Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[TERRA Operative]

Hmm, anyone got a Tek TDS644A or similar acquisition board they can pull a chip for me?

I need one of the preamp chips (you can see the missing one where I removed the blown chip). Part number 155-0402-00

[Cerebus]

We named the black tomcat that came to us a few months ago Loki.

Naming a cat after a trickster deity, what could go wrong?   

[Cerebus]

Appropriate name for a pocket murder machine 

A suitable biological description of all true cats (i.e. excluding the Cheetah): "long backed, retractible clawed, killing machine".

[Cerebus]

Actually no I was referring to Prometheus and Loki.

Ah, the trickster/joker, and the giant that corrupted mankind by introducing them to fire, writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, and science.

Other way around, and don't forget "patron saint of liver transplants and carer for endangered avian species" as well.

[Neper]

Somebody near Sehnde (Niedersachsen) in Germany?

A lot of testequipment for 600 Euro:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/rohde-schwarz/2151587290-168-2925

Have you had a look at his other offers? The end-of-terrace for 750.000 € looks quite tempting but it's pick-up only.

[mnementh]

Most of the open source software out there hasn't had "the 2nd 90%" of the development effort expended.

FTFY.

Actually I am using notable bits of software recently that I actually can’t find any bugs in, do not break even once in a year or more of usage and actually solves the problem that I am trying to solve.

I’m waiting for someone to come along and fuck them up.

You must have taken some potent muscle brain relaxant. Patent it or become a distributor, as appropriate.

Nah, is just the usual promotion of the current fruitty cargo cult. 
/ducks, then run like crazy

Actually no I was referring to Prometheus and Loki.

Ah, the trickster/joker, and the giant that corrupted mankind by introducing them to fire, writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, and science.

http://www.deartoadington.com/comic/stories-about-prometheus/

mnem

[bd139]

That's roughly what happens when I solve a problem at work

[mnementh]

Zee plot; she zickensss...

Tekyard_Medical Rep -

I contacted eBay to ask how to deal with this; they started the dispute. What I didn't know was that once they'd done so, I wouldn't be able to speak with you on that platform.

Here's the problem: This unit had no screws in the case; it arrived held together by nothing but the bubble wrap. Once that was removed, the guts of the thing literally slid right out onto my bench by itself. There's no way your people handled this thing without the same thing happening, and the missing parts being VERY visible.

If you're telling me that the hospital lab this scope came from removed those parts before you got it, I'm sorry; I find that very difficult to believe. I find it much likelier that as you are in the business of selling this kind of gear, your people used the parts to fix another scope. Which is fine... as long as you disclose the missing parts before you put the remains up for sale.

I shouldn't have to ask if there are major INTERNAL parts missing; you described this as an oscilloscope, not 3/4 of an oscilloscope, or the shell of an oscilloscope with no guts in it.

You are in the business of selling this kind of stuff. The burden of accurate description is on you. It's right there in the eBay Terms of use. If you don't take the time to evaluate appropriately, you should expect people to not be satisfied.

When I have my return label, I will send this unit back exactly as I received it.

Thank you for your time,

mnem


Here's what happened
Jul 07
The seller approved your request
Jul 07
The seller sent you a message
Message

Hi, We listed this item "For parts and not working" and explain what we observed i.e. Lights come on but nothing appears on the screen. Missing handle. Since it's "For parts and not working" means it has issues or something is missing which we are unable to check and the buyer is responsible for the repair or he can take this unit for parts. You never requested us to send you a picture of the inside of the unit. It seems like you don't want to repair it and don't want to use it for parts. So, make sure the screen turns on when you'll ship back. For the future: You can ask for detailed pictures from us as we are re-sellers and don't have expertise in the equipment. To provide good customer service we are going to accept a return despite the fact we listed it for parts and not working.

mnem

  they want you to fix it before you send it back?

Ok, this is a real cheeky seller, they openly stated that when they tested it, the screen did not work, and yet, they now say that when you return it, they expect the screen to be working  

Your gut feeling about this seller appears to have been correct.

I'd be inclined to speak to eBay again and keep them informed of this and see if they can resolve this correctly. I did earlier however say that eBay has changed, as I discovered when I that issue with an eBay partner letting me down and losing the GSP parcel which left me out of pocket 

I think they were trying to suggest that I did the damage to this scope, not that it came that way. You know, without being so confrontational that eBay just punches them in the dick.

Hence my very measured response. I think I did quite well, considering at this point I'm mad enough to eat bees.

Does eevBlog have an established thread listing eBay vendors known to commit such blatant shenanigans?

mnem

[mnementh]

That's roughly what happens when I solve a problem at work

"No good deed goes unpunished."

mnem
"Thomas Aquinas can suck it." ~me

[mnementh]

Didn't see that post. That's terrible. eBay would probably side with you anyway on this. Literally if the return is open and it's received and the label is registered then they will have a hard job disputing the return even if you shit on it before you send it back.

I'll admit I am tempted. 

I suspect they were trying to "accidentally forget" and evade paying for the return label, which is why I hung a lantern on the fact I didn't have it yet, so couldn't return the scope.

I refused to even acknowledge the rest of the obvious attempt at weaseling out. 

That said; there was a return label in my eBay inbox today, so it will go back shortly. I am sorely tempted to snurch something from it as a "asshole tax" on these fuckwidgets... but I've promised to return it exactly as I received it.

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Didn't see that post. That's terrible. eBay would probably side with you anyway on this. Literally if the return is open and it's received and the label is registered then they will have a hard job disputing the return even if you shit on it before you send it back.

I'll admit I am tempted. 

I suspect they were trying to "accidentally forget" and evade paying for the return label, which is why I hung a lantern on the fact I didn't have it yet, so couldn't return the scope.

I refused to even acknowledge the rest of the obvious attempt at weaseling out. 

That said; there was a return label in my eBay inbox today, so it will go back shortly. I am sorely tempted to snurch something from it as a "asshole tax" on these fuckwidgets... but I've promised to return it exactly as I received it.

mnem
 

Wouldn't be enough. On my tariff "arsehole tax" is £190/hr uplift over my usual rates, so say $225 USD uplift.

[Vince]

TEAMS sorted... friend paid me a visit this evening, passed me his old work laptop.

We connected to the interweb via the Wifi of my ADSL box. First time I use that, works fine, was not terribly difficult to get working, it's auto-detected by the laptop then you click on it and it asks you for a password, that's indicated on the ADSL box (well, you press a button and it displays it on its tiny crappy built-in LCD ).

Opened my Gmail account from there so I could click on the link  / invite I was given.

Opens up the web browser and it works, I can see my ugly mug in the frame, sadly.

 

Boy lots of traffic on here today again... looks like Dragon is sending his gem of a scope back in the end, hopefully will get his refund...

OK so as planned I did that TEAMS job interview just a few moments ago.

TL;DR : it went rather well overall.

Lasted for bloody 1h30min... mostly me talking so it didn't feel that long really, time flew.

I was told there would be two people torturing me, but a third one came to the party, so it was quite crowded.

The HR girl from Paris, another girl, the team leader on site, that I would be working with / reporting to, and her chief, that handles business for the west of France and works in the regional HQ in Nantes.

I thought they would make minced meat of me, so I was a bit nervous, but it soon turned out they were all a friendly bunch, managed to make them smile and laugh. Don't know if that's good or bad 
The guy / boss  noted my old glowing Tek scopes in the background behind me, he got curious !  So I panned around to show them all 25 hollow state Tek scopes, then showed them the bench/lab/gear. 

I don't think they get that many interviewees like me !    The others probably try to put nice plants and paintings behind them... not my kind !

So I told them all about my life, since they asked.

Overall it went really well, though that doesn't mean squat, from experience.

They have positions right now that they are desperate to fill it looks like... Airbus is impatient, as always.

Three different jobs. First two were inline with my previous work experience, working in the aircraft to control airframe work orders. Another one slightly different / better, where you take the time to tell the workers/blue collars what they did wrong, how to improve, and get their feedback, to improve the work instructions, make them clearer, whatever is required to make the worker's life easier so he can do a better job and more reliably / consistently. 

Both jobs require working shifts, which I hate, killed me for the past 10 years. But well if no choice, short term I would do it again of course, need money here...

However at the last minute, they came up with a third and last position...  that sounds much more interesting to me. Never did it before.

Mostly an office job this time, but well the A/C is still right behind the office door so it's not too far, I can go see it and touch it when I miss it !

Job consists of keeping track of all 'C' suffix concessions (the ones that need to be brought to the attention of the client), make a quick Powerpoint presentation to summarize what the concession is about, what has been done to resolve it / fix it, the current state of things, what actions have been taken to try to avoid the problem happening again. So track every such concession for every A/C. Daily you must do conf calls with some guy located in a German Airbus plant, to discuss all these concessions.

So this would be a good step up for me. Would allow me to switch from working inside the A/C which already caused me two really bad accidents in the past, switch from shifts.... to office hours, and a comfy desk, which is the only way to preserve what's left of my body and health. That's what I want, need to be reasonable now, I am not 20 year old anymore.... Crawling in every nook and cranny of an A/C is fun only for a short while... then your body says stop.

Of course needing to speak English and exchange e-mails in English, is a huge added value that I can then (try to at least...) monetize. I mean very few people speak or write English to any decent level at Airbus or any sub-contractor, you would be surprised. A guy that ACTUALLY can handle English decently well, is not at all common around here, would you believe it.

So if I can survive if just 6 months at this position, that would be an excellent point on my CV to then move to even better positions with even better money.
So I told them I was really interested in that position. Plus, they said the guy currently doing this, sucks big time, can't even tell an LGP from a Hilite fastener, they told me... which is like hiring an electronic engineer that literally can't tell a resistor from a capacitor, and has trouble remembering ohm's law ! 
It 's really really bad...

Then at the very last 30 seconds the HR girl asked me how much I wanted... said XX for work order inspections, working in the A/C, but for that position where  you need to speak and write English, sorry but you will have to pay extra. English skills don't come cheap around here, and you know it.

Managed to make them laugh when the HR girl asked me : "How do you think you could improve, on a professional level ". To which I replied : " Well for startes I could lose some weight so I can one day manage to squeeze my frame through the man hole to get inside the center wing box, you live in hope  ! "   


All three positions sadly are on the A320, so boring as hell and production pace is silly high, will be a bit stressful I fear...Airbus still trying to ramp it up any way they can, they can't cope with the high demand of their A320 "Neo" version, and their long range version as well.
My experience has been only on the A350, more interesting.. but so far customer demand for those is not picking up just yet (I understand many A350 orders have been converted to long range A320s instead), so there are no 350 job opportunities, for now. Hoping their will be once COVID and Ukraine stuff calms down a bit...

Anyway, if I can't keep up, will resign in 6 or 12 months and do something else, but right now I can't be too choosy... need MONEY !!! 

They said they need to interview a few more people in the coming days, and that I could probably expect a reply, positive or negative, in a week or so.


Company website : https://expleo.com/global/en/

The usual colourful and fancy corporate " in your face " but hollow web site, typical these days...



Well let's see if that gives me a job or not 

[mnementh]

Best of luck, brother. Gainful employ is a good thing. Especially when it's something you know you're good at. 

Cheers,

mnem
*casts a prayer to Ifni for friends in need*

[Brumby]

Seems promising - but, as we all know, you can only hope until you get the call.

Best of luck!

[capt bullshot]

...

OK so as planned I did that TEAMS job interview just a few moments ago.

TL;DR : it went rather well overall.

...

Congrats.
So I wish you well, and thou shall get the job you deserve

[mnementh]

Didn't see that post. That's terrible. eBay would probably side with you anyway on this. Literally if the return is open and it's received and the label is registered then they will have a hard job disputing the return even if you shit on it before you send it back.

I'll admit I am tempted. 

I suspect they were trying to "accidentally forget" and evade paying for the return label, which is why I hung a lantern on the fact I didn't have it yet, so couldn't return the scope.

I refused to even acknowledge the rest of the obvious attempt at weaseling out. 

That said; there was a return label in my eBay inbox today, so it will go back shortly. I am sorely tempted to snurch something from it as a "asshole tax" on these fuckwidgets... but I've promised to return it exactly as I received it.

mnem
 

Wouldn't be enough. On my tariff "arsehole tax" is £190/hr uplift over my usual rates, so say $225 USD uplift.

Amen! 

Sadly, that is the big gamble one takes shopping on fleaBay... the waste of one's most precious resource: time.

*notification chirp on phone*



Oh dear... this is a conundrum. It appears eBay closed the dispute and issued a refund as soon as I printed the return label. The money is already back in my account... and I haven't even boxed the thing up yet.

Honest dwagon... 100% asshole tax... honest dwagon... 100% asshole tax...   

mnem
*wibble*

[bd139]

Bahahahahahahahaha

Now go quiet 

[TERRA Operative]

OK so as planned I did that TEAMS job interview just a few moments ago.

TL;DR : it went rather well overall.

.........

Well let's see if that gives me a job or not 

Hopefully the fact they revealed the extra position, and a better position too, to you is a good thing. I would assume if they weren't impressed that they wouldn't be giving you that info...

*notification chirp on phone*



Oh dear... this is a conundrum. It appears eBay closed the dispute and issued a refund as soon as I printed the return label. The money is already back in my account... and I haven't even boxed the thing up yet.

Honest dwagon... 100% asshole tax... honest dwagon... 100% asshole tax...   

mnem
*wibble*

Wait until the seller asks, if they don't ask then don't send.

[Vince]

One for Dragon if he lived here... An Agilent 54622D.


https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2187206219.htm


He advertised it originally IIRC a couple weeks ago at 350, greedy. But this week he dropped it all of a sudden to 200, unusual around here.

Euro is weak because of the war, it's 1:1 now.

So at 200 Euros here, it's 200 USD.
Guy says he is open to negotiating the price within reason... not 30% off obviously, but around 10% probably... so say 175 Bucks.


More than you paid for your ebay turd, but :

- It's the 100MHz version
- All the bits are there !   
- It actually works !
- Comes even with the original digital cable and grabbers for the digital section.
- comes with x2 passive probes but don't know if they are Agilent or not, could ask.
- Comes with user manual and programming manual, actual original hard copies.
- He is willing to ship.

I wonder how much shipping and duty taxes would be for that scope.... prohibitive I would imagine ...oh well...

[Cerebus]

Bahahahahahahahaha

Now go quiet 

If one knows, and gets on with, the local UPS/whatever guy the tactic for this one would be (1) hand it over, (2) get formal acknowledgement that it's shipped, (3) meantime tell the UP/whatever guy your tale of woe, as blokes are want to do between themselves, and (4) drop hints that it would be *cough* terribly unfortunate if this happened to accidentally get re-routed via the Marshall Islands.

[mnementh]

          BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

mnem
I prepared Explosive Runes today.

[Brumby]

..... if this happened to accidentally get re-routed via the Marshall Islands.

Not unheard of.  I have personal knowledge of a package travelling from the USA to Oz via one of the Scandinavian countries.  Took a while, but it did get here - eventually.

[Cubdriver]

Vince - best wishes regarding the job front - my fingers are crossed for you!   

Your backdrop was doubtless very attention getting and unusual, and will make you stand out among the candidates.

-Pat

[mnementh]

..... if this happened to accidentally get re-routed via the Marshall Islands.

Not unheard of.  I have personal knowledge of a package travelling from the USA to Oz via one of the Scandinavian countries.  Took a while, but it did get here - eventually.

What would be much better is if that 54622D Vince linked were to be accidentally misrouted to the dwagon's backyard for the advertised 10,99 € local shipping. 

Just for shits & giggles, I estimated shipping... ~$100 plus Duty from USPS, or ~$320 with everything from UPS.

mnem
ouch.

[25 CPS]

It looks like some of the Canadian contributors might have been taken offline due to Rogers bailing out nation-wide:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-outage-cell-mobile-wifi-1.6514373

This is not the first time Rogers has had a massive nation-wide outage.  Just over a year ago, their cell network crapped out:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-outage-analysis-1.5994851

I remember that one, my phone's data stopped working shortly after I left the house to drive to work and then voice calls quit about halfway there.  This time it isn't limited to the cell network though, it sounds like it's pretty much everything that moves data.  I don't know if their cable TV still works.  But given that one half of the national telecommunications duopoly has crashed out in spectacular fashion twice in a year and a quarter, I'm curious if the CRTC, and for that matter the rest of the Canadian government, is going to do something to actually stand up for consumers in this country or let it slide again.