List your test equipment "scores" here!

[Cubdriver]

Well, it remains to be seen if it will turn out to be a 'score' or a pig-in-a-poke, but I snagged a non working HP 8673C signal generator from a local evilbay seller for $103.  I figured it was worth a shot for that price, and local pickup saved $100 in shipping - the bloody thing weighs about 65 lbs (~30kg).  It powers up, but then does a waltzing decimal point thing on the frequency display.  I haven't gotten to poke at it and try anything so far, but from what the manual says there is a board that might be configured incorrectly, so I'll start with that.

Unfortunately, it is a special option version (H12) that apparently deletes the lowest band and modulation & sweep capabilities that most had, but the first order of business will be to try to get it working.  I can burn the other bridges as I get to them.

-Pat

[nanofrog]

Our company was closing down one of the labs.  I scored for free an HP 3478B meter, Tek 2330, Lecroy 9304 4 ch scope, couple of power supplies, Tek TM506 full with PS, counter, couple of DMMs and FG, and 4 shopping bags full of parts and hardware.

The price was certainly right

Paul

Great Score looks like you hit the Lotto.    

Absolutely.  You definitely earned the You Suck award for this one. 

Well, it remains to be seen if it will turn out to be a 'score' or a pig-in-a-poke, but I snagged a non working HP 8673C signal generator from a local evilbay seller for $103.  I figured it was worth a shot for that price, and local pickup saved $100 in shipping - the bloody thing weighs about 65 lbs (~30kg).  It powers up, but then does a waltzing decimal point thing on the frequency display.  I haven't gotten to poke at it and try anything so far, but from what the manual says there is a board that might be configured incorrectly, so I'll start with that.

Unfortunately, it is a special option version (H12) that apparently deletes the lowest band and modulation & sweep capabilities that most had, but the first order of business will be to try to get it working.  I can burn the other bridges as I get to them.

-Pat

Best of luck getting it in working order. 

[GreyWoolfe]

Our company was closing down one of the labs.  I scored for free an HP 3478B meter, Tek 2330, Lecroy 9304 4 ch scope, couple of power supplies, Tek TM506 full with PS, counter, couple of DMMs and FG, and 4 shopping bags full of parts and hardware.

The price was certainly right

Paul

Great Score looks like you hit the Lotto.    

Absolutely.  You definitely earned the You Suck award for this one. 

Well, it remains to be seen if it will turn out to be a 'score' or a pig-in-a-poke, but I snagged a non working HP 8673C signal generator from a local evilbay seller for $103.  I figured it was worth a shot for that price, and local pickup saved $100 in shipping - the bloody thing weighs about 65 lbs (~30kg).  It powers up, but then does a waltzing decimal point thing on the frequency display.  I haven't gotten to poke at it and try anything so far, but from what the manual says there is a board that might be configured incorrectly, so I'll start with that.

Unfortunately, it is a special option version (H12) that apparently deletes the lowest band and modulation & sweep capabilities that most had, but the first order of business will be to try to get it working.  I can burn the other bridges as I get to them.

-Pat

Best of luck getting it in working order. 

Yup, YOU SUCK    , enjoy the toys, hope everything works.

[rob.manderson]

Got an HP 3325A for $80 - includes option 1 High Stability Reference and option 2 High Voltage output.  I don't really need option 2 and I may disable it (instructions in the manual) but option1 was certainly nice to get.  Funny thing is I ordered it on Oct 1 and it was due for it's annual calibration on Sept 30th 

Of course there were problems - it lacked the power button and the shift button is not only missing - the entire switch has been smashed and bits of it floating around inside.  It's one of those heatstaked things and not really repairable.  So I ended up buying a *second* 3325A just to get the front panel assembly.  That one was $50!  The second one seems from the photos to be missing the output attenuator assembly.

Apart from the buttons issue the rest of the instrument (first one) works a treat.  So all in all I'm pretty happy and I now have a donor instrument to keep number 1 going.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

Here are a few pictures of todays score.

I found a General Technologies CM100 AC/DC Low Current Clamp Meter in like new condition at a Garage Sale (Trunk sale or Car boot sale) for $25.00 Canadian ($20.00 USD).

Link to the manufacturers site:

http://www.gtc.ca/Products/CM100.html

This appears to be the same meter as the AEMC CM605.


Link to the AEMC site:

https://www.test-meter.co.uk/aemc-cm605-low-current-dc-clamp-meter/

Pictures

The unit came complete with leads, instruction booklet and soft case (not shown):



Testing

I am lucky enough to a have Fluke meter calibrator, 5101B and the 5220A Transconductance Amplifier. This setup is perfect for testing these meters:



Ohms Range

The meter is strange in that it has a single ohms range with a full scale of 100k . It includes a continuity buzzer, but it beeps at several k and below. The Ohms range does not auto range.


Voltage Range AC and DC

Similar to the Ohms function, there is a single range 0-600V for AC and DC volts.
There is poor resolution for low voltages.

Here is the 10V reading:



100V reading:



DC Current Clamp

This is the reason that I bought the meter, the high resolution DC clamp meter. The meter can resolve 1mA. I found the meter was sensitive to orientation, probably the earth's magnetic field. Moving the meter caused the reading to change by +/- 6mA after zeroing. Not too bad, but you need to aware of this.

10mA Reading:



1A Reading:




10A Reading:



Conclusions

The DC Clamp meter, the reason I bought the meter, is very good. The other functions are a little disappointing.

For $25.00 CDN it was a bargain.

Regards,

Jay_Diddy_B

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi Group,

Martin Lorton did a full review of the GTC CM100. It can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_440874&feature=iv&src_vid=pWCDPBwEDXE&v=1sq2WRGPABw

He draws similar conclusions about the functionality.

Regards,

Jay_Diddy_B

[Ysjoelfir]

That's a rather interesting meter, even though it behaves somehow strange on everything except the amps range... Thanks for sharing!

[Ice-Tea]

Oh, good, I thought I was gonna run out!

[Berni]

Now that is a lot of infiniium scopes. How did you come across so many?

[Ice-Tea]

Auction

[nctnico]

Auction

Any 54835/54845 in that stack? If yes then I know who to call for spare parts in case my one goes bad 

[Ice-Tea]

Nope, I've bid on some but didn't get 'm. Should still work for 'generic' Parts like PSU, display, procent board etc. And can't these  things be uphacked?

[nctnico]

Nope, I've bid on some but didn't get 'm. Should still work for 'generic' Parts like PSU, display, procent board etc. And can't these  things be uphacked?

Which models did you get? HP/Agilent seems to have made many different oscilloscopes in this housing.

[Ice-Tea]

54825A and 54815A. Oh,and a 8560.And a R&S CMU200.

And a couple of probes. Two of which active 1.5GHz. And recovery diskettes still in the plastic!. And an old smelly keyboard.That too.

[nctnico]

Hmm 500MHz and only 32kpts. Perhaps the 54815 can be uphacked to 54825 (2Gs/s instead of 1Gs/s). IMHO these are nice scopes to look at high speed signals and perhaps EMC compliance testing to see which part of a signal has unwanted frequency content.

[AF6LJ]

Oh, good, I thought I was gonna run out!

Ya know, stock up while you can .

[AF6LJ]

Picked up some new (to me) gear last week.
Top to bottom.
Simpson 260
B&K Scope
LG Spectrum Analyzer, Looking for an English manual for it.
Motorola Service monitor (needs a lot of work)

[Neomys Sapiens]

Well it seems that I extended my range of TM500-modules into the waveform displays - while at the same time aquiring my first own analogue storage scope! Advertised as working and a picture to prove it - if not mishandled by the parcel beasts it should be minor work only! At 122€ definitely ok.

Update: it seems to be in working order and not to need a major refurbishment. Maybe alignment of the storage/precharge circuit at some point, because it gets a bit blurry when operating in storage mode.
But that might be an error on my side - I have to play with the settings some more.

[Johnny10]

 

[capt bullshot]

Motorola Service monitor (needs a lot of work)

Wow, this thing is old and crusty, but not as beaten up as my R2600B (http://wunderkis.de/r2600/index.html). This one was one of the starters of my TEA 

Well it seems that I extended my range of TM500-modules into the waveform displays

I was looking at this particular one too. I didn't bid because I'm kinda overflowed by my TEA atm. The TM500 scope modules are pretty, anyway ...

[AF6LJ]

Motorola Service monitor (needs a lot of work)

Wow, this thing is old and crusty, but not as beaten up as my R2600B (http://wunderkis.de/r2600/index.html). This one was one of the starters of my TEA 

It is old and crusty...
1982 vintage... Newer than my IFR FM/AM 1000S which spends more time broken than running.
It is going to be a project for next year, I have some Ham, and commercial gear I want to get on the air first. (Atlas 350XL and a Micom 2-ET).
For now I have enough to keep me busy....
I need to get the second HP-8569B going, the first is going to it's new home this weekend.
 

[rob.manderson]

Got an HP3456A for $100 including shipping.  It failed test 3, which is apparently a classic symptom of power supply problems.  Sure enough, the +5V rail was down to 3.5V (it did seem a little silly using an AN8002 to measure voltages inside this instrument!) and the ripple was horrendous.  Likewise for the +33V Rail - about 20V and horrible ripple.  The other rails seemed to be ok.

The new caps arrived an hour ago from Digikey and they're in.  I replaced all of the electrolytics in the power supplies.  The 3456A is now passing all tests.  Now to cobble up some way of verifying it's accuracy!  It never ends, does it?

[Macbeth]

The new caps arrived an hour ago from Digikey and they're in.  I replaced all of the electrolytics in the power supplies.  The 3456A is now passing all tests.  Now to cobble up some way of verifying it's accuracy!  It never ends, does it?

Well done. Of course your progression will be to the 3457A to verify your 3456A. You won't be satisfied. You will finally progress to a 3458A. Even that is not enough... 

[MadTux]

HP-3456A probably is more stable than 3457A, 3457A is low cost version of the HP345X meters, while the 3456A is like an old HP3458A (at least in terms of build quality). You'll need a DVM with LTZ1000 in it to reliably check a 3456A. Welcome to the world of volt-nuttery ;-)

[Ghislain]

An Agilent 53181A Frequency Counter with option 010, 030 and 060 in excellent working condition