OT: Bush Thugs Rough Up Grieving Mother of KIA

Joerg · Sep 22, 2004

Hi Ken,

And:

http://www.qsl.net/kr6lp/meter.html

This is indeed a nice description of the process.

A couple ideas: If no scanner is available it may be possible to use a
digital camera. With their optical zoom features it is easy to obtain a
hi-res shot of the dial. Even it it were geometrically distorted some
image programs can correct that.

When done with the redesign on the PC it is possible to print it out on
photo paper. Many stores have machines where you insert a disk, select
the file and then, voila, a photo print comes out. These look more
professional than printing on regular paper. Cost was often under a
Dollar. For regular processing instead of instant it is much less than
that. If you just bought a digital camera or a memory card there may be
a coupon in there for some free prints.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

YD · Sep 22, 2004

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 08:41:39 +0100, Paul Burke <paul@scazon.com>
wrote:

Anyone any idea on this:

My BT broadband keeps freezing- it's still on line, as I can see because
BT keep probing me and ZoneAlarm blocks them. But all outgoing
connections don't work, even ping. Usually lasts about 3 minutes before
reaching this state.

Virus check says OK. Spybot (not the virus) says OK. No untoward
programs running as far as I can see.

Any thoughts appreciated. Oh, W98.

Paul Burke

Sounds like the outgoing router on BT's side is acting up. You're
still "visible" on the inside network which explains the pings. Don't
worry about ZA's alarms, most spurious connections are the internet
background noise. Get your ass over to http://www.grc.com/default.htm
and let ShieldsUP! do a scan. Expect ZA to get its face all in a
bunch.

- YD.

--
Remove HAT if replying by mail.

Jim Thompson · Sep 22, 2004

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 20:31:40 -0300, YD <yd.techHAT@techie.com> wrote:

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 08:41:39 +0100, Paul Burke <paul@scazon.com
wrote:

Anyone any idea on this:

My BT broadband keeps freezing- it's still on line, as I can see because
BT keep probing me and ZoneAlarm blocks them. But all outgoing
connections don't work, even ping. Usually lasts about 3 minutes before
reaching this state.

Virus check says OK. Spybot (not the virus) says OK. No untoward
programs running as far as I can see.

Any thoughts appreciated. Oh, W98.

Paul Burke

Sounds like the outgoing router on BT's side is acting up. You're
still "visible" on the inside network which explains the pings. Don't
worry about ZA's alarms, most spurious connections are the internet
background noise. Get your ass over to http://www.grc.com/default.htm
and let ShieldsUP! do a scan. Expect ZA to get its face all in a
bunch.

- YD.

Here's how an SMC Barricade Router does:

GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2004-09-22 at 23:34:01

Results from scan of ports: 0-1055

0 Ports Open
1 Ports Closed
1055 Ports Stealth
---------------------
1056 Ports Tested

NO PORTS were found to be OPEN.

The port found to be CLOSED was: 113

Other than what is listed above, all ports are STEALTH.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice

480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax

Dave VanHorn · Sep 22, 2004

I did this with 212A years ago, but not V.anything. I don't think it's
practical.

--
KC6ETE Dave's Engineering Page, www.dvanhorn.org
Microcontroller Consultant, specializing in Atmel AVR

Ian Stirling · Sep 22, 2004

Goran Larsson <hoh@invalid.invalid> wrote:

In article <10l3s7qea3o6062@corp.supernews.com>,
Chris Holmes <seymour_bunzzERASE@hotmail.com> wrote:

However, sniffing a V.90 should be possible by tapping the phone line, I
would think.

How? A third "modem" listening somewhere between the two modems will
need a a method to separate the signals from the two modems. The two
modems can do this as they know what they send and has trained their
echo cancel algorithm during the initial connect. The third "modem"
can't use this method and will have a very difficult time listening to
the traffic. I have never heard of any equipment that can do this, but
it is possible that some government funded organization have designed
this kind of equipment...

The absolute simplest way would be to stick a modem in the middle.
This would require a bit of work, but there is probably equipment
readily available to do this, cheaply for other purposes.

The more complex way would be to splice the wires, so you acn
easily tell which way the signals are going.
This tells you which way the signals are going.

The gnarly way is to do a simple tap.

I think it can be done, but it's going to be very complex.

Call the tap M, the otehr ends A and B.

When A sends a signal, M hears the signal, degraded by the line
from A-M, and any echos from B (minus the echo cancellation that
B sends).

A sends a signal so that B can understand it, and ideally get a clean
expected signal from.
M will not see what B sees, but it will see a reconstructable version
of that signal.

Plus of course what B is sending, and line noise.

It's not obviously impossible.

Mark Zenier · Sep 22, 2004

In article <cishaf$bi1$2@blue.rahul.net>,
Ken Smith <kensmith@green.rahul.net> wrote:

In article <20040922135642.04433.00001196@mb-m05.aol.com>,
Rolavine <rolavine@aol.com> wrote:
[...]
Are you sure it would destroy the floppies, I dont' think so, I think it just
looks at them to check that you own them.

Windows95 demanded that the DOS floppy not be write protected and trashed
it so the DOS on it won't ever install again. I assume that ME would do
the same to the Win98 floppies and am not about to switch off the write
protect to find out.

Copies of Win98 install floppies will not install Win98. There is some
thing non-standard about the Win98 floppies.

Dig up a copy of Anadisk, a shareware DOS program from a dozen or so
years ago. It'll read and copy all sorts of strange stuff. I used it
to read Kaypro-4 diskettes, and used it to find out that the IBM Dos 6.1
Format program saves stuff on sector 128 track 81. If it can't clone
a DOS release disk, it'll probably tell you why. (You may have to dig
up an old computer to find one with a decent floppy controller, too).

If you google on it now, the site says they only sell it to valid law
enforcment or something strange like that, but it was in Simtel since
1992 or thereabouts and should be on CD-ROM collections of that archive.

People also use it to copy non-DOS disks for HP test equipment.

Mark Zenier mzenier@eskimo.com Washington State resident

John Larkin · Sep 22, 2004

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:09:22 -0700, Jim Thompson
<thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On 22 Sep 2004 15:29:56 -0700, Winfield Hill
Winfield_member@newsguy.com> wrote:

davez wrote...

Not exactly a photodiode story but: I remember 15 or 20 years
ago working with a friend using an FET in a white ceramic package
that made a great 60 HZ/120 HZ detector when placed on a bench
under a florescent lamp! We spent a few minutes trying to discover
why a circuit with a clean DC supply would have power supply ripple!
Duh! We got a good chuckle out of that.

Had left the gate floating, did we?

I don't have much experience with JFETs, but bipolars will detect IR
straight thru the plastic package, even when properly biased.

TI used to have a line of IR photo diodes that were just like the "D"
plastic BJT package... no windows ;-)

...Jim Thompson

GE's first plastic transistors (cylindrical base with half-cylinder
top part) used a translucent brown epoxy. Just when you had a diffamp
all nicely balanced, the boss would lean over your shoulder (blocking
the light) and it would go bonkers.

They picked up hum from fluorescents, 120 Hz, too.

LED-pumped jfets are used as integrator resets in some nuclear
detector apps. I think this is done at cryo temperatures, too. Charge
injection is roughly nil.

John

Sep 22, 2004

Not exactly a photodiode story but: I remember 15 or 20 years
ago working with a friend using an FET in a white ceramic package
that made a great 60 HZ/120 HZ detector when placed on a bench
under a florescent lamp! We spent a few minutes trying to discover
why a circuit with a clean DC supply would have power supply ripple!
Duh! We got a good chuckle out of that.
--davez

"Asa Cannell" <acannell@wwc.com> wrote in message
news:51ca721c.0409221226.3bc9b331@posting.google.com...

Would anybody like to share their most sensitive photodiode stories? I
am curious just how far photodioes have been pushed as far as
sensitivity, especially at room temperature and with off the shelf
components.

Asa

Rich Grise · Sep 22, 2004

On Wednesday 22 September 2004 05:00 am, Michael Robbins did deign to grace
us with the following:

Hi. It's been a long time since I studied this kind of stuff and I'd
like some help understanding it. Some book title or usenet group name
would be a helpful start...

I have an exercise machine that uses an alternator to provide physical
resistance via a ballast resistor.

I'd like to understand more about that; I'd like a working knowledge
of the physical process and the electric circuit used to control it.

You can find a schematic of the physical device on page 68 of the
following link, but there is no electrical schematic available.
http://www.stairmaster.com/pdf/climbers_manual.pdf

Key-Riced!

FIVE MEGABYTES FOR A PICTURE ????????????????????

Make a .gif, cut it down to 128K.

Then go to http://www.google.com and enter these search terms and
variations, one at a time, and follow links until you fall asleep:
"basic electricity"
"basic electromagnetism"
"how generators work"
"ohm's law"

By that time, you should have some idea where to look.

Good Luck!
Rich

Guy Macon · Sep 22, 2004

Asa Cannell <acannell@wwc.com> says...

Would anybody like to share their most sensitive photodiode stories? I
am curious just how far photodioes have been pushed as far as
sensitivity, especially at room temperature and with off the shelf
components.

From: [ http://www.guymacon.com/SUN/INDEX.HTM ]:

Gas Analyzer / Smog Tester:

[...]

The basic concept of NOx measurement is to mix the exhaust
gas with ozone. This causes a very faint glow as the NO
reacts with the O3. You then subject the gas to intense UV
radiation, which converts any NO2 to NO, causing a faint but
measurable glow. The glow is very dim indeed - it takes days
to get an image of it on film. I knew that our only hope of
measuring NOx within our cost constraints was to use a
photodiode instead of a photomultiplier tube. I calculated
that a photodiode with 250 square millimeters of light
gathering surface should be able to meet the specification.
Normally, a photodiode can't come close to the performance
of a photomultiplier tube, but the glow in question was
largely outside of the spectral range of the photomultiplier
tube.

I obtained some sample photodiodes, a good nanoammeter, and
a supply of gasses that had a mix of air and NOx at a level
exactly ten times higher than the legal limit after our
dilution. I set up an experiment with the reaction at the
surface of the photodiode and measured roughly one hundred
picoamps with the gas turned on, and about ten picoamps of
noise with the gas off. Because I knew that the noise is
greatly influenced by temperature, I knew that we could meet
the specification by adding a thermionic cooler to reduce
the noise. The only question was whether I could design a
system that met the specification without the cooler.

At this point, I decided to conduct a sanity check of my
results using alternative methods. I removed the photodiode
from the chamber and set it facing a seven-watt light bulb
one meter away in a darkened room. I then used a Variac to
vary the brightness of the bulb. Everything worked fine with
a standard digital multimeter measuring the current in the
milliamp to microamp range, but the nanoammeter could not
measure currents greater than two nanoamps, and I couldn't
get the room dark enough to get the current that low. In
order to get down to the one hundred picoamp range, I had to
cover the photodiode with two layers of black electrical
tape and move the bulb to three meters away. This told me
that my calculations were close and that I was working with
light levels that were roughly as low as expected.

Now it was time to optimize the design. I used a coaxial
feed tube to reduce turbulence, designed a gold plated
hemispherical reflector to double the light level at the
photodiode, found the lowest noise opamp available, added a
switched capacitor low pass bessel filter to reduce the
noise, and installed an optical filter to eliminate a small
error that I traced to an interaction between the ozone and
carbon monoxide in the exhaust stream. This gave me
sufficient sensitivity to meet the specification without a
cooler, but the variation with temperature was still too
high, so I duplicated the entire photodiode and amplifier in
a dark chamber and fed the outputs of both chambers into a
differential amplifier. At this point, all of the NOx
specifications were met.

[...]

Rich Grise · Sep 23, 2004

On Wednesday 22 September 2004 03:21 pm, Joerg did deign to grace us with
the following:

Hi John,

I use AutoCAD.

Can we call you 'Mr. Moneybags' in future?

I remember AutoCAD came out with a small low-end program that cost, I
believe, under $100. It won't likely suffice to design a bridge or an
engine but it should be enough to create a meter.

Heck, you could do it with any decent paint program.

Cheers!
Rich

Rich Grise · Sep 23, 2004

On Tuesday 21 September 2004 08:04 pm, Lady Chatterly did deign to grace us
with the following:

In article <P364d.9613$464.6787@trnddc01>,
Rich Grise <null@example.net> wrote:

The facts are, that's as close to a compliment as I'm about to dispense
to someone with a "Fuck'em I'm gonna break the law and be even stupider
than the insane guy!" attitude.

Are you sure you are about to dispense to someone with a fuckem you
are gonna break the law and be even stupider than the insane guy?

No, silly, that's the point. I'm _not_ about to dispense a compliment
to a fuzzwit like that, thank you very much.

Regards,
Rich

Guy Macon · Sep 23, 2004

Kevin Aylward <salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk> says...

Not at all. We have a couple of individuals, whose technical
incompetence is very apparent, that made some vacuous claims.