Hewlett and the Packards
Hewlett-Packard produces an amazing band...of instruments.
Brad Thompson, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 10/1/2009 2:00:00 AM
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For years, I’ve awaited a chance to use that title. Pretriggers included my colleague Martin Rowe’s performance with the Crazy Kings blues band at the 2009 IEEE EMC Symposium (www.tmworld.com/video) and the names of 1950s’ rock groups featured on Joel Najman’s “My Place,” an ongoing broadcast history of rock-and-roll on Vermont Public Radio.
But actually, my latest instrument acquisition, a Hewlett-Packard 3577A network analyzer and its companion 35677A S-parameter test set, inspired the title. HP’s products now outnumber those of Tektronix in my geriatric-instrument collection.
As described in HP’s 1990 catalog, the HP 3577A comprises a synthesized signal source spanning 5 Hz to 200 MHz and a three-channel receiver capable of extracting magnitude and phase information from its inputs. In typical applications, the instrument compares the source’s output with a DUT’s (device under test’s) input and output, extracts magnitude and phase information, and presents the results on a CRT display. The S-parameter test set extracts scattering parameters from a DUT. The HP 3577A’s HP-IB (IEEE 488) interface allows remote control and data acquisition via a suitably equipped PC and software.
| Read past Test Voices columns at www.tmworld.com/testvoices. |
Older used instruments (and especially those from HP) offer advantages: First, they’re much less expensive than their new (but better-performing) counterparts. Second, they’re relatively easy to repair. Schematics and service information are still available, and components have generic equivalents or else are retrievable from a salvaged instrument. Third, rescuing and restoring older equipment offers educational benefits, and the capabilities of restored instruments can expand one’s horizons. For example, one of my HP 3577’s first tasks will involve measurement of a matched set of 455-kHz crystal filters for a receiver project I have in mind.
Drawbacks include space (older equipment occupies a lot of volume), time (you trade off repairs for experiments), and economics (but contrast test instruments’ prices with, say, vintage motorcycles). And sampling oscilloscopes won’t leave oil stains on rugs.
Hewlett and the Packards may have never made a hit record, but they produced an amazing band…of instruments.
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