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

[Specmaster]

hey specky

who told you to get a 4th jab?

my quack said to get flu shots, so swmbo and i both just ran out to the clinic and got them. but she never mentioned anything about covid. (she knows that we had the 3 previous shots and that we both had the dread disease a year ago)

on tv there are adverts for covid shots sponsored by a manufacturer ......seems strange that our gp let it slide. (maybe the distribution chains have just not kicked into high gear around here?)

My GP sent me and SWMBO a SMS .reminder to get our 4th Covid jabs and also our flu jabs at the same time, so we did

[MED6753]

Blondie and I never got the 3rd booster but we plan on getting it now that the booster takes into account the latest variants.

Blondie has had it twice, both times mild. I haven't gotten it, even though I was exposed on her 2nd go round. But perhaps I did but had absolutely no symptoms.

I normally avoid the flu shots. I still have a knot in my arm from the last time some bitchy nurse jabbed me with the needle.

[Zenith]

I think I had Covid last Christmas and the Christmas before. I didn't have a test, so I can't confidently lay it at the door of Covid. It was a nasty winter bug. It laid me low for a couple of days and for the next two days I wasn't up to snuff. I remember last Christmas waking up about 2 in the morning with an urge to vomit. I got to the bathroom and threw up. Normally when you have an urge to vomit, you fight it, you can at least control it, so you throw up in a place not too inconvenient, and then you feel better immediately. You feel much better when you've washed your mouth out. The odd thing about this was that I didn't immediately feel better after. Not even after washing my mouth out.

It was nowhere near as nasty as Norovirus (Winter Vomiting Virus) which I had about 15 years ago. Fountain vomiting from both ends.

I haven't had a flu jab since 1968 - the year of Hong Kong flu. The old man had a letter from the school saying that they were recommending all pupils should have the Glaxo flu inoculation, but parental permission was needed and it would cost 8/6 - that's about 40p or about 50 cents in today's money. It was several beers back then.

After I had flu worse than I've ever had it. I lay in bed aching all over but I had a call to the bathroom and took a glass to be refilled with water. After doing the business and refilling the glass, I collapsed. The glass fell into the washbasin and was smashed. I came to and crawled back to bed. My parents were understanding.

I'm far from an anti-vaxxer, but I've never had a flu vaccine since. I went along with the first two Covid jabs, but haven't had others. I'm sceptical about the Covid vaccine thing. I think mild variants have evolved which may be unpleasant, but which confer better immunity than rushed vaccines.

[tggzzz]

I can't remember having flu, ever. Once a year or so I felt grotty enough for a one or two days that I stayed at home, but that reduced as daughter got older Nonetheless, I've had the flu vaccine annually for maybe the past 15 years, but that was principally to protect my parents!

A naturally acquired covid infection may or may not provide better immunity than the covid vaccine; AFAIK the jury is still out. But the point of the covid vaccine is to prevent you getting lethal symptoms or (worse) long covid. And, of course, passing it on to other people less able to withstand an infection.

Famously, the measles vaccine only prevents 80% of infections, but it is still invaluable provided sufficient people are vaccinated to prevent accelerating transmission. That's the famous "herd immunity", and it means that my health can be badly screwed because other people are selfish/ignorant anti-vaxxers.

The worst jabs I had were for cholera and typhoid, in the early 80s. After jabbing me the doctor told me to wait 15 minutes to verify there was no bas reaction. There wasn't, but for the two subsequent days both upper arms were very sensitive to the touch - I wore short-sleeved shirts in December. It might be relevant that both vaccines were in a phenol carrier (i.e. carbolic acid).

[Zenith]

The worst jab I had was typhoid and paratyphus A & B. The professor of the department decreed we all have it. It was the department of microbiology. He said that some people wouldn't notice much and others might have more pronounced reactions, so we could have the afternoon off and some might not feel like coming in the next day.

I had the jab and got back to base. I had something to eat. The the room was getting cold. I turned on one bar of the electric fire. It was OK for a minute or two but I was still cold, so I turned on the next bar. It was OK for a few more minutes so I got closer, then closer. When I was shivering over the fire with singeing smells coming from my trousers, I decided something was wrong, so I turned off the electric fire and went to bed. I spent two days in bed suffering from what seemed like the effects of typhoid.

The other one at around the same time was the tetanus jab. That caused my upper left arm to swell up and it was a hard swelling. It didn't go away for nearly a year. In retrospect it was a lost opportunity. I should have gone back and insisted on more tetanus jabs; the other upper arm, the lower arms, legs, torso. Instant superman and Charles Atlas be damned. I could have gone to the beach and kicked sand in people's faces.

They were both very unpleasant, particularly the typhoid jab.

[tggzzz]

The other one at around the same time was the tetanus jab. That caused my upper left arm to swell up and it was a hard swelling. It didn't go away for nearly a year. In retrospect it was a lost opportunity. I should have gone back and insisted on more tetanus jabs; the other upper arm, the lower arms, legs, torso. Instant superman and Charles Atlas be damned. I could have gone to the beach and kicked sand in people's faces.

Haven't had paratyphyus, so can't comment.

As for arms looking like Charles Atlas, be careful what you wish for! I wish my arms still looked like the 7st weakling. My right arm has a "popeye biceps". Daughter's dog with 6" legs was on a lead when he saw a cat and I didn't. He has remarkable acceleration and speed (24mph measured with GPS receiver strapped to his harness), took off after his prey, and forcibly extended my biceps. Arm hurt, and found that when I tried to insert key into front door, I repeatedly missed the keyhole.

I will always have some problems turning screws, but cordless drills/drivers are a wonderful invention

[nixiefreqq]

eeeeek! gratuitous nudity in the tea thread!

[tggzzz]

eeeeek! gratuitous nudity in the tea thread!

Well, British Medical Journal case reports can be like that. But all "naughty bits" were out-of-shot

I claim that picture is still much less disturbing than the picture of a certain clothed pensioner that has been known in these circles. Please don't repost those, lest we become too agitated when our eyeballs melt!

[mansaxel]

I'm far from an anti-vaxxer, but I've never had a flu vaccine since. I went along with the first two Covid jabs, but haven't had others. I'm sceptical about the Covid vaccine thing. I think mild variants have evolved which may be unpleasant, but which confer better immunity than rushed vaccines.

Main purpose of any pandemic vaccination is not to stop people from becoming ill; it is to reduce the seriousness of infection enough in as many people as possible, giving health care a fighting chance of saving those for whom vaccines aren't an option (and here I explicitly exclude people "who do not believe in vaccines" -- they might as well believe in 5G mind-control, eternal electrolyte capacitors or flat earth. They are completely deluded, and have no say.) or those for which the vaccine does not help enough -- mostly the elderly in this case, but could be infants, pregnant people, or any other group in another case.

To note, there also exists a negative proof burden on vaccines -- you don't know if you not getting ill is luck or vaccine. This is a question which can only be answered for the entire population where the truth is in numbers. Our inability to discern between statistically proven (FSVO) facts and our own biased empiric experiences makes this worse.

Now that the mRNA vaccine research has been awarded a Nobel Prize one might think that we're over that, but "Big pharma probably used its influence" the idiots would say, and I'm certain the talk will go on about "I know several people who died a horrible death from the mind-control 5G vaccine" in which fable the deaths might have happened, but the rest is, say, less true.

The speed of mRNA adaptation was because the scientists have been anticipating a pandemic, probably a flu (because it is almost always a flu) and started work on a multi-tool vaccine type that very easily can be adapted to a new virus. It was not unduly rushed -- they all did the required tests, but everyone realised that there was a hurry on, and regulatory approvals were prioritised. This coupled with the flexible vaccine made for the unprecedented speed.

[Zenith]

As for arms looking like Charles Atlas, be careful what you wish for! I wish my arms still looked like the 7st weakling. My right arm has a "popeye biceps". Daughter's dog with 6" legs was on a lead when he saw a cat and I didn't. He has remarkable acceleration and speed (24mph measured with GPS receiver strapped to his harness), took off after his prey, and forcibly extended my biceps. Arm hurt, and found that when I tried to insert key into front door, I repeatedly missed the keyhole.

Even as a kid I thought the Charles Atlas ads were something of a joke to draw in the feeble minded, along with Elevator shoes and X-ray specs. Magical thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OJKkzA ... 0ccFanClub

I liked 10cc. I saw them live once.

I've found I've missed the keyhole a few times. I put it down to too much blood in the alcohol stream.

[nixiefreqq]

I'm far from an anti-vaxxer, but I've never had a flu vaccine since. I went along with the first two Covid jabs, but haven't had others. I'm sceptical about the Covid vaccine thing. I think mild variants have evolved which may be unpleasant, but which confer better immunity than rushed vaccines.

Main purpose of any pandemic vaccination is not to stop people from becoming ill; it is to reduce the seriousness of infection enough in as many people as possible, giving health care a fighting chance of saving those for whom vaccines aren't an option (and here I explicitly exclude people "who do not believe in vaccines" -- they might as well believe in 5G mind-control, eternal electrolyte capacitors or flat earth. They are completely deluded, and have no say.) or those for which the vaccine does not help enough -- mostly the elderly in this case, but could be infants, pregnant people, or any other group in another case.

To note, there also exists a negative proof burden on vaccines -- you don't know if you not getting ill is luck or vaccine. This is a question which can only be answered for the entire population where the truth is in numbers. Our inability to discern between statistically proven (FSVO) facts and our own biased empiric experiences makes this worse.

Now that the mRNA vaccine research has been awarded a Nobel Prize one might think that we're over that, but "Big pharma probably used its influence" the idiots would say, and I'm certain the talk will go on about "I know several people who died a horrible death from the mind-control 5G vaccine" in which fable the deaths might have happened, but the rest is, say, less true.

The speed of mRNA adaptation was because the scientists have been anticipating a pandemic, probably a flu (because it is almost always a flu) and started work on a multi-tool vaccine type that very easily can be adapted to a new virus. It was not unduly rushed -- they all did the required tests, but everyone realised that there was a hurry on, and regulatory approvals were prioritised. This coupled with the flexible vaccine made for the unprecedented speed.

fair enough.

and when my doctor tells me to take a medication i do.

but when dancing happy actors in a tv commercial tell me to call my doc and ask for their latest potion.......i change the channel.

[Cubdriver]

Another EvilBay mug option - this time the clear Tek CRT one. It's a bit smaller than the HP mugs.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155852603077?h ... R8LuqrDuYg

This one:


-Pat

[MED6753]

Blondie and I never got the 3rd booster but we plan on getting it now that the booster takes into account the latest variants.

Blondie has had it twice, both times mild. I haven't gotten it, even though I was exposed on her 2nd go round. But perhaps I did but had absolutely no symptoms.

I normally avoid the flu shots. I still have a knot in my arm from the last time some bitchy nurse jabbed me with the needle.

Turns out I did get the 3rd booster. Old age is a terrible thing. But Blondie didn't get the 3rd booster. So yesterday we decided to go get the "2023 - 2024" booster. Today I feel fine. Blondie on the other hand has had a reaction. Fever, chills, etc. Been laying on the sofa most of the day. But she is recovering this evening. She swears she'll never get another Covid booster.

[mnementh]

Just popping in for a moment to wish all you freaks a Happy Halloween!!! while I'm doing the whole carving punkins thing widda kiddles...

mnem
This is the time of year I get to take off the mask and be my true self.

[25 CPS]

Following up on a post from a long time ago:

A few days ago I was doing some cleanup in the basement while I was waiting to meet a friend and ended up having some extra time because they ended up getting delayed. So, I figured I have a few minutes, I'll do a quick repair and plugged in the soldering iron and decided to replace the driver in that vintage intercom/PA speaker that I was planning to use as a test speaker which I picked up in that lot of equipment down in St. Catharines that turned out to be mostly a pile of duds:



The original driver that was made in Japan that had an open voice coil got thrown out months ago. I had a pair of these Radio Shack full range speakers on hand for a long time and could've changed out the defective original in the cabinet right when I discovered it was open with one of these except I was reluctant to split up the pair. After all, a basic four inch speaker like one of these shouldn't be hard to find, so there shouldn't be any need to break up the pair, right? It turns out basic four inch speakers like this are hard to find locally now and one the one possible replacement I found and bought turned out not to fit the posts inside the enclosure which sat dissembled while I checked every electronics store I happened across. So, the one that didn't quite fit went on the shelf next to the other Radio Shack driver and the one I tested the fit with went into the enclosure.









Tested successfully with an HP 3310A function generator, then buttoned it up and put it away, went for dinner and then on a trip to visit friends out of town for a few days. I'm heading back downstairs to get someone else's radio on the bench to finish it off now that I've got the space for it freed up. Once the someone else's radio is done and out of here, that's it, I'm not doing any more projects for other people. I've had enough. I'm going to enjoy my workshop for my own projects that keep getting kicked down the line.

[Zenith]

Tested successfully with an HP 3310A function generator, then buttoned it up and put it away, went for dinner and then on a trip to visit friends out of town for a few days. I'm heading back downstairs to get someone else's radio on the bench to finish it off now that I've got the space for it freed up. Once the someone else's radio is done and out of here, that's it, I'm not doing any more projects for other people. I've had enough. I'm going to enjoy my workshop for my own projects that keep getting kicked down the line.

I've fixed things for friends, on the understanding that whatever it is was a lost cause. There are almost certainly a few people out there trying to make a living out of fixing electronics, but necessarily expensive and not worth it. Successes so far include an inverter welder, a Bush valve radio, a very nice Roberts transistor radio, a trail camera, a child's night light and a DVD player. They were mostly simple faults. Irrritatingly, my stuff that goes wrong, such as a Hanns G monitor, with apparently a dead inverter, but no plug in replacement and no schematics, has often defeated me.

"someone else's radio" could be anything from a treasured six transistor pocket radio to a triple conversion comms receiver, which has been twiddled with and has a serious fault to boot. Do tell.

[Cubdriver]

And another of the HP engineer's mugs:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266433925393?h ... R5SDlbfyYg

NAWTS.

-Pat

[mnementh]

Saw that one. Shipping seems wey high; makes it a $30 buy for me. Condition is at best a 8-9 of 10; lots of pecks in the paint.

mnem
meh.

[25 CPS]

Tested successfully with an HP 3310A function generator, then buttoned it up and put it away, went for dinner and then on a trip to visit friends out of town for a few days. I'm heading back downstairs to get someone else's radio on the bench to finish it off now that I've got the space for it freed up. Once the someone else's radio is done and out of here, that's it, I'm not doing any more projects for other people. I've had enough. I'm going to enjoy my workshop for my own projects that keep getting kicked down the line.

I've fixed things for friends, on the understanding that whatever it is was a lost cause. There are almost certainly a few people out there trying to make a living out of fixing electronics, but necessarily expensive and not worth it. Successes so far include an inverter welder, a Bush valve radio, a very nice Roberts transistor radio, a trail camera, a child's night light and a DVD player. They were mostly simple faults. Irrritatingly, my stuff that goes wrong, such as a Hanns G monitor, with apparently a dead inverter, but no plug in replacement and no schematics, has often defeated me.

"someone else's radio" could be anything from a treasured six transistor pocket radio to a triple conversion comms receiver, which has been twiddled with and has a serious fault to boot. Do tell.

"Lost cause" pretty much summarizes this radio in two words. It was yet another post-war German set that a friend got for free from someone clearing out their garage. It had been butchered pretty badly. All the original speakers were gone and the front end had been either been screwdrivered and destroyed or had gone bad and subsequently been screwdrivered to the point of destruction. Obviously, this radio got kicked out to the garage and left there for a reason.

[vk6zgo]

Blondie and I never got the 3rd booster but we plan on getting it now that the booster takes into account the latest variants.

Blondie has had it twice, both times mild. I haven't gotten it, even though I was exposed on her 2nd go round. But perhaps I did but had absolutely no symptoms.

I normally avoid the flu shots. I still have a knot in my arm from the last time some bitchy nurse jabbed me with the needle.

Turns out I did get the 3rd booster. Old age is a terrible thing. But Blondie didn't get the 3rd booster. So yesterday we decided to go get the "2023 - 2024" booster. Today I feel fine. Blondie on the other hand has had a reaction. Fever, chills, etc. Been laying on the sofa most of the day. But she is recovering this evening. She swears she'll never get another Covid booster.

A bit down the track from my last Covid report, but SWMBO & I are both RAT negative now, so don't need to go around ringing a bell & calling out "unclean" anymore.
My back is still giving me a bit of strife, though, but now I am fit for society, the doc can send me off for some x-rays.

The funny thing is that immediately after I hurt it, I could feel stabbing pains in the actual places that had been impacted, so getting out of bed made me feel like I was getting stabs in just those places.
When I started to get better, it just dropped to a very low-level general ache, & I thought, "Good, I've survived this Ok", but now it is still pretty general, but has gone up a couple of levels on the "Holy Shit!" scale.

Maybe further Covid "enhancement?

On the "Holy Shit" scale, the whole experience is still way below when I had what they used to call "infectious hepatitis" in the pre "alphabet soup" days.
With that, first you were scared that you might die, then, after a while, scared that you wouldn't!

[MED6753]

Crazy Ivan Tektronsky



Lower left vertical plug-in. Upper right appears to be sweep speed and possibly trigger. But I don't read Russian so I can't be sure. Lower right appears to be a variable calibrator. I would suspect it's a clone of a Type 531 which has no delayed sweep.

[bd139]

That's rather interesting that. I bet it's full of weird ass tubes as well.

[Specmaster]

Crazy Ivan Tektronsky



Lower left vertical plug-in. Upper right appears to be sweep speed and possibly trigger. But I don't read Russian so I can't be sure. Lower right appears to be a variable calibrator. I would suspect it's a clone of a Type 531 which has no delayed sweep.

Doesn't your mobile phone support a translation service via its camera?

[MED6753]

That's rather interesting that. I bet it's full of weird ass tubes as well.

Indeed. Many of the Russian tubes are simply clones of European/US tubes and are actually quite good. The power pentodes and beam power tubes are sought after by the audiophool crowd.

Here's a Type 531 for reference.

[MED6753]

Doesn't your mobile phone support a translation service via its camera?

Didn't know you could do that. How does it work?