"gw" wrote in message
om...
Roy Lewallen wrote in message
...
Thanks to Ed for the good advice.

I've got an HP 140T. As far as I know, the only difference between it
and the 141T is that the CRT in mine is a conventional one with
long-persistence phosphor rather than a storage tube. It uses the same
plug-in units as the 141T. I find it to be very usable, and don't really
miss storage capability at all. I think the tube is a lot more
trouble-free than a storage type unit.

So I recommend that you don't turn down a 140T if you come across one --
and you might even have a better chance of getting a unit with a working
display than with a 141T.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ed Price wrote:

[Lots of good advice]


well it is amazing i think how some of these units retain their resale
value even though the companies that made them do not service them or
back them......man who was the brainiac that thought about how to
implement this scam?

Designing and building a product to provide many years of use, and then
capable of being repaired without access to unique components and/or exotic
service equipment, is a concept so rare as to be thought a scam.

Ed
wb6wsn

"gw" wrote in message
om...
Roy Lewallen wrote in message
...
Thanks to Ed for the good advice.

I've got an HP 140T. As far as I know, the only difference between it
and the 141T is that the CRT in mine is a conventional one with
long-persistence phosphor rather than a storage tube. It uses the same
plug-in units as the 141T. I find it to be very usable, and don't really
miss storage capability at all. I think the tube is a lot more
trouble-free than a storage type unit.

So I recommend that you don't turn down a 140T if you come across one --
and you might even have a better chance of getting a unit with a working
display than with a 141T.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ed Price wrote:

[Lots of good advice]


well it is amazing i think how some of these units retain their resale
value even though the companies that made them do not service them or
back them......man who was the brainiac that thought about how to
implement this scam?

Designing and building a product to provide many years of use, and then
capable of being repaired without access to unique components and/or exotic
service equipment, is a concept so rare as to be thought a scam.

Ed
wb6wsn

Ed Price wrote:

Designing and building a product to provide many years of use, and then
capable of being repaired without access to unique components and/or exotic
service equipment, is a concept so rare as to be thought a scam.

Ed
wb6wsn


Imagine your cell phone if it was designed to be repaired, and used only
common components. It would be the size of a briefcase. Do you think
cell phones would be popular if they had to be briefcase sized?

What about spectrum analyzers that needed to be contained in several
6 foot high rack cabinets?

Is the world better or worse now that a 100MHz oscilloscope can be made
the size of a paper back book?

-Chuck, WA3UQV

Ed Price wrote:

Designing and building a product to provide many years of use, and then
capable of being repaired without access to unique components and/or exotic
service equipment, is a concept so rare as to be thought a scam.

Ed
wb6wsn


Imagine your cell phone if it was designed to be repaired, and used only
common components. It would be the size of a briefcase. Do you think
cell phones would be popular if they had to be briefcase sized?

What about spectrum analyzers that needed to be contained in several
6 foot high rack cabinets?

Is the world better or worse now that a 100MHz oscilloscope can be made
the size of a paper back book?

-Chuck, WA3UQV

Chuck Harris wrote:

Ed Price wrote:

Designing and building a product to provide many years of use, and then
capable of being repaired without access to unique components and/or exotic
service equipment, is a concept so rare as to be thought a scam.

Ed
wb6wsn


Imagine your cell phone if it was designed to be repaired, and used only
common components. It would be the size of a briefcase. Do you think
cell phones would be popular if they had to be briefcase sized?

What about spectrum analyzers that needed to be contained in several
6 foot high rack cabinets?

Is the world better or worse now that a 100MHz oscilloscope can be made
the size of a paper back book?

-Chuck, WA3UQV

Most of the chips in cell phones are off the shelf parts, and there
are places that do repair cell phones. RMS Communications in Ocala,
Florida rebuilds thousands of pagers and cell phones every week. I know
several techs who worked there, and they were telling me about the
equipment they had available at each work station.


One problem with new RF and test equipment is the firmware programmed
into chips isn't readily available to program replacement parts. Another
problem is the short production life for some parts. If you build a
product for over two years, you either do "Lifetime purchases", or
redesign boards to use the next round of parts. What is real fun is a
base product with up to 100 different sets of software, depending on the
customers specifications. Its hard enough to keep it straight on the
factory floor, let alone trying to do it in the field.
--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Chuck Harris wrote:

Ed Price wrote:

Designing and building a product to provide many years of use, and then
capable of being repaired without access to unique components and/or exotic
service equipment, is a concept so rare as to be thought a scam.

Ed
wb6wsn


Imagine your cell phone if it was designed to be repaired, and used only
common components. It would be the size of a briefcase. Do you think
cell phones would be popular if they had to be briefcase sized?

What about spectrum analyzers that needed to be contained in several
6 foot high rack cabinets?

Is the world better or worse now that a 100MHz oscilloscope can be made
the size of a paper back book?

-Chuck, WA3UQV

Most of the chips in cell phones are off the shelf parts, and there
are places that do repair cell phones. RMS Communications in Ocala,
Florida rebuilds thousands of pagers and cell phones every week. I know
several techs who worked there, and they were telling me about the
equipment they had available at each work station.


One problem with new RF and test equipment is the firmware programmed
into chips isn't readily available to program replacement parts. Another
problem is the short production life for some parts. If you build a
product for over two years, you either do "Lifetime purchases", or
redesign boards to use the next round of parts. What is real fun is a
base product with up to 100 different sets of software, depending on the
customers specifications. Its hard enough to keep it straight on the
factory floor, let alone trying to do it in the field.
--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 19:15:09 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:

No, there is no person so named. Would you prefer that he had used the
sort
of expletives that those symbols generally represent? Have you never
seen
profanity annotated that way (think: comic strip)?

I've never seen "465" included in symbolic profanity before. Remove
that and the rest becomes recognizable.

Didn't notice that...finger must've slipped off the shift key.


The 'Sanford & Son'
reference was made by the service rep, apparently referring to the gall
of
the OP, for wasting the rep's valuable time asking for information about
equipment that he (the rep) considered to be nothing but junk (you'll
recall
the TV series of that name was about a junk dealer).

Pretty obscure, but makes sense now.

Does that wrap it up for you...or--OP--did I get that right?

Got it all, thanks. Plain 'ol English beats speaking in tongues though.
Actually, this was kind of fun. Maybe we should all start posting with
obscure references and irregular grammar. Not.

Glad to be of service. Actually I think the obscure reference was actually
a paraphrased quotation of the service rep, which the OP repeated...probably
should have used quote marks there to clear it up.

jak
--
Bill, W6WRT

"Bill Turner" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 19:15:09 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:

No, there is no person so named. Would you prefer that he had used the
sort
of expletives that those symbols generally represent? Have you never
seen
profanity annotated that way (think: comic strip)?

I've never seen "465" included in symbolic profanity before. Remove
that and the rest becomes recognizable.

Didn't notice that...finger must've slipped off the shift key.


The 'Sanford & Son'
reference was made by the service rep, apparently referring to the gall
of
the OP, for wasting the rep's valuable time asking for information about
equipment that he (the rep) considered to be nothing but junk (you'll
recall
the TV series of that name was about a junk dealer).

Pretty obscure, but makes sense now.

Does that wrap it up for you...or--OP--did I get that right?

Got it all, thanks. Plain 'ol English beats speaking in tongues though.
Actually, this was kind of fun. Maybe we should all start posting with
obscure references and irregular grammar. Not.

Glad to be of service. Actually I think the obscure reference was actually
a paraphrased quotation of the service rep, which the OP repeated...probably
should have used quote marks there to clear it up.

jak
--
Bill, W6WRT

Michael A. Terrell wrote:


Most of the chips in cell phones are off the shelf parts, and there
are places that do repair cell phones. RMS Communications in Ocala,
Florida rebuilds thousands of pagers and cell phones every week. I know
several techs who worked there, and they were telling me about the
equipment they had available at each work station.

Most of the parts in a tek scope are off the shelf too, but like the
cell phone, there are one or two show stoppers. For the cell phone,
it is the microprocessor with its combination mask and flash
programming.

I know a guy that repairs pagers, but you cannot convince me that it
is a profitable business.... The way he moaned about the cost of my
fixing his RF signal generator gives me a clue.

One problem with new RF and test equipment is the firmware programmed
into chips isn't readily available to program replacement parts. Another
problem is the short production life for some parts. If you build a
product for over two years, you either do "Lifetime purchases", or
redesign boards to use the next round of parts. What is real fun is a
base product with up to 100 different sets of software, depending on the
customers specifications. Its hard enough to keep it straight on the
factory floor, let alone trying to do it in the field.

It is even worse in the space field, where by the time a part is
qualified, and a satellite is made, the part is stone cold obsolete.

-Chuck

Michael A. Terrell wrote:


Most of the chips in cell phones are off the shelf parts, and there
are places that do repair cell phones. RMS Communications in Ocala,
Florida rebuilds thousands of pagers and cell phones every week. I know
several techs who worked there, and they were telling me about the
equipment they had available at each work station.

Most of the parts in a tek scope are off the shelf too, but like the
cell phone, there are one or two show stoppers. For the cell phone,
it is the microprocessor with its combination mask and flash
programming.

I know a guy that repairs pagers, but you cannot convince me that it
is a profitable business.... The way he moaned about the cost of my
fixing his RF signal generator gives me a clue.

One problem with new RF and test equipment is the firmware programmed
into chips isn't readily available to program replacement parts. Another
problem is the short production life for some parts. If you build a
product for over two years, you either do "Lifetime purchases", or
redesign boards to use the next round of parts. What is real fun is a
base product with up to 100 different sets of software, depending on the
customers specifications. Its hard enough to keep it straight on the
factory floor, let alone trying to do it in the field.

It is even worse in the space field, where by the time a part is
qualified, and a satellite is made, the part is stone cold obsolete.

-Chuck