HP-8444A (WTB)

[RST Engineering (jw)]

Does anybody on the ng have, or know where there is, a working HP-8444(A)
Tracking Generator that somebody is willing to swap for paper pictures of
old dead presidents?

Please don't tell me to try ebay. A lot of somebodys on that site have
figured out just exactly how to game the system so that in the last 15
seconds of a listing the bids from somebody who hadn't made a bid in the
last seven days magically winds up with the unit for 50 cents more than
those of us who have played the game fair for a week.

No, I'm not interested in knowing how to game the system.

Jim

--
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with chocolate in one hand and wine in
the other, loudly proclaiming 'WOO HOO What a Ride!'"
--Unknown

 

[Jamie]

RST Engineering (jw) wrote:

Does anybody on the ng have, or know where there is, a working HP-8444(A)
Tracking Generator that somebody is willing to swap for paper pictures of
old dead presidents?

Please don't tell me to try ebay. A lot of somebodys on that site have
figured out just exactly how to game the system so that in the last 15
seconds of a listing the bids from somebody who hadn't made a bid in the
last seven days magically winds up with the unit for 50 cents more than
those of us who have played the game fair for a week.

No, I'm not interested in knowing how to game the system.

Jim

guess you don't want to pay much?

my first hit found one for $275


--
"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

 

[RST Engineering (jw)]

Are you paying your ISP by the character? Then what "hit" and where? $275
is a BIT high, but if mint and guaranteed to work when it gets here not all
that bad.

Please, don't be cryptic in your responses.

Jim

--
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with chocolate in one hand and wine in
the other, loudly proclaiming 'WOO HOO What a Ride!'"
--Unknown

guess you don't want to pay much?
my first hit found one for $275

 

[doug]

RST Engineering (jw) wrote:

Does anybody on the ng have, or know where there is, a working HP-8444(A)
Tracking Generator that somebody is willing to swap for paper pictures of
old dead presidents?

Please don't tell me to try ebay. A lot of somebodys on that site have
figured out just exactly how to game the system so that in the last 15
seconds of a listing the bids from somebody who hadn't made a bid in the
last seven days magically winds up with the unit for 50 cents more than
those of us who have played the game fair for a week.

No, I'm not interested in knowing how to game the system.

Jim

There is no gaming of the system. Highest bid wins whenever it is

put in. The only difference in putting a bid in early is that if
someone gets emotionally attached to the item they have time to
think about it and increase their bid. This is why items that start
out with very low bids end up selling at higher prices than those
that have high initial bids.

I just bid what I am willing to pay and leave it at that. The unhappy
people are those who expect to get something cheap and are disappointed
when they don't.

That said, I did have a few 8444A generators around. I will look and
see if I still do. I got rid of a truckload of this stuff a few months
ago.

 

[RST Engineering (jw)]

--
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with chocolate in one hand and wine in
the other, loudly proclaiming 'WOO HOO What a Ride!'"
--Unknown

"doug" <doug@doug> wrote in message
news:13831ui18hbjda2@corp.supernews.com...

There is no gaming of the system. Highest bid wins whenever it is
put in. The only difference in putting a bid in early is that if
someone gets emotionally attached to the item they have time to
think about it and increase their bid. This is why items that start
out with very low bids end up selling at higher prices than those
that have high initial bids.

The problem, Doug, is that there are bids in the last 15 to 30 seconds of an
auction (especially for test equipment) from people who have never bid in
the previous 7 days. And, in that final flurry of bidding, you will see the
same new person bid three, four, or five times. I know that is part of the
rules of the auction, but there doesn't seem to be any way to counteract it.

At a normal eyeball auction, the auctioneer generally uses, "going once,
going twice, SOLD to the feller with the goofy grin."

That said, I did have a few 8444A generators around. I will look and
see if I still do. I got rid of a truckload of this stuff a few months
ago.

Story of my young life. Dime short and a day late. Thanks for anything you
can do.

Jim

 

[John Tserkezis]

doug wrote:

There is no gaming of the system.

Yes there is. There's a game to be played with *every* system. It's just
that eBay has a _different_ system to the traditional "auction" where a number
of people stand around the auctioneer and bid for an item.

Highest bid wins whenever it is put in.

That's a very simplistic rule that applies to everything, in other words, it
doesn't actually help us in this eBay instance.

The only difference in putting a bid in early is that if
someone gets emotionally attached to the item they have time to
think about it and increase their bid. This is why items that start
out with very low bids end up selling at higher prices than those
that have high initial bids.

People who fully take advantage of the eBay "system", know that whatever
anyone bids before the last five seconds is completely irrelevant. (Or less
than the relevant final price anyway).

The only exception I've seen is in the stupid auctions where someone
auctions off their virginity, or a party with someone or something equally
intangible as that. In that case, the stream of stored bids exceeding $100k
(or millions) says something important about the item. The vast majority
think it's stupid.

I just bid what I am willing to pay and leave it at that. The unhappy
people are those who expect to get something cheap and are disappointed
when they don't.

The way to do it, is to keep some sort of accurate timepiece (really
accurate), syncronise the clock, and place a bid that is as high as you're
willing to go. Press the OK button in the last five seconds.

If you win you win, if you don't you don't. And that's as far as it goes.

The only way you're guaranteed to get something cheaper is to work out if a
'buy it now' plus freight is cheaper than buying it locally off the shelf.

Past that, it's all odds, and if you play the game well, you certainly can
average quite a fair bit cheaper and make (some) money. You just have to be
flexible on when, how much, and most importantly, _what_ crap you're buying
and selling.

So in this instance, I agree with the OP statement. He was after a specific
(now obsolete) instrument, and wasn't willing to fudge around with the idiots
on eBay to get one. I can't blame him.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622
<http://counter.li.org>

 

[Don Bowey]

On 6/26/07 2:55 PM, in article 13832rmrbu8hn83@news.supernews.com, "RST
Engineering (jw)" <jim@rstengineering.com> wrote:

"doug" <doug@doug> wrote in message
news:13831ui18hbjda2@corp.supernews.com...

There is no gaming of the system. Highest bid wins whenever it is
put in. The only difference in putting a bid in early is that if
someone gets emotionally attached to the item they have time to
think about it and increase their bid. This is why items that start
out with very low bids end up selling at higher prices than those
that have high initial bids.

The problem, Doug, is that there are bids in the last 15 to 30 seconds of an
auction (especially for test equipment) from people who have never bid in
the previous 7 days. And, in that final flurry of bidding, you will see the
same new person bid three, four, or five times. I know that is part of the
rules of the auction, but there doesn't seem to be any way to counteract it.

IIRC eBay sells software to do what you describe. That way you do not need
to lurk at the end of an auction. I don't know what happens if two or more
guys do it.

ebay appears to me to have no ethics in this area and others.

Don

At a normal eyeball auction, the auctioneer generally uses, "going once,
going twice, SOLD to the feller with the goofy grin."


That said, I did have a few 8444A generators around. I will look and
see if I still do. I got rid of a truckload of this stuff a few months
ago.

 

[Bob]

There is no gaming of the system. Highest bid wins whenever it is
put in. The only difference in putting a bid in early is that if
someone gets emotionally attached to the item they have time to
think about it and increase their bid. This is why items that start
out with very low bids end up selling at higher prices than those
that have high initial bids.

The problem, Doug, is that there are bids in the last 15 to 30 seconds of
an
auction (especially for test equipment) from people who have never bid in
the previous 7 days. And, in that final flurry of bidding, you will see
the
same new person bid three, four, or five times. I know that is part of
the
rules of the auction, but there doesn't seem to be any way to counteract
it.

IIRC eBay sells software to do what you describe. That way you do not
need
to lurk at the end of an auction. I don't know what happens if two or
more
guys do it.

ebay appears to me to have no ethics in this area and others.

Don

Ebay's ethics are not the issue, it's the people that use this
bid-at-the-last-possible-moment software that are slimy (imho).

Bob

 

[Tom Bruhns]

On Jun 25, 4:46 pm, "RST Engineering \(jw\)" <j...@rstengineering.com>
wrote:

Does anybody on the ng have, or know where there is, a working HP-8444(A)
Tracking Generator that somebody is willing to swap for paper pictures of
old dead presidents?

Please don't tell me to try ebay. A lot of somebodys on that site have
figured out just exactly how to game the system so that in the last 15
seconds of a listing the bids from somebody who hadn't made a bid in the
last seven days magically winds up with the unit for 50 cents more than
those of us who have played the game fair for a week.

No, I'm not interested in knowing how to game the system.

Jim

--
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with chocolate in one hand and wine in
the other, loudly proclaiming 'WOO HOO What a Ride!'"
--Unknown

I have an HP8444A, serial 1215A00303, that I'd be willing to part
with. I'd have to figure out how to adequately test it before sending
it anywhere though.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Don Bowey]

On 6/26/07 9:34 PM, in article
TcednaUBjORadRzbnZ2dnUVZ_rSjnZ2d@giganews.com, "Bob"
<nimby_NEEDSPAM@roadrunner.com> wrote:

There is no gaming of the system. Highest bid wins whenever it is
put in. The only difference in putting a bid in early is that if
someone gets emotionally attached to the item they have time to
think about it and increase their bid. This is why items that start
out with very low bids end up selling at higher prices than those
that have high initial bids.

The problem, Doug, is that there are bids in the last 15 to 30 seconds of
an
auction (especially for test equipment) from people who have never bid in
the previous 7 days. And, in that final flurry of bidding, you will see
the
same new person bid three, four, or five times. I know that is part of
the
rules of the auction, but there doesn't seem to be any way to counteract
it.

IIRC eBay sells software to do what you describe. That way you do not
need
to lurk at the end of an auction. I don't know what happens if two or
more
guys do it.

ebay appears to me to have no ethics in this area and others.

Don


Ebay's ethics are not the issue, it's the people that use this
bid-at-the-last-possible-moment software that are slimy (imho).

Bob

ebay's ethics *are* an issue as it is they who make available for a fee, the
software to give some buyers an edge over those who do not buy the software.

As to the lurkers who put in increased maximum bid mounts manually at the
end........ That's life.

Don

 

[RST Engineering (jw)]

Tom...

I have no idea where you live, but if you are in Northern California, I can
pack up the 141T spectrum analyzer system and pack it over to your place for
testing.

Jim

I have an HP8444A, serial 1215A00303, that I'd be willing to part
with. I'd have to figure out how to adequately test it before sending
it anywhere though.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Joel Kolstad]

"Don Bowey" <dbowey@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:C2A7AB7A.6C3DD%dbowey@comcast.net...

ebay's ethics *are* an issue as it is they who make available for a fee, the
software to give some buyers an edge over those who do not buy the software.

I don't believe that eBay themselves sells any such "snipping" software.
However, they do have an API available that programs can use to place
listings, make bids, etc... This of course has plenty of legitimate uses but
it makes snipping much easier to implement as well.

I'm not sure there's any good technical solution to this problem. Some people
have suggested changing the auction format to one similar to those found in
real life, where a new bid extends the auction until no more new bids come in,
but I certainly understand why people don't like that approach either.

---Joel

 

[JeffM]

Tom Bruhns wrote:

I have an HP8444A, serial 1215A00303,
that I'd be willing to part with.

RST Engineering (jw) TOP-POSTED WITH NO ATTRIBUTION:

I have no idea where you live,

It's not difficult to figure out:

http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?email=on&ip=71.113.61.183
--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

 

[Tom Bruhns]

On Jun 27, 8:21 am, "RST Engineering \(jw\)" <j...@rstengineering.com>
wrote:

Tom...

I have no idea where you live, but if you are in Northern California, I can
pack up the 141T spectrum analyzer system and pack it over to your place for
testing.

Jim

I have an HP8444A, serial 1215A00303, that I'd be willing to part
with. I'd have to figure out how to adequately test it before sending
it anywhere though.

Cheers,
Tom

Far Northern California, up across the Columbia river. There's a good
chance that there's an HP141T closer than California. Far easier for
me would be to test it parametrically: supply inputs from signal
generators and look at the output on a spectrum analyzer. It's not
all that complicated inside, at least from a block-diagram
perspective, and it should be obvious if any of the modules is not
working correctly.

Cheers,
Tom