Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

[EC8010]

I will admit that I haven't been in the habit of jumping on the Bantam's brake. Perhaps I should get into the habit, especially as there isn't room to fit a handle to the Bantam. But until I spot a 127 tooth gear at a sensible price, the Bantam is limited to Imperial threads. The Hobbymat has enough change wheels to do almost any thread, but doesn't have a brake or a clutch.

[tggzzz]

Tin came from Sainsbury's.

Nice, and so are the plots

Until I read the text, I wondered why you posted a weird LLM generated image

[tautech]

I will admit that I haven't been in the habit of jumping on the Bantam's brake. Perhaps I should get into the habit, especially as there isn't room to fit a handle to the Bantam. But until I spot a 127 tooth gear at a sensible price, the Bantam is limited to Imperial threads. The Hobbymat has enough change wheels to do almost any thread, but doesn't have a brake or a clutch.

Pretty lucky with this Harrison 12 and a quite rare option it has allowing metric or imperial threading with just a changeover lever.
Even without additional changewheels there's only a few threads I can't do, a couple of the BSPT threads that are normally tapered which would be difficult to do on a lathe anyways.

Thread Cutting Chart.JPG

[EC8010]

My calendar says we're approaching the time of UK radio rallies. But it seems the first is the Newbury one on 5th July. Are there any others within about 60 miles of Newbury before then that I haven't spotted? After all, there might be a something or another there that I dearly need...

[tggzzz]

My calendar says we're approaching the time of UK radio rallies. But it seems the first is the Newbury one on 5th July. Are there any others within about 60 miles of Newbury before then that I haven't spotted? After all, there might be a something or another there that I dearly need...

I've put my response in a separate "Events" thread, viewtopic.php?t=456

[Zenith]

Barry on 9th May. Is it within 60 miles? It's a micro rally, much smaller than W-s-M and definitely not worth a long trip. I may not bother.

Dunstable Downs on 17th May is one of the biggest rallies of the year, sometimes better than Newbury, and there's a visit to TNMoC which can be fitted in after. It's worth the trip.

Mendips on 14th June. It's a minor rally but I've usually managed to come away with a treasure or two.

Newbury on 5th July, and then some major or conveniently near rallies after that.

There are at least three rally lists on the web. It's worth looking at them all rather than just the RSGB list, because they can miss important details or even don't mention some events at all.

[EC8010]

I shall look out for Dunstable Downs and Mendips; you are correct about the RSGB list.

[tggzzz]

I shall look out for Dunstable Downs and Mendips; you are correct about the RSGB list.

Dunstable Downs == Luton; Stockwood Park to be exact.

I'm not sure I would suggest anyone came a long way just to go to the Mendip rally. OTOH, the Stanton Drew stone circles[1] are nearby; bring some sandwiches and have a packed lunch sitting on the stones. (I enjoyed doing that on Stonehenge, but nowadays it is a national disgrace)

[1] https://www.geograph.org.uk/mapper/comb ... 78/-2.5759

[Zenith]

Stanton Drew is more or less on the way back and should be well worth the detour if the weather's nice.

Stone circles are another of those things in the worth seeing but not worth going to see category.

[EC8010]

I believe you have to pay to see Stonehenge; surely the mortgage has been paid off by now?

I've just looked up the prices and they're outrageous.

[Zenith]

About the same price as visiting the Roman baths in Bath. It does seem a bit steep.

Stonehenge is an English Heritage site. To be fair these places require upkeep - curation, building maintenance, keeping down the weeds, security in some cases. If you are into visiting them, a year's membership of English heritage costs roughly twice the price of a ticket for Stonehenge and gives free access and free parking. Some of the less elaborate sites, such as long barrows, have free access.

[tggzzz]

Stanton Drew circles are on private land. There is an honesty box set into a wall.

Bath Roman Baths do require upkeep, so I won't mind paying next time I go. I won't pay for the watered down [sic] water. (IIRC BANES residents get in free).

When I was a kid Stonehenge was free and open and without "amenities"; delightful. Nowadays Stonehenge is miserable; you can't get anywhere near the stones, and the amenities are awful. They are still having stupid ideas about putting the A303 in a long tunnel there.

Other neolithic sites between Points West and London are the West Kennet Long Barrow, Avebury, and Silbury Hill. All very near each other.

Must go to Orkney, sometime.

[EC8010]

When I was a kid Stonehenge was free and open and without "amenities"; delightful.

Exactly. Somewhere around 1980, I saw the sun rise on the longest day of the year at Stonehenge from within the stones.

[MED6753]

When I was a kid Stonehenge was free and open and without "amenities"; delightful.

Exactly. Somewhere around 1980, I saw the sun rise on the longest day of the year at Stonehenge from within the stones.

Weren't there some incidences where some assholes damaged or otherwise defaced the stones?

[tggzzz]

There have, IIRC, been several variants of group damage.

Unfortunately Gurgle et al are becoming less and less useful, preferring to concentrate on recent events and new "information content". However...

https://www.stonehenge-london-tours.com ... vandalism/
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/vis ... e-1977-85/

[bd139]

Not worthy of its own thread but I feel like I need one of these. Combines my three favourite things: mathematics, calculators and fire...

IMG_5186.jpeg

[EC8010]

Arithmetic; it's a four-function calculator. Bettered by a slide rule. I like a calculator to not only be scientific, but to include physical constants (qe, me, b, h, etc). My ideal "Swiss Army" calculator would be scientific, with physical constants, include callipers for little stuff, laser measurement for bigger stuff, and temperature and humidity measurement. And I suppose a 3 1/2 digit DMM would be nice. Water and solvent-proof could be useful; a cross between Mr Spock's Tricorder and Dr Who's Sonic Screwdriver. I do not require it to be able to talk to other people or disclose its whereabouts to others.

I do have a (big) Swiss Army knife.

[mansaxel]

Oh, and on steel tape machines; specifically Marconi-Stille ones, this BBC technical history site has a rather nice description of them in BBC use.

[25 CPS]

One of my friends got more equipment out of eWaste at one of his sites for me. This time it's a pair of HP Test Oscillators. An HP 651B and an HP 652A.





The 651B is former military surplus and still has its TEMMIS tags on it. The 652A apparently started out at Canadian Westinghouse Ltd. and went through at least one other owner before getting to me. I wonder which plant this one was at; Westinghouse used to have a large manufacturing footprint in Canada and I know they did make radios and other audio products in Brantford so that's a possibility. The good news is its Y2K Ready but the bad news is it has a PH-163 power socket. The 651B is new enough it's got a regular detachable power cord socket so that problem's avoided but it's Y2K Readiness is less certain.

Other stuff that's been going on lately:

I can't remember if I posted this back in March but the Canadian government shut down the weather radio service. This was similar to the one run by NOAA in the United States. If there was a textbook example of using a relatively small number of transmitters to cover a large geographic area, the huge land mass of Canada that's sparsely populated would be it. The government's position is to use a smartphone app instead. We know what cell coverage is like here. We also know what cell service is like during extreme weather which is when this service would be most critical.

Then today I found out they're also killing CHU on June 22nd. CHU is, for now, the National Research Council's time station. The costs I've seen associated with both these services are tiny compared to the overall federal budget. They wouldn't be a rounding error and probably wouldn't even be enough to influence a rounding error in any meaningful way and it comes across as a very penny-wise but pound-foolish. They are keeping the telephone talking clock though. Call 613-745-1576 for English or 613-745-9426 en Francais.

And I finally broke down and got an amateur radio license a couple of weeks ago. There were a couple of things that led to it. First, there's some equipment I have that I can't use other than to generate into a dummy load. Second, I was helping out someone at work with his ham radio equipment which led to an interesting situation where I mentioned to him that I'm not the one with the license, it's a legal grey area for me to be screwing with this. It was technically ok because he was supervising even though he was the one who asked for help. We had a laugh and I said I guess I'd better do something about the license situation. I found someone to administer it and arranged to write the basic and advance tests back to back. I didn't realize this was an unusual request when I asked to do that. It's possible to do that, it isn't like getting a driver's license where there's mandatory waiting period between tests, but apparently uncommon at least here. Anyways, I passed both the advanced and basic with honours (>80%) so that's done and I'm just waiting for Industry Canada certificates to arrive in the mail. The specific in the advanced certificate in my situation is the regulatory requirement for that certificate to legally be able to build and modify equipment.

[Cubdriver]

Nice score on the test oscillators, and congrats on getting the Ham ticket! The guys at the radio museum were on me forever to get mine; finally took the tests back pre-pandemic and got the Technician and General knocked off. In hindsight, I wish I'd gone for the hat trick, but eventually will go for the Extra as well. After getting it, I was able to apply for and resurrect the call sign (K1BSY) that had been my father's before I came along and put the kibosh on his hopes and dreams...

-Pat

[nixiefreqq]

HEY BRITS!

have been watching old Dr Who episodes on the Roku "vintage doctor" channel and have developed a craving for "jelly babies".

there is a specialty sweet store in downtown gettysburg that carries some foreign goods and might have them (swmbo goes there to buy something called "flake" that was her favorite as a kid). BUT it is a holiday weekend....don't want to risk a trip into town on a busy tourist weekend unless there is a chance of finding the real article. do they still make jelly babies? is there a particular brand that I should look for? (I found "jelly tots" at a brit store in north Carolina once.....but do not think they are the same thing).

[nixiefreqq]

seems like my 651a started out as 75 ohms and was changed to 50 (by swapping one resistor?)

651a.JPG

[Zenith]

Yes jelly babies are still made.

https://www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/search ... y%20babies

Years ago they'd stock them in big jars, weigh them out and put them in a paper bag. I haven't see a shop that does that for years.

The local shops sell sweets in bags, There are about 50 types; pear drops, wine gums, liquorice torpedoes etc. I haven't looked closely but they probably sell jelly babies.

Dunno about availability in the USA.

[tggzzz]

do they still make jelly babies?

Yes.

There are many many similar things, all with slightly different "bite feels". Jelly babies tend to have a softer bite..

Haribo Gummi/Gold Bears are one such example; they seem to be widely available. Purists will, rightly, spit.

[EC8010]

Years ago they'd stock them in big jars, weigh them out and put them in a paper bag. I haven't see a shop that does that for years.

Elf & Safety. Likewise pet shops with a cat asleep in the dog biscuit bin. We had a Maynards in Pinner when I was a kid. The black jelly babies were the best. And how about Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts? (And associated capacitors whose legs would drop off?)