An autographed HP instrument
My colleague Bill Schweber sent me a link to a PBS Antique Roadshow archive that shows an HP 200D audio oscillator signed by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. A former HP employee found the oscillator at a flea market in the early 1990s, bought it for $25, and called HP asking Bill and Dave to sign it, which they did. The link touched of a discussion among several T&MW contributors as to the true value of the oscillator. It also raised the question, if you had the oscillator, would you replace any parts with newer parts to get the oscillator working or would you leave it alone?
Is the value of the oscillator in the signatures or in its functionality?
Vishnu Goel T&M commented:
It is heartening to see the mention of first product coming out of the garage-mother hen of Silicon Valley mentioned by T&MW contributors.The IP,the true value is in the signatures of Bill and Dave!
Gerald Pratt commented:
I would want the oscillator to work if I had it so, as I have done many times restoring and repairing vintage audio gear, I would repair it without any sighs of the repairs. That means replacing parts, if necessary that are vintage including cloth wire, etc. I use silver solder so any solder connections do not look shinny compared to the other original connections. Chances are, it needs some new tubes (use USA made NOS) and perhaps a filter cap in the power supply (but leaving in the original caps disconnected.What else can you do with a 70+ year old electrolytic capacitor). Cleaning the switches and pots with de-ox-id will not show any signs of repairs. The pictures are beautiful and thanks for the chance to see such a beautiful vintage HP piece.
