VE3TSD.  That was a nice availability, as car road rallies are often called TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rallies.
The examiner was suitably dressed for a public servant, albeit with slightly disheveled hair.

At an upcoming road rally, my callsign had not yet been processed.  My examiner was also at the event, and lent me one of his many  extra callsigns, to be used under his supervision.  At the beginning of formal radio network operations, my instructor made an announcement to indicate my use of the callsign, that he was supervising me, and welcoming me to the community.
Not 5 minutes later, there is some other HAM on the air claiming to be a radio examiner, accusing me of stealing a callsign and not being a HAM.
Well , my examiner got on the air and succinctly quoted and explained the applicable rules.  End of story?
This other HAM did not let up, and went on again about it.
My examiner got on the air again and uses a special VY9 callsign (government official; did not know he had that) and gave the other HAM an official cease and desist order! 
Welcome to the community!  That was supposed to be a fun car rally event!
I later met this other ham without indicating what callsign I had used; some middle aged guy with expensive clothes and car; definitely not a gentleman.
I later met my examiner at the car rally event; the most hobo of any hobo I hoped never to meet; yet this guy was a real gentleman.  I have no idea how someone can transition from public servant to such hobo in such a short time!

Some years later, VA2/VE2 became the appropriate callsign to use.  Since I liked what I already had, I paid the fee and got a second callsign.  That kept me in good standing and I could meet the conditions to keep my first callsign.  A guy I used to work with, also a HAM, started giving me a hard time about not having an appropriate callsign (based on my first).  I told him simply I was compliant with the rules.  He came back about it a week later.  I told him to check the official database (where he could have found both listed). He came back about it a week later again.  I had to explicitly tell him what my second callisgn was and asked him to go check how long I had it for.  That finally shut him up.  I am not sure how a license gives people the idea they can play police...

[BU508A]

while I was out cold, umm, with nasty fever, my new war instrument arrived.

"Onward brave warriors!"

[S57UUU]

Friday, at the Friedrichshafen Hamradio fleamarket, it happened to me for the first time. I bought a piece of test gear, that I clearly knew I do not need (have DSOs), but simply couldn't resist. Ouch.
A like-new tek 2467B (a legend of a scope) with three P6137 probes, some documentation still in closed envelopes, 400 Euros.

Must replace that battery.

[TERRA Operative]

New TE arrival!

TDS520, with acquisition and processor errors at boot!  More data to come. Optical state: Grimy but with all parts accounted for.

Arrival shot:

I have a spare faceplate, floppy disk drive and serial/parallel port options if you want to upgrade your unit. (Assuming yours has connections on the processor board for them? I've never stuck my nose in a 500 series scope).

You can check the error logs for the exact errors. I find it easier to read them out via GPIB using 'errlog:first?' and then 'errlog:next?' for subsequent lines.
Usually I'll use 'ERR CLEAR' to clear the logs then reboot for fresh errors so I'm not chasing an old error.

Try setting the clock correctly, then perform a full reset and run SPC. sometimes that will clear errors, but it will at least help show anything up.

Also, the self test you initiate yourself from the menu is more indepth than the boot self test, so worth running that as well.

Let us know what errors are in the error log once you clear the log and do all the self tests etc. I've found it's often the Acquisition RAM or the two little EEPROM chips that hold the calibration data that fail commonly.

[Robert763]

No luck for me on ePay lately....

Well I got outbid on the hp 5090B receiver. 
I didn't mention it the other day, but the 5090 was supposedly the first hp TE designed in the UK, they seem quite uncommon too, though maybe a bunch of modified ones will appear on the bay, as spares/repair once the LW radio signal finally becomes EOL. 


Also tried to bid on a hp 185B oscilloscope that would have ended Friday at 11.30am, no bids all week, so I though no one else was interested (like the one in Germany that went for a single digit € a while ago). I was working when it ended and snuck away from the BDNL* to bid a ten minutes prior to the end, only to find the ePay mobile programme wouldn't accept my bid  turns out it sold on an offer about an hour or two before the end. This might or might not have been a good thing, as it was advertised as a "barn find" with minimal pictures and the sellers other "barn finds" looked in quite poor condition. 


*big dirty noisy lathe

David

How much did you bid on the 5090B? I have a 5090A and a B that I was going to use as parts donors.

[AVGresponding]

Well I got outbid on the hp 5090B receiver. 
I didn't mention it the other day, but the 5090 was supposedly the first hp TE designed in the UK, they seem quite uncommon too, though maybe a bunch of modified ones will appear on the bay, as spares/repair once the LW radio signal finally becomes EOL. 



David

It wasn't me! Though it was on my watch list.

[mansaxel]

5440 5B40 update:

U165 is toast.  The trigger signal arrives, in-spec, to it, and does not depart. There's no blown tant on its supply; it has just below 5V on the supply pin, and it's not noisy. It does also draw some power.

Parts list sez:

Code: [Select]

U165     155-0109-00    B010100  B021739    MICROCIRCUIT,LI:MONOLITHIC,TRIG       80009   155-0109-00
So, a quick Ebay glance gives that it is not Unobtanium; there are a couple sellers on the bay who want around 25 money for one, plus transatlantic shipping. Stiff prices, them.  Does anyone here sit on a few?

Is that thing in all 5Bxx plugins? In that case I would have one - the plugin is destined to be used in TM500 anyway.

This is the list of appearances:

5B25N
5B31
5B40, 5B42 (U300, U400), 5B44
7B50A, 7B53A
7B80, 7B85, 7B87, 7B81P, 7B90P
7612D
7S14 / 5S14N (U270)
SC502, SC503, SC504 (U3238)