A bit like the fashion for middle aged men, my good old Hewlett Packard 8568B got new clothes. In my opinion, it is one of the masterpieces of Hewlett Packard spectrum analyser design. Even today, the specifications are hard to beat with new equipment in the “amateur price” range. I will return to that. The… Continue reading »
Over time, items were added to the inventory of measurement instruments. But it all started with some simple things, because professional instruments were way out of reach at the time I was licensed in 1976. We had to cope with uncomplicated equipment to be able to “guesstimate” what we were doing. The grid dipper One… Continue reading »
Last week an electrolytic Capacitor had failed in a 70’s measuring instrument (HP 8445B preselector). The capacitor in question is a smoothing capacitor in the power supply assembly. It stopped smoothing, but shorted the whole supply out. Poof, fuse blown. Thank goodness for that! Not much time that moment, so something for the next day…. Continue reading »
Not too long ago, a pre-owned Icom IC-7100 was acquired, as a replacement for the IC-706 mk II. Although the 706 is a small, versatile and a “value for money” little devil, it has its habits. On 2 metres, the frequency drift is very annoying and way too excessive for narrowband digital modes. Even in… Continue reading »