Test Equipment Anonymous

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 9:40 pm I would just like to point out that British dragons do not fuck cars. Light aircraft yes but not cars.

_{hoepfully I'll start a new subreddit with that comment}

They don't have to--British cars come "pre-fucked".

BAHH-DUMP-BUMMP-TSSSSHT!

mnem
oh, look... his throne is finally level...

Zenith wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 1:16 pm There are a lot of AM stations in that locality, and the station also has FM coverage. Perhaps that's why it wasn't missed. It looks as if the AM station was unmanned and in a remote location. Its absence was noticed by a landscaping crew, presumably going on an occasional visit to cut back the brush. The tower was collapsed by cutting the guy ropes. There's a chicken farm nearby and it's hoped their security cameras may have some footage which will help solve the crime.

https://dcweekly.org/2024/02/07/mysteri ... isappears/

https://gizmodo.com/who-stole-this-200- ... 1851239340

This link seems to have a photo of the station and tower.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united- ... -hurts-our

The thieves must have gone with cutting equipment and heavy haulage to carry away the spoils. I imagine that with a couple of oxy-propane sets, it wouldn't take long to reduce the tower to manageable pieces. According to one report the tower was made of stainless steel, and so was much more valuable than normal steel scrap.

It's a federal offence to tamper with a federally licensed facility, carrying a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. It's a pretty audacious crime.

Interestingly, in one of my old jobs, for quite a while I worked at the 6WF/WN site, & right next door we had a "chook farm" called the "Radio Hatchery".
When the wind was in the right direction, the aroma was "eye-watering", especially in the "old building" which was quite a bit closer to the epicentre of the chook poop smell!

Our "Dual Tuned Vertical Radiator" was over twice the height of the one in the news story.
It, too, is a "guyed mast" & it is incredibly huge & heavy, so I wouldn't want to be anywhere in the vicinity if it came down!

Another, even bigger, such guyed mast is the 6WA Wagin one, some 200 odd km further South, which did "fall down" when it had first been built back in around 1932.
The job was pretty much over "all but the shouting", so the construction crew piled into their truck & headed off to Wagin for a meal, a couple of beers & a few hours rest at the Pub.

No O.H.& S in those days, so most of the crew were sitting in the rear tray of the truck.
One guy was idly gazing back in the direction of the Radio station, when he realised he couldn't see the mast.
He hammered frantically on the roof of the truck till the driver stopped.
Back to the site to survey the disaster!
The big old monster was strong, though, the fixes were fairly minor & up it went again.
This time it stayed up.

Another story tangentally regarding 6WA but addressing the lack of awareness of the public as to where their radio broadcasts come from, was some years later than my sojourn at 6WF/WN, when the "powers that be" decided that there was a gap in 6WA's coverage around the towns of Bridgetown & Manjimup further South.
They accordingly had nice new lower power local transmitters installed to (we assumed) "great fanfare".
The former was easy to find, but the latter was tucked away "in the bush" & hard to find, as became increasingly obvious to my offsider & I when we headed off for a maintenance visit to both.
After getting ourselves lost, we decided to "ask a farmer".
The helpful answer was "Up in Wagin"!

bd139 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 8:18 pm A pleasant pheasant plucker. My sister worked on work experience for a poultry farm (she's a vet now so this is relevant in some way) and said only weird, mental people and criminals work there so this is a viable hypothesis. Could overlap with ham radio operators on the Venn diagram

was told by a local farmer that poultry processing operations are one of the few employers that do not bother with background checks......because almost all of the applicants are referred by parole officers. (amateur radio operators are tested and approved by our federal government. there is no better assurance of fidelity, trust, and skill than possession of a chit issued by our insect overlords).

A while back, @bd139 posted this resource for me on the Discord:



https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/

I've been reviewing it over and over for a while to learn all the correct WIS-y terminology in my new watch-tinkery hobby; it's quite a infodump.

The author has created several similar such applied physics/engineering resources, including one on the physics of cameras and lenses:



https://ciechanow.ski/cameras-and-lenses/

They're all in his archive:

https://ciechanow.ski/archives/

Cheers!

mnem
Every day you learn something new is a day not wasted!

having a dermatologist with a sense of humor is a good thing.

"you might have a small scar". funny man.



https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6f2au0


edit might have to change my online name to "furious george"

edit 2 meant to post this in the discussion and group therapy thread......but can not figure out how to move it.

Tried to fistfight a threshing machine again...?

mnem
"never bring a gun to a dragonfight."

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 1:04 pm Tried to fistfight a threshing machine again...?

mnem
"never bring a gun to a dragonfight."

naw. it was a little irregular rough spot about 3/16" in diameter.

GP said it didn't look like anything to her but go see the dermatologist anyhow.

the skinologist said 50/50 it was basil cell carcinoma and he was proven correct by a biopsy.

second biopsy says he removed it all. whew!

was not expecting such a big incision......but hey.....i was just an ugly bastard before....now i look like a freaking hockey star.

Whew!!! Something even scarier than a threshing machine!

mnem
Even dwagons tremble before the Big C... (no, not you, Cerebus)

Those with kids of a certain age will shudder at the mention of "Tamagotchi".

This brings such nightmares to mind...
https://hackaday.com/2024/02/16/slime-m ... h-the-goo/

BU508A wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 8:43 am Okay, which one of you did that?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... wer-stolen

Turns out this might have been nicked a year ago and no one noticed

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/thread ... st-6697751

WANT!! -Pat

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:08 am WANT!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIU3IUbD0dQ

-Pat

What holds you back?

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:08 am WANT!!

A 1500W unenclosed laser. What could possibly go wrong?!
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0CD17M6RD

I watched maybe 60s of that video, during which time that .... bloke .... talked about laser being focussed. I need say no more.

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No Mr Bond, I expect you to die"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx9z99Y ... Movieclips

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:08 am WANT!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIU3IUbD0dQ

-Pat

When I was a senseless yout' I worked a couple summers in a resto-rod shop very much like that guy's. I remember wishing for a Star Trek phaser so many times cuz as the guy sed, you spend more time debusking/derusting than all other aspects of the work combined.

Guy def needs to invest in some better safety squints, as well as some portable carbon-filtered ventilation. Stuff like urethane paint and Bondo are very toxic when burned. Also needs to ban his pooch from the shop while he's doing that FFS... unless he wants to deal with a fat, old, arthritic dog who's also blind for the rest of his life.

I quite like the cameo truck he's doing in that vid; they were a favorite project of old man Belmore's, and became one of mine after we turned a 60-something Caddy hearse that had been totalled by treefall into one. Like a giant El Camino.

Fuck... I'm downright jealous of tools like this which weren't available when I was young and healthy enuf to use 'em...

mnem
He totes needs to French all the lights on that, tho. Actually, everything that can be Frenched...

bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 7:05 pm

BU508A wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 8:43 am Okay, which one of you did that?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... wer-stolen

Turns out this might have been nicked a year ago and no one noticed

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/thread ... st-6697751

kevtronics wrote:

tomservo wrote:"...Some folks took interest in this story and put together a little video after they took a roadtrip to the WJLX tower site to see it for themselves. Now, the guy doing this is not a broadcaster or even a radio enthusiast, so do take their narration with a grain of salt. He does botch one important fact at the end of the video, but what I think is newsworthy is the actual video shot on the WJLX tower site.

Three things stood out to me. First, the weeds were pretty overgrown right at the door, which was hanging by just one hinge and open to the elements. Second, the interior looked like it had been empty and exposed to the elements for quite some time. Third, the power meter on the exterior of the shack was disconnected and missing. It appears to me that it's been that way for a while. Months? Years? Who knows.

There were also some guy wires strewn about the property, but I honestly couldn't tell if they were laid down recently or not."

I'm going with the theory that they never actually returned to the air after filing the silent STA in 2017. After seeing the footage of the transmitter site, it certainly looks that way.

Fuck, I hate being right sometimes; just one more chunk outta my "faith in humanity"... *cringe*

mnem
we are fucking doomed.

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 2:34 pm [
Guy def needs to invest in some better safety squints, as well as some portable carbon-filtered ventilation. Stuff like urethane paint and Bondo are very toxic when burned. Also needs to ban his pooch from the shop while he's doing that FFS... unless he wants to deal with a fat, old, arthritic dog who's also blind for the rest of his life.

I'm surprised to see these things as products for sale to the public. I thought that lasers with power greater than a couple of mW were highly dangerous and could blind instantly. I'd heard that they could also destroy parts of the retina not easily noticeable and that way you could have cumulative damage to vision. Some years ago one of the surplus suppliers in the UK was selling a laser which had been used as part of the sighting mechanism on a tank. I think it was 9W. There was a lot of talk that such a dangerous and easily misused thing, should never have been released to them for general sale.

Admittedly stick welders are dangerous and can cause arc-eye, and eventually damage to vision. They usually come with a flimsy hand held mask. Anyone with any sense would buy something better and auto dark helmets are quite cheap these days.

As you imply, even if this device comes with adequate eye protection for the user, it's very easy to imagine that others could be injured by reflections.

Zenith wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 2:59 pm

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 2:34 pm [
Guy def needs to invest in some better safety squints, as well as some portable carbon-filtered ventilation. Stuff like urethane paint and Bondo are very toxic when burned. Also needs to ban his pooch from the shop while he's doing that FFS... unless he wants to deal with a fat, old, arthritic dog who's also blind for the rest of his life.

I'm surprised to see these things as products for sale to the public. I thought that lasers with power greater than a couple of mW were highly dangerous and could blind instantly. I'd heard that they could also destroy parts of the retina not easily noticeable and that way you could have cumulative damage to vision. Some years ago one of the surplus suppliers in the UK was selling a laser which had been used as part of the sighting mechanism on a tank. I think it was 9W. There was a lot of talk that such a dangerous and easily misused thing, should never have been released to them for general sale.

Admittedly stick welders are dangerous and can cause arc-eye, and eventually damage to vision. They usually come with a flimsy hand held mask. Anyone with any sense would buy something better and auto dark helmets are quite cheap these days.

As you imply, even if this device comes with adequate eye protection for the user, it's very easy to imagine that others could be injured by reflections.

The power limit varies according to wavelength of course. 5mW is one of the boundaries. My schools' HeNe laser is marked "<1mW" and since the photocurrent through a reverse-biassed PIN diode is 0.25mA, I reckon it is 0.5mW.

When working with BT Martlesham Labs in the late 70s on newfangled optical fibre TE, the laser lab mob there had all been given PTSD by a US video. A primate had been strapped down while a high power laser was played across its face - which melted.

There was additional indoctrination about specular reflections. The standard aide memoire was a poster: "do not look into laser with remaining eye".

Fundamentally I very deeply don't care what someone chooses to do with their body. I do care about what they might do to an unwitting bystander.

At least Hackaday seems to have stopped putting up articles on "laser engravers" and the like.

https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/20 ... recycling/

"The scientists did not say where they sourced the urine used for the experiment."

As amusing as that thought experiment may be... since urea is commonly used in large quantities as a road salt alternative, I'd wager it came from that same source...

mnem
Still, good news for a number of reasons...

BU508A wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 10:17 am

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:08 am WANT!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIU3IUbD0dQ

-Pat

What holds you back?

The fact that it costs like ten or eleven grand! (And that unlike during my high school days, I’m not constantly crawling around under an old car doing bodywork on it.)

-Pat

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 2:34 pm

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:08 am WANT!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIU3IUbD0dQ

-Pat

When I was a senseless yout' I worked a couple summers in a resto-rod shop very much like that guy's. I remember wishing for a Star Trek phaser so many times cuz as the guy sed, you spend more time debusking/derusting than all other aspects of the work combined.

Guy def needs to invest in some better safety squints, as well as some portable carbon-filtered ventilation. Stuff like urethane paint and Bondo are very toxic when burned. Also needs to ban his pooch from the shop while he's doing that FFS... unless he wants to deal with a fat, old, arthritic dog who's also blind for the rest of his life.

I quite like the cameo truck he's doing in that vid; they were a favorite project of old man Belmore's, and became one of mine after we turned a 60-something Caddy hearse that had been totalled by treefall into one. Like a giant El Camino.

Fuck... I'm downright jealous of tools like this which weren't available when I was young and healthy enuf to use 'em...

mnem
He totes needs to French all the lights on that, tho. Actually, everything that can be Frenched...

He does note towards the end that the dog doesn’t like him using it as he’s booted from the shop when it’s on. And I too share your jealousy about the availability of tools that were effectively unobtainable in my younger days - could have done SOOO MUCH MORE with a MIG machine and/or a plasma cutter back in the day, but at that point you couldn’t nip down to the local Home Depot and buy one for a couple of hundred bucks. 16 year old me would probably damn near kill for half of what late 50s me has in the garage now.

-Pat

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:08 am WANT!!

-Pat

I came across this last year on a car channel where it was used to clean rust off a car chassis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5rWy-u994k

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 4:34 pm

BU508A wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 10:17 am What holds you back?

The fact that it costs like ten or eleven grand!

So, about the same a mattress from the major UK chain of department stores,
https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-ul ... p111198185

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 6:54 pm

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 4:34 pm

BU508A wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 10:17 am What holds you back?

The fact that it costs like ten or eleven grand!

So, about the same a mattress from the major UK chain of department stores,
https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-ul ... p111198185

Holy O'Fuck!!! That's insane!!! I thought approaching $2k for a mattress was a big nut! (I obviously haven't been mattress shopping in recent living memory...)

-Pat