[time-nuts] HP and other equipment failure - availability

[David Kirkby]

On 16 June 2013 01:33,  <Kmec at aol.com> wrote:
> Greetings Gentlemen!
>
>
> I have been following the thread on HP equipment repair, as I have a  bunch
> of it and am waiting the inevitable day when something starts to smoke.
> That being said, I agree with the gentlemen that say fixing is better than
> junking and also about the diminishing supply.

I don't know if you look at the yahoo group
testequiptrader at yahoogroups.com, but someone on there is selling quite
a bit of HP kit. Most is RF (noise figure related, VNAs etc), not
directly timing related, thogh some might be of interest to time nuts.

> This year at the Dayton
> Hamvention, a  friend of mine, who is a fairly large surplus equipment
> dealer, did not sell. Instead he came only to buy: All older HP gear. He ran
> around the Fest buying every 3586, old logic analyzer, even an 8510 Network
> analyzer, all to strip out the boards with the gold plated lands.

I've never seen an 8510 VNA, but I see some comment from Dr. Joel
Dunsmore (Dr_Joel) on the Agilent forum that made me think.
Apparentlly to get the same performance from Agilent's top end PNA-X
series of VNAs as is available on a top end 8510 system, you have to
order a "metrology option" on the PNA-X. Obviously the modern units do
more, and are faster, but it seems for S parameters, a top-end 8510
system is hard to beat.

The guy on testequiptrader at yahoogroups.com has several 8510 systems,
though I have no idea if they are bottom or top end. I've got an
obsolete, but not too old  (late 1990's) 8720D (20 GHz) VNA. It is not
as capable as an 8510, but I can pick it up with one hand and it does
not give me a hernia.

> He had
> numbers for gold  yield for each item, so much per pound of board etc. Now
> whether you agree about  the return on gold scrap doesn't matter. The thing is,
> he is making a dent in  the number of pieces available on the market. Stuff
> will get rarer.

It is a real shame this kit goes for scrap. I don't see any way to
stop it though. It's a bit like steam engines in England. Thousands of
trains were scrapped, but now those few that have been restored a
worth a smal fortune. I was watching a TV program once, where this guy
who had restored a train was being interviewed. Apparently him and his
friends approached a scrap dealer and asked what he wanted for one of
the trains in his scrap yard. The dealer asked what he wanted to do
with it, so they replied they wanted to restore it. With that the
scrap dealer told them they could have it, as long as it was not
scrapped!

> Nothing lasts forever, which is why I pile stuff up for my own use. As  to
> surplus, I like to say I was at the party when the booze ran out....
>
> 73, Jeff Kruth WA3ZKR

I knew someone who bought whisky as an investment. Perhaps it will be
test equipment next!

I paid $16000 for my 8720D VNA about a year ago, and I expect that
will depreciate as it is not that old. But the older kit will probaby
not depreciate any more. It has probably hit rock bottom. Prices in
the UK are much higher than in the US.

Dave