[time-nuts] Test Equipment

Adrian rfnuts at arcor.de
Sat Jan 23 17:43:33 UTC 2010


John,

as for the function generator, I stick with my old Wavetek 186. I have a 
HP 33120A, but I'm using it only for special applications like precise 
swept frequency tests. Each time it takes me an hour of reading the 
manual to get through the cryptic user interface... Now the ol' Wavetek 
has a few knobs that you just dial in and... voilà! Obviously, there are 
other good function generators on the market that cost less. Just look 
for the right features like an output attenuator with 20 dB steps down 
to -60 (or at least Hi and Lo outputs) etc.

Any RF / microwave test equipment depends on the frequency range you 
want to cover and on your budget. I've had a Tek 7L13 (1.8 GHz) spectrum 
analyzer that served me well until I replaced it with a 7L14 (digital 
storage) and, later on a HP 70100A (2.9 GHz), and a while ago with a R&S 
FSEA30 (3.5 GHz). There is a huge difference between the FSEA30 and the 
7L13, but also in the price tag...

Adrian


John Foege schrieb:
> Thanks to everyone who answered in this thread.I am keenly interested
> in everything everyone had to say!
>
> One of the things that seems like a no-brainer, would be to scrape
> together the $700 and get an Agilent E8285A CDMA test set. It seems
> like I can't go wrong with that! My only concern with getting these
> off eBay or from anywhere else for that matter, is that apparently the
> later versions firmware only support 800Mhz and up operation instead
> of the earlier versions 100kHz-1Ghz.
>
> Unfortunately, Amtronix seems to have run out, or at least are on
> their last 1-2 units. I wont have the cash in time to get one, as they
> have sold 35 in the last month alone.
>
> Sigh.
>
> Another very cool set of toys that had been mentioned, were the Tek
> TM500 series, which I am also interested in! I don't need any of the
> freq. counter plugins, but the power supply, func. generators, etc.
> All very cool!
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
>
> On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 5:18 AM, Magnus Danielson
> <magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org> wrote:
>   
>> Bob Camp wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> About 8 years ago a whole lot of companies dumped a whole lot of test
>>> gear. Prices dropped rapidly as they did so. It's taken us all quite a while
>>> to burn through that pile of stuff.
>>> The amazing thing is that as bad as the economy is now, you don't see
>>> people doing the same sort of thing. You see oceans of people out of work,
>>> but not piles of test gear getting sold off.
>>>       
>> Well, when the .com bubble bursted, it had been preceeded by massive
>> acceleration of an instrument-hungry industry. As the bubble bursted, both
>> .com companies and otherwise stable companies accelerated by their customers
>> suffered. Some folded in and some just barely survived.
>>
>> This time it was the economy folks that fluked it. Instrument hungry
>> industry only suffers indirectly.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Magnus
>>
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>
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