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Robert wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2026 6:54 am
Quiet on here.
Some months ago I bought a somewhat tatty HP 8591E 1.8 GHz spectrum analyser. Looked like a bad display but it was just dirty. So easy fix. No options. Last month I put out a request to buy a HPIB interface for it. I had an offer of one from a 8594E free of charge. BIt far away but near a rally the following weekend. So I made a detour and picked it up. Turned out it wasn't a HPIB interface, it was a complete 8954E (2.9GHz) with tracking generator and manuals. One owner/driver from new.
(SNIP)
The 859xE use a common analogue PCB across much of the range. As the 8594 doesn't cover the microwave bands it doesn't have a YIG Tuned Filter and the YTF driver components are not populated on the PCB. I was bale to utilise the provision for the YTF connector and driver transistor for the extra YTO connections and -5V regulator. So it all fitted with out any hole drilling, track cutting etc so totally reversible.
So I switched it on, connected a N to BNC lead and pressed "CAL".....
And it works
So I'm a jammy git with a immaculate, one previous owner, with manuals, RAM card and tracking generator 9kHz to 2.9 GHz spectrum analyser for under £100 and a bit of work.
Robert.
mnem congratulations on the score there, Robert!!!
Look at this crusty old bench multimeter, it's a Weston Model 6402. Yes, Sangamo-Weston, the photographic light meter, power metering and time switch people. Except it's kind of also Schlumberger and bears an uncanny resemblance to a Solartron 7045 but with piano keys instead of push buttons and LCD instead of LED display. There's a GPIB connector on the back, I haven't tried it yet.
The most remarkable thing about it is that I posted it on the fediverse and someone I know immediately piped up that it was on his bench in his first job and he's never seen another since. Not the same model, this exact meter, with that serial number sticker.
In 1976 Sangamo Weston was acquired by Schlumberger and what is now part of the Roxboro Group and later sold to Actaris.
In later years the current directors bought out the company from Actaris and it once more became Sangamo Limited. While we, in Port Glasgow, are the succesor of the time switch division the metering division of Sangamo, which ran from Felixtowe, Suffolk, still exists today under the name Itron Metering Solutions.
From the mid 60s Schlumberger went on an acquisition spree, including Solartron and CRC. One way or another it ended up owning Heathkit. It's a complicated story. Maybe it's not surprising that the Weston meter bears a certain resemblance to Solartron meters.
TEA! and hopefully a bit of TED (Test Equipment Disposal).
Been quietly looking for a smaller and hopefully higher performance universal counter to replace my HP 5335A for a while. A couple of Agilent 53132A's came up on ebay last week. Low start price and they looked quite tidy. So I stuck a bid in and I won the first one for just under £250 including post. The other one went for £271 plus shipping. Mine arrived this week and is actually better than it looked in the images. Very clean, intact seals, the fan is quiet and even the VFD is nice and bright.
Did I say it has the factory option 030 3 GHz 3rd input?
Got it on test and all 3 inputs are well within sensitivity specification. The frequency is out by about 3.5Hz at 10MHz But gets better if on for hours. This is well within specification (+-5Hz) for the basic vanilla crystal timebase. No I don't intend upgrading it. In the workshop it will be on one of my GPSDOs. For away I have a portable HP 10811 based OCXO reference.
So as my baseline price for a vanilla 53131A was £350 I'm very pleased with it.
So for TED. Anyone one want a HP 5335A universal counter with 10811 OCXO and 1.3 GHZ channel C options? A big bonus with the 5335A is no fan. Location is near Cambridge UK.
I'd quite like a better counter than my TTi PFM1300 handheld thing, but it's not something I use often and I don't really have room for 3U, even if is it shallow.
EC8010 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 9:04 am
I'd quite like a better counter than my TTi PFM1300 handheld thing, but it's not something I use often and I don't really have room for 3U, even if is it shallow.
tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 9:42 am
[Let me know if you go after it. (I'm vaguely interested, and looking for a reason to not get another one).
You've got one already. You can't afford it or could spend the money on something else. You haven't got the room for it. It would be a trip and hernia hazard.
tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 9:42 am
[Let me know if you go after it. (I'm vaguely interested, and looking for a reason to not get another one).
You've got one already. You can't afford it or could spend the money on something else. You haven't got the room for it. It would be a trip and hernia hazard.
I'm weak; what more can I say.
I can afford it, and could still spend the money on other things[*].
I haven't got room for it and it would be a toe-stub hazard.
It is so light (10kg) that even a couple of weeks ago I wasn't concerned about lifting it off my bench and putting it on a shelf. (Not even contemplating that with my spectrum analysers and VNA!) The hp3458a in the same auction weighs 12kg.
[*] long ago I heard a FOAF anecdote about someone who had decided to stop buying books on the grounds he had a pile of unread books that was more than sufficient to last him for his remaining lifetime. I feel the same about my savings, and didn't need a second thought before I largely disowned two inheritances. Yes, I craft a "Deed of Variation" without involving a lawyer
tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 9:42 am
[Let me know if you go after it. (I'm vaguely interested, and looking for a reason to not get another one).
You've got one already. You can't afford it or could spend the money on something else. You haven't got the room for it. It would be a trip and hernia hazard.
I'm weak; what more can I say.
I can afford it, and could still spend the money on other things[*].
I haven't got room for it and it would be a toe-stub hazard.
It is so light (10kg) that even a couple of weeks ago I wasn't concerned about lifting it off my bench and putting it on a shelf. (Not even contemplating that with my spectrum analysers and VNA!) The hp3458a in the same auction weighs 12kg.
I did my best. At least this way I won't be accused of pulling another TF2700.
There was more "justification" for the TF2700 than another 53310: small, light, and I hadn't got anything like it.
And yet Telford rally beckons tomorrow. Maybe I'll have to resort to only taking £10. But that would probably be sufficient for several Tek 7000s; fortunately I loathe those!
When I was 5 I had my first overseas holiday: by train to a small hovel on the Costa Brava. My parents wouldn't let me have zarzuela (like them) at the end of the jetty; I could only have paella. I never let them forget it, tee hee, and my daughter is very familiar with the story. Almost a case of a story that I couldn't dine out on.
Well think about it this way.. Every time you buy an HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer God has to kill a fairy.
The description says it's 115V, which I assumed was an auctioneer producing a description for something he didn't have a clue about. The picture of the back shows a voltage selector for the oscillator for either 115 or 230 Volts as would be expected. It appears to have been set to 115V. There's a warning about how the voltage selector setting must match the line selector setting. I find that slightly odd for a piece of equipment being sold in the UK' and for which UK mains voltage can be selected. There might be all sorts of reasons for that, like someone arranging a bit of fun for the next owner. I suspect you could set the voltage correctly and it would power up fine.
Dunno. You've got one and must understand the power supply selection. I thought it worth mentioning.
I definitely don't need an HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer, and especially not if God has to kill a fairy. I rely on the Swarf fairy to help me get things done and on the Cock-Up fairy to stay down the bar instead of getting out on her rounds and visiting me. I shall be resisting Telford tomorrow. Too far, and probably not a nice ride.
I bought a stapler today. Not a little Bambi (or even Rexel) for paper, but a big yellow thing that cheerfully smacks 14mm staples into plywood and (surprisingly) requires less force to operate than I expected. It is being used to staple Axfelt carpet underlay to the inside of a pair of loudspeakers. I had the underlay left over from carpet was fitted and the tool will be useful elsewhere, I'm sure. I'm glad I didn't go the whole hog and buy and air stapler plus compressor and a few other air tools. It was tempting.
A lot of equipment used by the military runs on 115V, presumably USA influence. I doubt anybody at Ramco has powered it up, so I wouldn't be concerned.
The PSU is a standard Boschert (sp?) SMPS, easily replaced.
The 10811 has a separate PSU that is not turned off by the mains switch on the back panel. Keeping the oscillator powered is necessary when measuring in 100uHz increments and 14 digits.
Every time I don't buy something I "need", a fairy gets imprisoned by somebody else.
tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 5:33 pm
A lot of equipment used by the military runs on 115V, presumably USA influence...
Electrical safety; some sites are 115V. In the same way that building sites are 115V centre-tapped. You have to think about the people using the electricity and their attitude to it.
