[time-nuts] 5370A on eBay

[Jim Cotton]

On 1/18/12 11:20 AM, Chris Albertson wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 1:05 AM, Roy Phillips<phill.r1 at btinternet.com>  wrote:
>> Chris
>> The HP 5335A is also worth considering and is usually reasonably priced.
>> Roy
> Yes you are right but, the question was what's the current price of
> these.   Years ago a few were bought for $100.  Some sold as broken
> were repairable.   But what does a working unit cost in 2012?   My
> definition of "working" is that at a minimum the seller claims it
> works.  Which implies an offer to accept a return on a DOA unit.
On eBay I expect everything to require repair.  I am happy if it works.

Being cheap I would shoot for $125-175 including shipping for a HP 5370B.

What percentage of the units on eBay do you think have passed the
operational check in the front of the manual?  I expect "works" to
mean does not blow fuses or smoke.  Signs of life in the photo
are a bonus...

FWIW, I repaired a 5370 that had front panel display problems.

I swapped LED digits, DIP jumpers,  and driver transistors on display
board with no effect.  Some digits stayed dead.

Then I separated the front display from the housing to
work on it and it started working.  A close examination showed that
the screws that hold on the front panel assembly are shorter on the
bottom than the top.  Someone had put a long screw on the bottom
and it shorted two traces to ground...

I am still looking for the red plastic piece that covers the digits if 
someone
has a parts unit.  Please contact me off-list.

I bought a 5345A on eBay for $100 that the high-res pictures in the listing
clearly showed was set for external timebase... hence no display.  The 
picture
also showed a two month old cal sticker.  The seller had a "working" one 
for
$250, and the "for repair" unit for $100.

I have the HP 5328A, 5342A, 5345A, 5370A/B each one has something it is 
best
at, figure out what you really need the unit to do.

Jim Cotton
n8qoh