Shack? Well, bench...

[ElroyJetson]

Here's where I either commit atrocities or magic, depending on whether or not I am able to successfully repair a radio or not.

The pic ended up a little cropped but you can see most of what's on the bench, welll enough.

Some people love their ham shack. I love my test bench.

Guided tour, starting at top left:
Tektronix 2465B 400 MHz 4 channel 'scope
Rohde & Schwarz SMY 02 2 GHz signal generator
IFR 2024 2 GHz signal generator
Some old HP power supply that gets frequent use. Can't remember the model but it's a workhorse.
Tektronix 494AP 21 GHz spectrum analyzer with TR503 tracking generator (TG not shown)
Second row: Fluke 8842 DVM, Helper Instruments Sinadder Linear 5, Agilent E4418B RF power meter with Agilent 8498A power attenuator and E4412A wide dynamic range power sensor
General Dynamics R2670B service monitor with P25 conventional, legacy trunking, and P25 trunking options with encryption options up to AES-256.
Rohde & Schwarz FSEA 30 spectrum analyzer with option B7 flexible digital demodulation package. Probably the single most useful analyzer I've ever seen. I have two of them.
Agilent E4431B 2 GHz signal generator with flexible digital signal generation options as well as GSM and GSM EDGE options. I can generate almost any waveform and digital format you can imagine with this.
Agilent E4406A transmitter test set, essentially a specialized spectrum analyzer meant for rapid testing of cellular equipment. It is a very fast spectrum analyzer with 0.1 Hz minimum RBW capability.
Works with the E4431B together as a BERT system.
Rohde & Schwarz AMIQ 04 I/Q modulation generator, used with the Rohde & Schwarz PSL 3 industrial controller (A PC with integrated GPIB) underneath it. The PSL 3 is also my LabView controller. (A future project is to connect the whole system as an integrated test suite via LabView.)
Third row: PC, and external displays for the R2670B, FSEA 30, and the display for the PSL 3.
The AMIQ with PSL 3 gives me the capability to generate practically any digital signal (its I/Q outputs being fed to the I/Q inputs on the Agilent E4431B) and store those waveforms for rapid callup.

Some of this equipment is duplicated on the second tech bench in the shop.

I've bought, sold, and traded a small mountain of test equipment over the last few years. I've kept the items that enhance my bench capabilities the most.

There's still a lot of unexplored capability in this equipment. It can do a lot more than I'm asking it to do.

But for regular radio checkouts, I can leave most of it turned off and just use the R2670B. It's quite a workhorse.

 

[parnass]

That's some top quality test gear, Elroy. Excellent!

My eyes opened wide when you mentioned the Sinadder Linear 5. I found the SL105 so easy to use and a real time saver.

Here is a snapshot of part of my test bench as it appeared in 2007. Not shown are a couple of HP spectrum analyzers, several Tek scopes, Genrad LCR meters, and other gear on wheeled carts.

I've gotten rid of several items in the past few years as I spent less time at the bench.

As time went on, I found that test equipment can fail as often as radio gear. Half my lab was filled with specialized repair parts and spares for the test gear.

 

[gewecke]

Nice!
Ya gotta love SMT !

73,
n9zas

 

[Blackink]

I've bought, sold, and traded a small mountain of test equipment over the last few years.

From the looks of that picture, I'd say you still have a small mountain of equipment!!
Wow, what a collection!

 

[ElroyJetson]

Nice!
Ya gotta love SMT !

73,
n9zas

I've actually reached the point where I'd rather change out a 40 pin surface mount device than a 40 pin thru hole device. Surface mount ceased to scare me many years ago.

The hard part is when you remove a larger SMD component and in the process, knock off some dust speck sized capacitors or resistors that you then have to find and reinstall.

But that's what a range of tweezers and my Bausch & Lomb stereo zoom microscope are for!

I swear, some of those SMD components are so small that if you got one in your eye you might not even notice it!


I've sold off no less than 12 of the R&S SMY 02 signal generators in the last 2 years. At least six Advantest R3131 spectrum analyzers. Five of the Agilent power meters with sensors. At least three HP/Agilent network analyzers. Two E4406A transmitter testers, and four of the E4431B signal generators.

I bought a failed R&S FSIQ vector signal analyzer (same as the FSEA, except if it's called an FSIQ then the digital analysis feature is standard instead of an option) as a parts unit to repair and upgrade my FSEAs. (One had a problem, the other got a tracking generator upgrade.)

I'm always on the hunt for more test equipment to flip for a buck.

 

[ElroyJetson]

It does seem a little crazy to have three signal generators and three spectrum analyzers on the same bench, but each of them is better for some applications than others. There are times when one analyzer will give me information about a signal that is almost impossible to read using the others. There are also times when one generator is the better choice vs. the others. If I got rid of ANY single generator or analyzer, I would soon miss it.

 

[Rt169Radio]

That's quite a setup, are people always asking you to fix their radios?

 

[gewecke]

Yep, SMT devices are smaller than the zit on a fleas butt!!

 

[ElroyJetson]

That's quite a setup, are people always asking you to fix their radios?

Every day. I'm a full-time radio technician and this is my workplace. But the equipment, with the exception of the service monitor, is my personal property.

One of my best friends is my co-worker and fellow technician. I got him the job several years ago,
and believe me, it's a very good working situation when your fellow bench tech is also a longterm friend
who really knows his stuff.

Between the two of us we can repair anything you can break. The only question is, will the customer be willing to pay for the time that may be involved in troubleshooting the most difficult problems?

We do condemn some radios. Some just aren't worth fixing. But if it's worth a significant repair effort, we can repair it.

 

[N1XDS]

Very nice work bench you have.

 

[russellmaher]

That is a most impressive set-up. Thanks for sharing with us.


Russell

 

[Kasmus]

Those R&S spectrum analyzers are great!
I can spot their ugly GUI from a mile away. When the TFT in the middle cought my eye I had to scan your picture for a FSEA - and found one, very nice! Back when R&S used to be bordeaux instead of baby blue, heh. ;-)

 

[ElroyJetson]

I'm hoping to add an R&S CMU300 communications analyzer to the collection some time soon. (Much newer product.) Once I have it in hand, I'll evaluate it and see if it furthers my capabilities in ways that are meaningful. If so, I keep it. If not, I flip it for $$$$.

If I won a major lottery, the local Agilent, R&S, and Tektronix reps would all have a pleasant and productive visit with me before very long. My whole setup would be cutting edge technology and
fully integrated into a custom test solution.

I don't expect to win a major lottery.

The R&S user interface is quirky, but frankly, they ALL are these days. Tektronix, Agilent, R&S, it doesn't matter. There's still a learning curve to each of them and NONE of them are particularly intuitive.

The latest equipment features very large multi-touch screens. That's going to help.

 

[xmo]

Nice Elroy, very nice indeed.

Have you tried the RSCommander program to manage your Rohde & Schwarz instruments, transfer files, traces, screen captures etc ?

 

[Kasmus]

Actually, the touch GUI on the current R&S oscilloscopes is quite nice. But somehow I have the feeling it will be *some* years until I get hold of one of those.

 

[ElroyJetson]

I'm drooling over the new R&S touch screen spectrum analyzers such as the FSW series. I'm sure they can top 100,000 dollars, fully decked out.

I figure that they'll be in my price range when they're about 10 years old. That seems to be par for the course.

Thank you for telling me about RSCommander. I just checked and it supports all the R&S devices on my bench and I will evaluate it.

Eventually, LabView will be used to integrate the whole system, but I'm at the bottom of a tall, steep learning curve so it'll be a while. RSCommander might be a good way for me to get something going a little more quickly. And maybe not...