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Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working, but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option 001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take time to do them that's for sure.?
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2 Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz??
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I've encountered a fair number of Autohet(Racal-Dana) microwave
counters at hamfests and e-fleas for under $100. They're rack mount
affairs, so not as convenient a form factor as your counter.? The
more modern Racal-Dana 2101 is similar in specs and form factor to
your 5342A, so that might be worth considering. It does have a
congenital design weakness, though -- the pushbuttons are crap.
Replacing them is straightforward and cheap, but tedious.
If your needs would be satisfied with a top end of 14GHz or so (mine
makes it to 16GHz, albeit with degraded sensitivity), you can build
a divide-by-eight prescaler fairly easily, using the Hittite (now
ADI) HMC363. They also have (or had) an eval board, if you prefer
pre-made over DIY. Couple that with a dirt-cheap 2GHz counter, and
you'd be good to go.
--Cheers
Tom
--
Prof. Thomas H. Lee
Allen Ctr., Rm. 205
350 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4070
On 5/25/2022 14:31, Samudra wrote:
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Show quoted text
Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working,
but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option
001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP
Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are
these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set
of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take
time to do them that's for sure.?
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing
as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2
Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz??
|
Hi if you are looking for a counter with GPIB then the ?questions have to be What functions do you want ? Highest frequency ? How much is in the bank for it ? counters can do more than just count for Eg Phase lock a signal generator such as a HP8620 or a HP8350 Paul ?
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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Samudra
Sent: 25 May 2022 22:32
To: [email protected]
Subject: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] anyone have broken HP 5342a counter GPIB/HPIB i/f or know of equivalents ? Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working, but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option 001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take time to do them that's for sure.?
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2 Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz??
|
The best microwave counters in my view are EIP 545 or 548 series , they are nice counters and you can get them reasonable priced , EIP used a YIG filter on the microwave input which protects the sampler
?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]>
On Behalf Of Tom Lee via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 4:53 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] anyone have broken HP 5342a counter GPIB/HPIB i/f or know of equivalents
?
I've encountered a fair number of Autohet(Racal-Dana) microwave counters at hamfests and e-fleas for under $100. They're rack mount affairs, so not as convenient a form factor as your counter.? The more modern Racal-Dana 2101 is similar
in specs and form factor to your 5342A, so that might be worth considering. It does have a congenital design weakness, though -- the pushbuttons are crap. Replacing them is straightforward and cheap, but tedious.
If your needs would be satisfied with a top end of 14GHz or so (mine makes it to 16GHz, albeit with degraded sensitivity), you can build a divide-by-eight prescaler fairly easily, using the Hittite (now ADI) HMC363. They also have (or had) an eval board, if
you prefer pre-made over DIY. Couple that with a dirt-cheap 2GHz counter, and you'd be good to go.
--Cheers
Tom
--
Prof. Thomas H. Lee
Allen Ctr., Rm. 205
350 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4070
On 5/25/2022 14:31, Samudra wrote:
Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working, but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option 001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take time to do them that's for sure.?
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2 Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz??
?
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On 5/25/22 17:31, Samudra wrote: Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working, but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option 001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take time to do them that's for sure.
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2 Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz? I'm not sure what "ham friendly" means, but HP has had many models over the years that will hit 18GHz. Some to look for are the 5340A (very old, but good), 5350, 5351, and the rest of that family. The 5345A is good, but expensive with appropriate plugins and measurement heads. And of course the 5342A is quite a good counter. Not HP, but EIP has made many excellent microwave counters over the years, and they're readily available. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
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Hi,
It's not at all unobtanium. In fact, I have purchased an option 011 (it is the HPIB, 001 is the OCXO) some time ago on eBay. It consists of the HPIB board that plugs into the backplane and the HPIB connector that goes to the back of the instrument. It wasn't very expensive, I guess there is not much demand, but there are not that many for sale. However, you can watch for cheap faulty 5342a's mostly with blown front-end that has hpib and use that.
Szabolcs
Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working, but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option 001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take time to do them that's for sure.?
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2 Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz??
|
Yes, I wish there were more hamfests on the schedule. Will keep eyes out.?
73 se Samudra N3RDX?
On Wed, May 25, 2022, 17:53 Tom Lee < tomlee@...> wrote:
I've encountered a fair number of Autohet(Racal-Dana) microwave
counters at hamfests and e-fleas for under $100. They're rack mount
affairs, so not as convenient a form factor as your counter.? The
more modern Racal-Dana 2101 is similar in specs and form factor to
your 5342A, so that might be worth considering. It does have a
congenital design weakness, though -- the pushbuttons are crap.
Replacing them is straightforward and cheap, but tedious.
If your needs would be satisfied with a top end of 14GHz or so (mine
makes it to 16GHz, albeit with degraded sensitivity), you can build
a divide-by-eight prescaler fairly easily, using the Hittite (now
ADI) HMC363. They also have (or had) an eval board, if you prefer
pre-made over DIY. Couple that with a dirt-cheap 2GHz counter, and
you'd be good to go.
--Cheers
Tom
--
Prof. Thomas H. Lee
Allen Ctr., Rm. 205
350 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4070
On 5/25/2022 14:31, Samudra wrote:
Hi again, I am installing my HP 5342a counter, which is working,
but it never came with GPIB i/f. I see the manual specifies option
001, with P/N?05342-60019 HP/IB Assy and P/N 05342-60029 HP/IP
Input Assy.
Not wanting to spend more money into this beast (that much), are
these parts unobtanium? I'm just wanting to automate certain set
of measurements I plan to do. It's not do or die, just will take
time to do them that's for sure.?
What's a reasonable, ham-friendly counter that does the same thing
as the HP5432a nowadays? I have seen many smaller counters up to 2
Ghz within reach .. but 18 GHz??
|
On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 06:16 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
I'm not sure what "ham friendly" means, On 5/25/22 17:31, Samudra wrote:
Well,??is your answer, IMHO.? Also, for these old (failing) equipment that use TTL/CMOS chips, it's not worth it to setup a whole test/service lab just to get things working. If it doesn't work, and can't be reasonably fixed, out it goes - or provided to someone who needs the spare parts, until all useful life is scavenged. That actually does sound like what happens at hamfests and trade between hams.? 73 de N3RDX
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On 6/1/22 22:41, Samudra wrote: I'm not sure what "ham friendly" means, On 5/25/22 17:31,
Samudra wrote:
Well, <>?is your answer, IMHO.? Also, for these old (failing) equipment that use TTL/CMOS chips, it's not worth it to setup a whole test/service lab just to get things working. If it doesn't work, and can't be reasonably fixed, out it goes - or provided to someone who needs the spare parts, until all useful life is scavenged. That actually does sound like what happens at hamfests and trade between hams. Oh good grief, this counter isn't THAT old. People fix stuff like this all the time. It's easier with a well-equipped lab, but people fix these things on their dining room tables every day. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
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I have three, ...no extender cards.? Just a lot of teeny-weeny
clips and probes.
'Like your comment on 'dining room tables'.
Sometimes you just need to sprawl out.
Don N5CID
======================================================
On 6/1/22 9:44 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 6/1/22 22:41, Samudra
wrote:
???????
I'm not sure what "ham friendly" means, On 5/25/22
17:31,
??????? Samudra wrote:
Well,
?is your
answer, IMHO.? Also, for these old (failing) equipment
that use TTL/CMOS chips, it's not worth it to setup a
whole test/service lab just to get things working. If it
doesn't work, and can't be reasonably fixed, out it goes
- or provided to someone who needs the spare parts,
until all useful life is scavenged. That actually does
sound like what happens at hamfests and trade between
hams.
? Oh good grief, this counter isn't THAT old.? People fix
stuff like this all the time.? It's easier with a
well-equipped lab, but people fix these things on their
dining room tables every day.
?????????? -Dave
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? not sure about the dining room table unless you got a real good wife or sufficient funds to bribe her ? I think the 5342/43 came out in the late 1970s early 80s so that would put this into the 40+ year range of age , the main limits if it comes to fixing things is the availability of parts or suitable replacements , although TTL or CMOS parts are still manufactured things get harder with ECL logic circuits , processors or MMICs especially if they were in TO package From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Dave McGuire via groups.io Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2022 9:44 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] anyone have broken HP 5342a counter GPIB/HPIB i/f or know of equivalents On 6/1/22 22:41, Samudra wrote: I'm not sure what "ham friendly" means, On 5/25/22 17:31,
Samudra wrote:
Well,
<>?is your answer, IMHO.? Also, for
these old (failing) equipment that use TTL/CMOS chips, it's not worth
it to setup a whole test/service lab just to get things working. If it
doesn't work, and can't be reasonably fixed, out it goes - or provided
to someone who needs the spare parts, until all useful life is
scavenged. That actually does sound like what happens at hamfests and
trade between hams. Oh good grief, this counter isn't THAT old. People fix stuff like this all the time. It's easier with a well-equipped lab, but people fix these things on their dining room tables every day. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
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Paul Bicknell
Dave McGuire