Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Squarewave]

Considering YT didn’t do anything for bullshit pedalling anti 5G wankers I wouldn’t even bother.

Sod 5G, it needs tons of antenna masts to propagate anywhere. It's practically useless.

[med6753]

I could do that. Actually my eldest's boyfriend is a semi-professional guitarist aka unemployed music student,

AKA.....bum. 

[bd139]

Considering YT didn’t do anything for bullshit pedalling anti 5G wankers I wouldn’t even bother.

Sod 5G, it needs tons of antenna masts to propagate anywhere. It's practically useless.

To mods: this is actually on topic. RF engineering

Actually it's fine. It has roughly the same propagation characteristics as 4G did. It sits between existing 4G and 5GHz WiFi. The band 2 range in the 10's of GHz region isn't used in Europe. That has some atmospheric absorption issues associated with it which seem to attract all the comments about propagation. But that isn't intended for outdoor use apparently.

Edit: I get full whack 5G here and the pole is about 1/4 of a mile away 

[Specmaster]

Considering YT didn’t do anything for bullshit pedalling anti 5G wankers I wouldn’t even bother.

Sod 5G, it needs tons of antenna masts to propagate anywhere. It's practically useless.

A bit DAB radio then, that sucks big time in a car

[Squarewave]

Considering YT didn’t do anything for bullshit pedalling anti 5G wankers I wouldn’t even bother.

Sod 5G, it needs tons of antenna masts to propagate anywhere. It's practically useless.

A bit DAB radio then, that sucks big time in a car

One of ours has dab in it, signal goes in and out all of the time. Can't beat good old FM.

[bd139]

FM goes out all of the time as well. It just degrades audio rather than the difficult to recover bitstream. Digital isn’t always the answer is it 

[Wolfgang]

Yuck. The coffee has a HP-ish color. 

Call that a cup of coffee? This is a cup of coffee:



If it's not as black as Louis Armstrong in a light-proof room, it's not black enough.

(I really thought that was a cup of builders tea with way too much milk in it, not coffee.)

bbbut ... This is Keysight black !!! 

[Specmaster]

FM goes out all of the time as well. It just degrades audio rather than the difficult to recover bitstream. Digital isn’t always the answer is it 

I always find FM stands up far better than digital, even on local digital stations, sometimes it is almost impossible to get a continuous signal if the car is moving, but the same station on FM is rock solid. My car also has a built-in TV tuner in the boot and that is digital and the signal is so hit-and-miss that just moving the car a few metres can be the difference between being able to watch TV or not. When watching TV, you need to be stationary as the screen automatically blanks when moving at all speed, but leaves the audio on.

[factory]

BTW insane BC183L pricing comes from 1968 fuzz face pedal hysteria going on at the moment. I just bought 200 crap ones and will put them in the cupboard for 20 years until there’s a supply shortage and hype event.

Also doing a spreadsheet of legendary pedals and transistor complement.

Ferengi mode on 

Well that explains it then, apparently I have a one of two, but probably not 20. Just didn't know the popular guitar pedal carp was using none Ge trannystors.

The BC183L seemed familiar for ones I've seen in TE at work, but I was wrong it was the BC182L (higher voltage rating), I won't say what it is, in case they start destroying those too, don't want to help them with my posts, same as I avoid mentioning Ni*ie choobs in my posts, as it would help google index information that is used against us.

David

[bd139]

Good idea.  I don’t get it anyway. It’s a very boring transistor with no special characteristics or even any special crapness.

All the TE is now boxed for the move. Nothing to do now this week 

[factory]

And for the page:


And this is where a full frame camera shines - when you go wide:


-Pat

Was too tried after yesterdays OT plumbing/drainage work that went a bit wrong, missed both this & that.





Actually have two of each.

David

[mnementh]

   C902 lower right. There's C903 hidden behind that transformer. Must go ASAP.   

That transformer is a common mode choke, part of the mains input filter. 

Yup. You can replace all that mess with a shiny new Schaffner filter. 

mnem
*channeling Pitr today*

[srb1954]

Well I got woken up at 3AM by a system crash alert going off so definitely not hitting Rugby rally today after last night’s second thoughts. I wish everyone going good luck and bad luck. Good luck on finding something and bad luck for finding anything which I will be finding next week at MKARS 

Going to keep an eye out for OC44 transistors at these things now. I made fortune on the old OC81D’s back in peak pedals so perhaps it’s time for another round. Was getting £10 each and had most of a box of 500 of them. I bought half a car and a lot of curry with those transistors 

I checked through my transistor stocks.

No OC44s unfortunately but a few OC71s and OC75s. Maybe they will become valuable someday.

[factory]

Good idea.  I don’t get it anyway. It’s a very boring transistor with no special characteristics or even any special crapness.

All the TE is now boxed for the move. Nothing to do now this week 

I read on another forum, that they used whatever cheap transistors were available at the time, guessing the people making new ones don't know enough to use anything else, or believe it won't sound right.

Now if they could start using that random ZTX type I have 900 of, I would be very happy. 

David

[mansaxel]

Good idea.  I don’t get it anyway. It’s a very boring transistor with no special characteristics or even any special crapness.

All the TE is now boxed for the move. Nothing to do now this week 

As with the JRC 4558 in say the Boss chorus pedals, most of the component choices were down to economics and other supply chain considerations.  We're talking about commercial products, built by people who had a job to do. For the chorus project I built, I swapped all opamps for TL072, and due to that I had to modify the feedback resistor for the first buffer stage, or levels would be too high.

The real problem in stomp boxes is various IC's like analog delay lines. Those are only made by people like Behringer these days, and at interesting prices, for what used to be a Matsushita jellybean.

I think that the fussing with "exact components" is down to people cloning (i.e Cargo Cult) vs people understanding and building (engineering). I'm the worst kind, I don't understand, yet I modify and build...

[factory]

   C902 lower right. There's C903 hidden behind that transformer. Must go ASAP.   

That transformer is a common mode choke, part of the mains input filter. 

Yup. You can replace all that mess with a shiny new Schaffner filter. 

mnem
*channeling Pitr today*

Isn't there one of IEC filters right next to it? the board is extra filtering, the 24** series have similar extra filtering.

David

[mnementh]

BLEEEEARRRRGHHH!!! Black coffee is for bitter people with dried up little souls. Like Sid. 

You rang. Sitting here drinking the stuff 

Engineers and IT folk exist on the stuff mostly.

Edit: med knows how to coffee like an engineer 

Well, we all know I failed as a professional engineer... so I suppose your record is untarnished. 

But I've done my time in the ivory tower in two different disciplines, and I knew plenty of actual Dilberts and BOFHes, and many of them were of similar mind; the bitter herb is a necessity, that doesn't mean you have to suffer for your addiction and drink it black just because other people say so, like you were a member of *hissss* management or summat.

All y'alls can have my moo sqweezins when you pry them from my cold dead claws. Prolly another 5-10 years at most. 

mnem

[bd139]

Good idea.  I don’t get it anyway. It’s a very boring transistor with no special characteristics or even any special crapness.

All the TE is now boxed for the move. Nothing to do now this week 

I read on another forum, that they used whatever cheap transistors were available at the time, guessing the people making new ones don't know enough to use anything else, or believe it won't sound right.

Now if they could start using that random ZTX type I have 900 of, I would be very happy. 

David

That's exactly it. People have no idea how to substitute components.

Same problem with the hams and the good old MPF102. It's the worst FET ever made. Absolutely unbinned turd. 2N548x is the binned variety and goes for a fraction of the cost. But of course it featured in every ARRL design ever because the Crap Shack sold it. No one in any ARRL publication mentions that you usually have to try 2-3 of them in circuit to get one that works properly i.e has the right Idss for the circuit 

Also that reminds me about the Elecraft K2 problem back in the day. They shipped a bunch of marginal J310's from a supplier so the primary VFO synth osc didn't start up. They don't have design parameters on hand or anything so I stuffed a J309 I had lying around in there as it's same series, just binned different and it worked. This caused quite a kerfuffle over whether or not it'd work with their usual fix it guy telling me that it was in no way suitable. I still have the J310 they sent me as a replacement lying around in a box somewhere.

Still easy to make some money out of assembly workers with no brain up top 

[mnementh]

Well I got woken up at 3AM by a system crash alert going off so definitely not hitting Rugby rally today after last night’s second thoughts. I wish everyone going good luck and bad luck. Good luck on finding something and bad luck for finding anything which I will be finding next week at MKARS 

Going to keep an eye out for OC44 transistors at these things now. I made fortune on the old OC81D’s back in peak pedals so perhaps it’s time for another round. Was getting £10 each and had most of a box of 500 of them. I bought half a car and a lot of curry with those transistors 

Fortune favors the bold.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

...And this is where a full frame camera shines - when you go wide:


-Pat

"Open the pod bay doors please, Hal..."

mnem
*toddles off to tighten up his rather loose associations*

[mnementh]

BTW insane BC183L pricing comes from 1968 fuzz face pedal hysteria going on at the moment. I just bought 200 crap ones and will put them in the cupboard for 20 years until there’s a supply shortage and hype event.

Also doing a spreadsheet of legendary pedals and transistor complement.

Ferengi mode on 

Toldja.

mnem

[AVGresponding]

Good idea.  I don’t get it anyway. It’s a very boring transistor with no special characteristics or even any special crapness.

All the TE is now boxed for the move. Nothing to do now this week 

I read on another forum, that they used whatever cheap transistors were available at the time, guessing the people making new ones don't know enough to use anything else, or believe it won't sound right.

Now if they could start using that random ZTX type I have 900 of, I would be very happy. 

David

That's exactly it. People have no idea how to substitute components.

Same problem with the hams and the good old MPF102. It's the worst FET ever made. Absolutely unbinned turd. 2N548x is the binned variety and goes for a fraction of the cost. But of course it featured in every ARRL design ever because the Crap Shack sold it. No one in any ARRL publication mentions that you usually have to try 2-3 of them in circuit to get one that works properly i.e has the right Idss for the circuit 

Also that reminds me about the Elecraft K2 problem back in the day. They shipped a bunch of marginal J310's from a supplier so the primary VFO synth osc didn't start up. They don't have design parameters on hand or anything so I stuffed a J309 I had lying around in there as it's same series, just binned different and it worked. This caused quite a kerfuffle over whether or not it'd work with their usual fix it guy telling me that it was in no way suitable. I still have the J310 they sent me as a replacement lying around in a box somewhere.

Still easy to make some money out of assembly workers with no brain up top 

The obvious answer is to bulk buy a jellybean equivalent, and re-mark them as TI brand BC183L...   

[TERRA Operative]

When watching TV, you need to be stationary as the screen automatically blanks when moving at all speed, but leaves the audio on.

That's easily defeated.

Heck, the Toyota dealership installed the defeat button for us when we bought the car, with a handshake agreement that we won't watch TV while driving.
I only use it to show Google maps from my phone via the HDMI port I optioned in to the car.

At least 1/4 of Japanese drivers like watching the latest crappy variety show on the way home from work though...........

[bd139]

The obvious answer is to bulk buy a jellybean equivalent, and re-mark them as TI brand BC183L...   

China have that market cornered already

[mnementh]

BTW insane BC183L pricing comes from 1968 fuzz face pedal hysteria going on at the moment. I just bought 200 crap ones and will put them in the cupboard for 20 years until there’s a supply shortage and hype event.

Also doing a spreadsheet of legendary pedals and transistor complement.

Ferengi mode on 

Why not put out working PCB-designs for those circuits on e.g. Github? People can then order & stuff the boards themself 

I could do that. Actually my eldest's boyfriend is a semi-professional guitarist aka unemployed music student, so I can probably bend him to actually demo something on YT to leverage it 

No, no, no... you cannot do it on a PCB; they're too organized. The electrons won't get confused in the right way unless you built it deadbug/point-to-point...

mnem
...and charge $1000/hr labor.