unsure to buy Anritsu MS2601a

[yo0]

hello i am new to rf stuff, somebody can tell me please if the trace looks ok? the seller says don´t know how to use the equipment, i really don´t know  if is damaged or not. all the images i can find on the internet are with the trace at the bottom of the screen.


any help will be appreciated


best regards


Pio

[Aiy]

Hi there,
Well the trace looks a bit funny, but that might not mean that its completely broken..
From the settings visible on screen:
10dB / divider vertical
40dB input attenuator -> makes the trace move up 4 dividers
20dB reference level -> makes the trace move up 2 dividers
Center frequency 400kHz so zero frequency is mid screen
I'm assuming on-screen bandwidth 50MHz (hard to see, bottom of screen center)
There are no error messages on screen, but you might get those when you start doing things with it (like self calibration if that's available)

If you have access to the machine you could try to get it to the preset settings (there is usually a shortcut button that resets it to defaults, perhaps with "shift" button combination)

Hope that helps a little

[yo0]

thank you very much, your analisis looks pretty good to me, hope is good, lets see if somebody gives more opinions before make the choice to buy.

best regards


Pio

[Uky]

The first thing to check when considering a purchase of an old electronic instrument is the availability of a "CLIP";
Component Level Information Package = Complete service manual with schematics and parts list.

Unfortunately, Anritsu has not been to willing to make much of their service documentation available in the same way as eg. HP and Tektronix
did for older instruments. I have experienced this myself, being unable to repair and adjust an 8 GHz digital Anritsu spectrum analyzer.
I could check the voltage levels and look for oviously burned components but that was about it. Lacking practical accessories like
board extenders etc. also contributed to the decision to scrap the instrument.

The analyzer you are considering may very well be OK and/or easy to fix but try obtaining a manual set for it.

 

[yo0]

The first thing to check when considering a purchase of an old electronic instrument is the availability of a "CLIP";
Component Level Information Package = Complete service manual with schematics and parts list.

Unfortunately, Anritsu has not been to willing to make much of their service documentation available in the same way as eg. HP and Tektronix
did for older instruments. I have experienced this myself, being unable to repair and adjust an 8 GHz digital Anritsu spectrum analyzer.
I could check the voltage levels and look for oviously burned components but that was about it. Lacking practical accessories like
board extenders etc. also contributed to the decision to scrap the instrument.

The analyzer you are considering may very well be OK and/or easy to fix but try obtaining a manual set for it.

 

I already have both manuals, I bite the bullet and bought it, let's wait it arrives, hope it is ok


Best regards and thanks to all of you for the opinions


Pio

[jwet]

Congratulations I hope.

If you're in a return window, do some extensive testing of all functions and ranges.  I've bought Ebay equipment where a cursory look would make it look fine but as I dug in, I learned that one of the internal attenuators or filters is no good.  It might have gotten an overload on that setup and fried something.  It all works except in a -30 dB position for example.  You might not catch this for a while, after your return window has passed.  If you identify a problem, promptly, you've got a pretty good chance of getting cooperation out of the vendor.  Parts can be really, really hard to find especially for brands other than HP and Tek- Anritsu is pretty big but tend to be regionalized to Asia..  Sometimes if you detect a problem, you can work around it but often not.  I've bought equipment where the seller really though the thing was 100% and was very helpful.

[yo0]

Congratulations I hope.

If you're in a return window, do some extensive testing of all functions and ranges.  I've bought Ebay equipment where a cursory look would make it look fine but as I dug in, I learned that one of the internal attenuators or filters is no good.  It might have gotten an overload on that setup and fried something.  It all works except in a -30 dB position for example.  You might not catch this for a while, after your return window has passed.  If you identify a problem, promptly, you've got a pretty good chance of getting cooperation out of the vendor.  Parts can be really, really hard to find especially for brands other than HP and Tek- Anritsu is pretty big but tend to be regionalized to Asia..  Sometimes if you detect a problem, you can work around it but often not.  I've bought equipment where the seller really though the thing was 100% and was very helpful.

thank you very much for the advice, i will try to test it as deep as i can, unfortunately no prior experience with this kind of equipment, i think i need read very well the manual for the performance tests

best regards

Pio

[jwet]

Do your best.  Enlist a friend if you can.  I used to take my finds to my work and buy our cal tech a lunch for giving me a hand after hours.

Just ran into this the other day.  I have a Racal Dana 1992 Freq Counter- classic.  Everything works fine.  Went to hook it up to HPIB to computer and didn't work.
 Opened up and saw cable off, reset cable and learned it won't boot up with HPIB- bought it several years ago.  Its a rare need so not terrible.

[gcrcien]

@yo0 Ya B@sterd haha you were the one who beat me to this one, i was thinking of buying it, i had the mercadolibre listed as favorite to buy with the aguinaldo hahah
Congratulations on the score, hopefully its working ok

[yo0]

@yo0 Ya B@sterd haha you were the one who beat me to this one, i was thinking of buying it, i had the mercadolibre listed as favorite to buy with the aguinaldo hahah
Congratulations on the score, hopefully its working ok

unfortunately it is no good, already returned and refunded (thanks to mercadolibre great return and refund policies), i suspect problems with power supplys (affecting display and initial signal level) and very likely attenuators, not worth the effort and cost.

best regards and thanks to all of you for your time and help


Pio