And now on to some more TEA to fight the grumpyness
In 2017 I bought my first HP 8110A 150MHz pulse generator. Working condition, nearly fully equipped with two channels and PLL synchronisation board (only the deskew option for binding up to 5x 8110As together was "missing").
But it it was mechanically damaged through shipping:
I got a full refund from ebay because of that.
Because the display suffered from a severe burn in and was a bit hard to read I looked for a parts mule with a readable display.
Oh, yes, Keysight still offers these as a part for just around $1200..
I found one and bought it for ~$350 incl. shipping.
This second unit was offered also with a damaged front panel but the metalwork were ok. The only channel module has a fault in the offset circuitry. It throws an error on selftest. But the display isn't as much burned in as the one of the first unit. In fact it is quiet well readable.
In April this year I came across an offer on *bay for a parts mule 8110A without front panel. The photos showed that it was also missing some screws, all handles, the two fans... but the metalwork that hold the front panel were fine and intact. I made a low offer that was accepted when I renewed it after the first action ended without any bid. ( shipping was more than the price
)
Guess what, that parts unit was poorly packed (re-sent by Pitney Bowes..) and damaged. And just the chassis parts I wanted it for:
I claimed the damage and was fully refunded by ebay. Ok in a way.
Some weeks ago I found a NOS 8110A front frame and bought it. Don't ask for money, it's an obsolete part.
So now I have three 8110A pulse generators with two damaged front panels, one NOS front frame, one chassis destroyed on the front left corner, one bent on the front right corner and one chassis intact:
Now I'm ready to build (aka frankensteining) one fully intact HP 8110A pulse generator from three partly damaged/not fully functional units. Perhaps I manage to build another one channel unit with weak display that I can sell to get some money for new projects.