Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cubdriver]

That's a good picture, I might be able to use that. I'm thinking of some clear laser adhesive paper I think I had for another project. Should be able to run it through Gimp magic tools and come up with something useful. I'll post something if I succeed.

Good to know - thanks!  Fortunately, the side panel on mine is the one part of the enclosure that seems to be in good shape and looks only to need a little bit of cleaning to get the crud out of the recesses and corners.  Appreciate the warning regarding its delicacy; I'll make sure not to use anything too aggressive and not to scrub the printed areas:

If it'll help, I can take a better one later tonight using the real camera with everything square and even for you to use instead of that quickie off the cuff cell phone image.  Let me know.

-Pat

[TERRA Operative]

Well, I finally got one! The fabled true 50ohm 1% Tektronix '012-0482-00' coax cable for my SG503. 

Want a 012-0057-01, too?



I have an special offer, since mine is true vintage and apparently made of pure tektronium, it's just 5 times the price tag of this one  :

Oof, someone is feeling a bit confident. That one is just an RG58 cable, I make my own with Canare connectors all the time...
I see BMI Surplus has them in stock for $35 with a quick Googling.

[mansaxel]

Ok dumb question but I really don't know - do you all need AC at all over there at any time of the year?

This trip we've seen (car outside sensor) temperatures of up to 43° C, which is not unheard of in the region (Aude, southern France, same
 latitude as middle of Oregon or Maine, roughly) since long before -- and most everything in terms of houses et c has air condition in some way. 

In Europe, most AC manufacturers are Italian, and they've got tradition in it...

It is, however, so that summers are longer and hotter in average now than before.

[mansaxel]

Oh, and trip report:

Went from Sauternes to Carcassonne yesterday. A family member had stepped on something sharp while bathing day before that, so we went to the hospital in Carcassonne yesterday evening to get some evaluation, mostly around Tetanus status.  I can't claim parking was the most expensive part, because it was free. We'll see what the ER bill comes to today, as we were told to come back and pay today. I'd be surprised if it goes above 100€.

Today it's "bathe in the Mediterranean" day, and we've got two stops for buying wine, at the wine co-op in Homps and a winemaker in Vacqueyras.

Edit: just managed to find a pic of the bottle we bought last time in Homps, (2016) so will be able to shop efficiently :-)

[bd139]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

[BU508A]

Here is one for our Spara from The Signal Noise Path:

[Robert763]

mnem
Still 10x the car as my Mk1 Capri, tho.

Which motor mnem ?

The little Cologne V4; what were they, a 1500...? 1300...? Ghahhh.     Can you believe I scratch-built headers for that fuxxoring little automotive backbirth? I thought it'd be just like my Cologne-V6 Spitfire project, only more room to work. Well that part was true... every time I'd swing a wrench, my elbow would go through some new rust spot. 

mnem
"The gift that keeps on giving..."

I had a SAAB 95 estare with the little  Ford V4. Fun car.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

Such things happen because a lack of neighborhood mutual overwatch. Had someone been awake, the induviduum in question could surely have been shut up for another 1.5 hours by judicious application of a rubber baton!

[Robert763]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

Rental or personal (illegal) scooter?
They are getting bad around here and police dont seem to be doing much. In theory it's driving without (or otherwises than in accordance with) a licence and without insurance.

[bd139]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

Rental or personal (illegal) scooter?
They are getting bad around here and police dont seem to be doing much. In theory it's driving without (or otherwises than in accordance with) a licence and without insurance.

Personal one. Bastard was riding on the pavement and got T-boned by a car coming out of a side junction. Which didn’t stop, probably because there was no chance in perusing a claim 

One down, 50000 to go. Don’t think he was critically hurt but certainly won’t be scootering again for a bit.

[Neomys Sapiens]

mnem
Still 10x the car as my Mk1 Capri, tho.

Which motor mnem ?

The little Cologne V4; what were they, a 1500...? 1300...? Ghahhh.     Can you believe I scratch-built headers for that fuxxoring little automotive backbirth? I thought it'd be just like my Cologne-V6 Spitfire project, only more room to work. Well that part was true... every time I'd swing a wrench, my elbow would go through some new rust spot. 

mnem
"The gift that keeps on giving..."

Oh that V4 dog, yep 
It was a 2/3rds version of the 3l V6 which many also thought were a puss bucket but they went good with the std twin throat Webber and the 3l Capri is still a sought after model as they were quite a rocket ship in their day.

Pop had a Mk4 Zepher with the 3l innit and probably the first set of wheels I did the ton in way the fuck back in the 70’s. 

If anything, then the 2.8i, but still no.

[Cubdriver]

That's a good picture, I might be able to use that. I'm thinking of some clear laser adhesive paper I think I had for another project. Should be able to run it through Gimp magic tools and come up with something useful. I'll post something if I succeed.

A better photo of the sliding side cover, taken with the DSLR instead of the phone:


-Pat

[tggzzz]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

Rental or personal (illegal) scooter?
They are getting bad around here and police dont seem to be doing much. In theory it's driving without (or otherwises than in accordance with) a licence and without insurance.

Personal one. Bastard was riding on the pavement and got T-boned by a car coming out of a side junction. Which didn’t stop, probably because there was no chance in perusing a claim 

And every chance of losing a No Claims Discount due the accident with an uninsured driver.

[AVGresponding]

For reference:

Lotus: will get nicked.
 
TR7: garage around it is more likely to get nicked.

That was then, this is now.  https://www.carandclassic.com/list/41/tr7/

Yeah, that's why the wheels flip out a la James Bond's TR7. Too bad these pontoons don't self-deploy like the TR-7's diving planes;

mnem

Dear mnem - This is a Lotus Esprit S1:       And this is a Triumph TR7:   

Now go and sit in the corner and think about what you've done.

I have: Aside from the fact neither car could keep the water out to save its owner's life, at least Wet Nellie had an excuse for the fact the operator had to wear SCUBA gear. Also... I wish it were me who bought the car for $100 after it'd been lost to a forgotten storage unit in Long Island...

mnem
...just so I could sell it.   

At least the body won't have rusted...

mnem
Still 10x the car as my Mk1 Capri, tho.

Which motor mnem ?

The little Cologne V4; what were they, a 1500...? 1300...? Ghahhh.     Can you believe I scratch-built headers for that fuxxoring little automotive backbirth? I thought it'd be just like my Cologne-V6 Spitfire project, only more room to work. Well that part was true... every time I'd swing a wrench, my elbow would go through some new rust spot. 

mnem
"The gift that keeps on giving..."

Depends which V4. The Taunus V4 went from 1.2 to 1.7 litres. The Essex V4 was either 1.7 or 2.0 litres. I've no idea without researching, what might have been fitted to US market Capris.

Considering the shoehorning that Triumph had to do to fit the 2.0 litre straight six into the Spitfire chassis to make the GT6, it's no surprise that only someone of supreme pig-headed stubbornness would attempt to do it with a V6 lump.   

Oh that V4 dog, yep 
It was a 2/3rds version of the 3l V6 which many also thought were a puss bucket but they went good with the std twin throat Webber and the 3l Capri is still a sought after model as they were quite a rocket ship in their day.

Pop had a Mk4 Zepher with the 3l innit and probably the first set of wheels I did the ton in way the fuck back in the 70’s. 

From what you're saying, you guys got the Essex V4s and V6s. They're a bit different in design from the Taunus/Cologne units, not just in displacement, mostly in the timing gear and some other ancillaries (literally a gear on the Essex).

[tautech]

Oh that V4 dog, yep 
It was a 2/3rds version of the 3l V6 which many also thought were a puss bucket but they went good with the std twin throat Webber and the 3l Capri is still a sought after model as they were quite a rocket ship in their day.

Pop had a Mk4 Zepher with the 3l innit and probably the first set of wheels I did the ton in way the fuck back in the 70’s. 

From what you're saying, you guys got the Essex V4s and V6s. They're a bit different in design from the Taunus/Cologne units, not just in displacement, mostly in the timing gear and some other ancillaries (literally a gear on the Essex).

AFAIK the V4's we got in NZ were 2 and 3L and same bore/stoke etc.
Early Mk4 Zephers had a 2.5L V6 and the Zodiac version the 3L and twin throat Weber but the last of them were all 3L and twin throats like the one Pop had.
The V4's were in the Mk1 Transhit vans too but they were dumped when the Mk2 was released and the little better 2L OHC fitted but with a single throat carbie. 

A buddy after suffering 100k miles with the 2L OHC in his Transhit Mk2 hauled it and all its running gear out and fitted a new 302W crate motor and IIRC C4 BW auto and customed Ford 9" running on LPG and the darn thing lasted him another 20 yrs with the 302W just ticking away with no idea it was ever working.
Although he never flogged it, it earned its keep and pulled like a 4th former....I know as I did several 6hr each way trips away with him on hunting and fishing trips.
IIRC he sold it soon after it's only major repair....a steering box at half a million KM. 

Funny as hell actually, a Transit was his first work hack and now some 40 yrs on a modern TD Transit is his new work hack with only Hiace vans of one model or another filling the in between years.

[xrunner]

That's perfect. Size is not an issue I can scale it. I'll see what I can pull off with it. I'd give it a better than 50% chance. 

A better photo of the sliding side cover, taken with the DSLR instead of the phone:


-Pat

[AVGresponding]

Oh that V4 dog, yep 
It was a 2/3rds version of the 3l V6 which many also thought were a puss bucket but they went good with the std twin throat Webber and the 3l Capri is still a sought after model as they were quite a rocket ship in their day.

Pop had a Mk4 Zepher with the 3l innit and probably the first set of wheels I did the ton in way the fuck back in the 70’s. 

From what you're saying, you guys got the Essex V4s and V6s. They're a bit different in design from the Taunus/Cologne units, not just in displacement, mostly in the timing gear and some other ancillaries (literally a gear on the Essex).

AFAIK the V4's we got in NZ were 2 and 3L and same bore/stoke etc.
Early Mk4 Zephers had a 2.5L V6 and the Zodiac version the 3L and twin throat Weber but the last of them were all 3L and twin throats like the one Pop had.
The V4's were in the Mk1 Transhit vans too but they were dumped when the Mk2 was released and the little better 2L OHC fitted but with a single throat carbie. 

A buddy after suffering 100k miles with the 2L OHC in his Transhit Mk2 hauled it and all its running gear out and fitted a new 302W crate motor and IIRC C4 BW auto and customed Ford 9" running on LPG and the darn thing lasted him another 20 yrs with the 302W just ticking away with no idea it was ever working.
Although he never flogged it, it earned its keep and pulled like a 4th former....I know as I did several 6hr each way trips away with him on hunting and fishing trips.
IIRC he sold it soon after it's only major repair....a steering box at half a million KM. 

Funny as hell actually, a Transit was his first work hack and now some 40 yrs on a modern TD Transit is his new work hack with only Hiace vans of one model or another filling the in between years.

The Pinto was a good engine, but not really suited to LCV applications, especially not for the AU/US market. I'm surprised Ford AU didn't have their own more or less local variant, maybe a 4.0 Barra powered Transit? Or at least a 3.0 Essex V6 engined one, like the 4WD Transit County we had here (they also came in 2.5 TD flavour).

[Specmaster]

Oh that V4 dog, yep 
It was a 2/3rds version of the 3l V6 which many also thought were a puss bucket but they went good with the std twin throat Webber and the 3l Capri is still a sought after model as they were quite a rocket ship in their day.

Pop had a Mk4 Zepher with the 3l innit and probably the first set of wheels I did the ton in way the fuck back in the 70’s. 

From what you're saying, you guys got the Essex V4s and V6s. They're a bit different in design from the Taunus/Cologne units, not just in displacement, mostly in the timing gear and some other ancillaries (literally a gear on the Essex).

AFAIK the V4's we got in NZ were 2 and 3L and same bore/stoke etc.
Early Mk4 Zephers had a 2.5L V6 and the Zodiac version the 3L and twin throat Weber but the last of them were all 3L and twin throats like the one Pop had.
The V4's were in the Mk1 Transhit vans too but they were dumped when the Mk2 was released and the little better 2L OHC fitted but with a single throat carbie. 

A buddy after suffering 100k miles with the 2L OHC in his Transhit Mk2 hauled it and all its running gear out and fitted a new 302W crate motor and IIRC C4 BW auto and customed Ford 9" running on LPG and the darn thing lasted him another 20 yrs with the 302W just ticking away with no idea it was ever working.
Although he never flogged it, it earned its keep and pulled like a 4th former....I know as I did several 6hr each way trips away with him on hunting and fishing trips.
IIRC he sold it soon after it's only major repair....a steering box at half a million KM. 

Funny as hell actually, a Transit was his first work hack and now some 40 yrs on a modern TD Transit is his new work hack with only Hiace vans of one model or another filling the in between years.

You guys are talking some cars, (well engines) at least, that I enjoyed as a teenager and a gave some fond memories of as well. When I first passed my driving test, I couldn't afford a car of my own and I was still living at home with my parents and my neighbour had this lovely Ford Zephyr Mk3 V4 that I used to do the servicing on, and so he added me to his insurance and let me burrow it in the evenings when he wasn't using it, that car was a real babe magnet I recall  . This was while I was doing my apprenticeship on Eastern National Busses and the chairman of London Transport used to drive his Ford Mk4 Executive to our bus station in Chelmsford, (sometimes it would be his Rover P4) and park them inside the garage and catch a train into London from the station next door.  Every Thursday morning the entire garage would have the floor washed down to remove all signs of engine oil drips etc, and that every bus, coach, breakdown truck and cars would have to be moved in order to scrub the floors. I used to get the job of moving his cars and I loved that, both of them were very upmarket luxury cars, the Rover was known as the poor man's Rolls-Royce.

Then a few years later, I got married and moved to Haverhill and was employed there by Haliiburtons and the company car that was used by the engineers to pop out and source tools and other bits and bobs was a Mk4 Ford Zodiac V6 2.5L estate car. Once again it fell to me to service this car as part of my job and I used to love driving that around, bags of punch from the engine, I never got tired of seeing that huge flat and wide bonnet stretching out in front of me, it was a tennis court, or so it seemed compared to other cars of the times. 

Edit: After a few years, I went to work at another company in Haverhill and the owner of the company knew that I dabbled in Audio electronics and asked me to repair his rather posh radiogram and by the time I had completed the repairs, he had a massive cash flow problem. He couldn't at the time pay me for the parts etc, so I rather cheekily suggested that I'd take their Transit van (V4 2L) as settlement (it had been standing doing nothing with a duff clutch) and to my surprise he agreed and so that became my daily driver and I had that van for about 12 years before selling it on and it went like stink, no wonder it was at the time the vehicle of choice by bank robbers 

[Specmaster]

Ebay just suggested these 2 listings to me, they are supposed to be job lots of scientific calculators, where do they find these sellers who can't tell a databank, or remote keyboard with touchpads etc from a real calculator, scientific or a normal calculator Geez.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275382448616?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275382464534?

[bd139]

Mostly junk 

[mnementh]

Shopping Prime Day... so far, the only thing that really caught my attention was the Kindle for Kids and this: GrubHub free for a year. We don't order takeout often, but especially for my day off, more choices is a nice thing.

mnem

[Cerebus]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

"Think of it as evolution in action" - Larry Niven

[Zucca]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

"Think of it as evolution in action" - Larry Niven

My little one was awake from 00:33 to 03:46, I was holding him all the time.
I am looking like a zombie today, happy to be at work to rest a bit.

[Cerebus]

Oh joy. Woke up at 5:30 AM thanks to siren action. Someone outside managing to get mangled on an e-scooter. At least get mangled after 7AM ffs 

Rental or personal (illegal) scooter?
They are getting bad around here and police dont seem to be doing much. In theory it's driving without (or otherwises than in accordance with) a licence and without insurance.

No rental (i.e. legal) ones in London in general as yet. There is/was a 12 month trial covering the boroughs of Richmond, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and the City of London that started in June 2021. Don't know when/if the trial ended and what conclusions were drawn.

I personally haven't seen a single legal e-scooter, but I've seen a lot of illegal ones being ridden by idiots with no road sense or sense of self preservation. Examples:

• One being ridden two up, in the dark and rain, on a fast unlit road (section of the A1020 near City Airport) without lights cutting across two lanes of traffic starting from the pavement, headed towards going the wrong way around a roundabout.
• A bloke launching himself from the pavement diagonally across two opposing lanes of traffic just before the junction of the B116 and A124, coming from my left blind spot to crossing my path in front of me just as traffic started to roll when the lights changed.
• A mother with her ~4 years old daughter standing in front of her filtering though queuing traffic at the junction of the B164 and A112.
• A middle aged bloke riding through a red light at the junction of the A1008 and A114 and then just stopping right in the middle of the junction while traffic tries to negotiate around him. - he was one of the better ones with a high-vis backpack and a helmet but still committing at least three or four RT offences (failing to obey a traffic signal, no insurance, wilful obstruction of the highway, possibly unlicensed).

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

It was close calls with e-scooter riders on two occasions last year that convinced me that I needed to get a dashcam (the first two examples). I managed to save their lives both times, despite intense efforts on behalf of the e-scooter riders to get killed, but I don't fancy finding myself with a dead or seriously injured e-scooter rider on my hands without a way to prove that I did everything humanly possible to save them from themselves.

The police just seem to be ignoring them, I haven't seen a single one pulled over by the police yet in the same period since they first appeared I've seen a lot of pulls that were quite obviously for "driving a vehicle with several young and black occupants".

[Specmaster]

<snip>
The police just seem to be ignoring them, I haven't seen a single one pulled over by the police yet in the same period since they first appeared I've seen a lot of pulls that were quite obviously for "driving a vehicle with several young and black occupants".

Are you trying to imply that the met is racist  Tsk Tsk