Old HP freq counter

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Javier Henderson

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I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav
 
Javier Henderson wrote:
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav
Click to expand...
Was that the one that used a harmonic mixer to get the frequency down to
something it could count? I remember using a counter like that way back--you
had to twist a tuning knob to select the right LO harmonic. Weird.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs
 
"Tweetldee" <masondg4499@comcast99.net> wrote in message
news:YLY7d.104335$wV.81688@attbi_s54...
"Javier Henderson" <javier@KJSL.COM> wrote in message
news:86brfktlp5.fsf@skylane.kjsl.com...
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had
an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm
guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav

That would probably be the HP model 5245L, or one of its cousins. It
was a
Click to expand...

It can't be a 5245L because they're only 6 or 8 inches high. He's
talking about one that's at least five times that size, three feet high.

I have a '73 HP catalog with the 5245L in it, and it's more modern than
the one he's talking about. I think the 5245L is all solid state. The
old HP counters had a lot of tubes, and a crystal oven for the timebase,
so you had to leave it plugged in with the oven turned on all the time
to keep the crystal from drifting.

50MHz mainframe counter, having a variety of plugin modules that
carried the
counter frequency range from 50MHz into the GHz. There were also time
interval plugins, DVM plugins, and several other miscellaneous plugins
available.
It was certainly the industry standard for a number of years because
of its
reliability and its stable, accurate time base oscillator (3x10-9 as I
remember).

I have one of these units in my shack, but rarely use it because of
its
50MHz limit and lack of a plugin to make it go beyond that. It is a
great
unit to use, however, because ot the nice Nixie display.
--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate
characters in
the address)

Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!
Click to expand...
 
Javier Henderson wrote:
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav
Click to expand...

I could have suggested a model# 15+ years ago but I've passed the age
when CRS (Can't Remember Stuff) set in. :-( Have a mental image of
an HP counter I used in the Air Force back in 1969-70 that had a
kazillion (more like 15-20) Nixies spread across almost the entire width
of the front panel, at top. Used the counter during calibration of
HP-5060A cesium beam.

A former A.F. PMEL guy who apprently is the same vintage as I am
responded to a post of mine a year or two ago. He might know the naswer
to your question. You still around, Sarge?

Michael
 
"Javier Henderson" <javier@KJSL.COM> wrote in message
news:86brfktlp5.fsf@skylane.kjsl.com...
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav
Click to expand...
That would probably be the HP model 5245L, or one of its cousins. It was a
50MHz mainframe counter, having a variety of plugin modules that carried the
counter frequency range from 50MHz into the GHz. There were also time
interval plugins, DVM plugins, and several other miscellaneous plugins
available.
It was certainly the industry standard for a number of years because of its
reliability and its stable, accurate time base oscillator (3x10-9 as I
remember).

I have one of these units in my shack, but rarely use it because of its
50MHz limit and lack of a plugin to make it go beyond that. It is a great
unit to use, however, because ot the nice Nixie display.
--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate characters in
the address)

Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!
 
"Tweetldee" <masondg4499@comcast99.net> wrote in message
news:YLY7d.104335$wV.81688@attbi_s54...
"Javier Henderson" <javier@KJSL.COM> wrote in message
news:86brfktlp5.fsf@skylane.kjsl.com...
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav

That would probably be the HP model 5245L, or one of its cousins. It was a
50MHz mainframe counter, having a variety of plugin modules that carried the
counter frequency range from 50MHz into the GHz. There were also time
interval plugins, DVM plugins, and several other miscellaneous plugins
available.
It was certainly the industry standard for a number of years because of its
reliability and its stable, accurate time base oscillator (3x10-9 as I
remember).

I have one of these units in my shack, but rarely use it because of its
50MHz limit and lack of a plugin to make it go beyond that. It is a great
unit to use, however, because ot the nice Nixie display.
Click to expand...
A 5245L was made by HP But the version your looking for, and that I have used
was much larger. Not however 3x3x3 feet. More like 28x28 x28 inches. I do
not remember the model number so I did not reply sooner. I did use various
versions of the 5245 and it was a desktop "Stackable" instrument.
 
On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 19:52:24 GMT, "Tweetldee"
<masondg4499@comcast99.net> wrote:

"Javier Henderson" <javier@KJSL.COM> wrote in message
news:86brfktlp5.fsf@skylane.kjsl.com...
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav

That would probably be the HP model 5245L, or one of its cousins. It was a
50MHz mainframe counter, having a variety of plugin modules that carried the
counter frequency range from 50MHz into the GHz. There were also time
interval plugins, DVM plugins, and several other miscellaneous plugins
available.
It was certainly the industry standard for a number of years because of its
reliability and its stable, accurate time base oscillator (3x10-9 as I
remember).

I have one of these units in my shack, but rarely use it because of its
50MHz limit and lack of a plugin to make it go beyond that. It is a great
unit to use, however, because ot the nice Nixie display.
Click to expand...
---
The 5245L doesn't meet either the 3'x 3'x 3' envelope or the weight
criterion, but the fan noise probably comes close!

If I'm not mistaken, that old counter is an HP524CD. Back in those
days I was working for Loral Electronics in New York, and we built
some ECM test equipment for the air force which had one of them
rack-mounted in a test console which was used to align ECM receivers.

--
John Fields
 
John Fields <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message news:<0mn0m0ldgb3qgup2d06rongn2qbs3rjh23@4ax.com>...
On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 19:52:24 GMT, "Tweetldee"
masondg4499@comcast99.net> wrote:

"Javier Henderson" <javier@KJSL.COM> wrote in message
news:86brfktlp5.fsf@skylane.kjsl.com...
I used to use an HP frequency counter in the 70's, which measured
about 3' by 3' by 3'. It weighed slightly less than a house, it had an
incredibly powerful and loud fan, and a removable module. I'm guessing
it was made in the 60's. The digital display was made of Nixies.

I've been trying to find photos of this rig for a while, without any
luck. I don't even remember the model number.

Help with either URL's to photos of this thing, or the model number,
would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

-jav

That would probably be the HP model 5245L, or one of its cousins. It was a
50MHz mainframe counter, having a variety of plugin modules that carried the
counter frequency range from 50MHz into the GHz. There were also time
interval plugins, DVM plugins, and several other miscellaneous plugins
available.
It was certainly the industry standard for a number of years because of its
reliability and its stable, accurate time base oscillator (3x10-9 as I
remember).

I have one of these units in my shack, but rarely use it because of its
50MHz limit and lack of a plugin to make it go beyond that. It is a great
unit to use, however, because ot the nice Nixie display.

---
The 5245L doesn't meet either the 3'x 3'x 3' envelope or the weight
criterion, but the fan noise probably comes close!

If I'm not mistaken, that old counter is an HP524CD. Back in those
days I was working for Loral Electronics in New York, and we built
some ECM test equipment for the air force which had one of them
rack-mounted in a test console which was used to align ECM receivers.
Click to expand...

John is probably right - I cant remember the model no, but the
size/description was right - and from memory it had hundreds (well, a
lot) of 12AT7's to do the logic. Cant be sure it used NIXIE readout
tho - the one I remember had some other scheme, perhaps
lightbulbs/neons behind celluloid windows (possibly raving here, it
was a LONG time ago)....I still have (and use) a HP5245L, I have the
prescaler to 2.3Ghz, xtal locked to the main timebase oscillator to
select harmonics - ovenised xtal, so state of the art then.
Beautifully made mechanically, and the service manual was a superb
example of "how to write a good manual" - it even has Boolean
equations for how it works, so troubleshooting was dead easy. Perhaps
its age, but I still find NIXIE tubes easier to read across the room
than led's or LCD's.

73 de VK3BFA Andrew
 
On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 04:52:02 -0700, "Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the
Dark Remover\"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote:

It can't be a 5245L because they're only 6 or 8 inches high. He's
talking about one that's at least five times that size, three feet high.

I have a '73 HP catalog with the 5245L in it, and it's more modern than
the one he's talking about. I think the 5245L is all solid state. The
old HP counters had a lot of tubes, and a crystal oven for the timebase,
so you had to leave it plugged in with the oven turned on all the time
to keep the crystal from drifting.
Click to expand...
---
Sometimes you can 'remove the dark' by reading the earlier posts in a
thread:


John Fields <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:<0mn0m0ldgb3qgup2d06rongn2qbs3rjh23@4ax.com>...

---
The 5245L doesn't meet either the 3'x 3'x 3' envelope or the weight
criterion, but the fan noise probably comes close!

If I'm not mistaken, that old counter is an HP524CD. Back in those
days I was working for Loral Electronics in New York, and we built
some ECM test equipment for the air force which had one of them
rack-mounted in a test console which was used to align ECM receivers.
Click to expand...

John is probably right - I cant remember the model no, but the
size/description was right - and from memory it had hundreds (well, a
lot) of 12AT7's to do the logic. Cant be sure it used NIXIE readout
tho - the one I remember had some other scheme, perhaps
lightbulbs/neons behind celluloid windows (possibly raving here, it
was a LONG time ago)....I still have (and use) a HP5245L, I have the
prescaler to 2.3Ghz, xtal locked to the main timebase oscillator to
select harmonics - ovenised xtal, so state of the art then.
Beautifully made mechanically, and the service manual was a superb
example of "how to write a good manual" - it even has Boolean
equations for how it works, so troubleshooting was dead easy. Perhaps
its age, but I still find NIXIE tubes easier to read across the room
than led's or LCD's.

73 de VK3BFA Andrew
---



--
John Fields
 
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