anybody know much about the HP 8555A / 8552B / 141T setup?
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ele/d/seattle-hp-8555a-rf-8552b-if-spectrum/7064931343.html
that is a very good price.
really liked mine despite the annoyance of having to fettle with a storage tube.
oh.....and the ribbon cable to the storage tube gets crusty and brittle and arcs. when that happens a diode blows. but it is a well documented fault and easy to replace. (the diode. the ribbon cable is unfixable and unobtainium. but you can make your own replacement with film sheets from staples and enameled wire. multiple layers will stop the arcing)
oh....and it uses harmonic mixing with no preselector. but there is a signal identifier circuit so you can double check to make sure the signal you are looking at did not sneak in from a different band.
oh....and the power supplies in the chassis were designed by a sadist. they are all referenced together and full of charred weird value resistors that run hot hot hot. about every third power up would blow a fuse on my tired old beast. finally gave it to my old boss who had a fleet of 5 or 6 of them and was getting pretty good at trouble shooting the power supplies.
oh....and the transistors on the little square horiz driver boards have a tendency to blow. but they are an easy fix.
oh...if some dimwit has transmitted into the input on the 8555 the mixer will be toast. sometimes you can find a replacement on ebay but it will cost more than you paid for the entire chassis.
but when working they are a thing of beauty and a joy forever (or until a fuse blows).