Index of Technical Information and Modifications for Test Equipment

Back to Home Technical Information, Construction Information and Modifications on, of and for Test Equipment
Compiled by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
Maintained by Robert Meister WA1MIK

The contents of this page, like most here at www.repeater-builder.com, are totally dependent on donations of information.

If you have a manual for test equipment used to repair repeaters that we do not have, please consider scanning it and sending it in. We can get it scanned if you do not have access to a scanner. Donations of additional material to this page (or any page on this web site) are always welcome.
If you have a useful trick that others would like to know, please write it up and email it in.

Manufacturer's Manuals and Data Sheets:

Aeroflex / IFR Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by Instrument Flight Research corp, better known as IFR, now a part of Aeroflex.

Agilent / HP Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by Agilent, better known as the old Hewlett Packard Test Equipment group.

Automated Industrial Electronics Corp Model 2TSG-1 Two Tone Generator Instruction Manual 986 KB PDF made from over 20 separate page scan files front panel photo
As a result of a request made in a comment thread on the repeater-builder mailing list John Kernkamp WB4YJT scanned his manual, took a front panel photo and emailed both to me.
This is a unit that can generate two clean audio tones from 10 Hz to 9.999 Khz, and send tone A or a two-tone A-B sequence with variable delay, duration and level. It was a very popular service monitor add-on for doing CTCSS generation, tone burst, single tone, or two-tone pagers. While they call it an "instruction manual" it contains all available documentaton including service info and schematics.

Bird Electronic Corp. Products, including the Thruline™ and Termaline™ Wattmeters.

Boonton 92BD Instruction Manual 7.2 MB PDF
Boonton 92BD Probe Information 9.3 KB PDF
Boonton RF Probe Info from 9200A manual 25 kB PDF

Motorola S1339A RF MilliVoltmeter Instruction Manual 4.6 MB PDF Donated by A. Nony Mous
It's actually the Boonton 92E manual, but the Moto S1339 was a relabeled Boonton 92E, so it works just fine.

Coaxial Dynamics Inc (Coaxial, or CDI, at http://www.coaxial.com) makes Bird clone products, such as wattmeters, elements, and dummy loads. Their elements are interchangeable with Bird equivalents (same sizes, ranges, etc) and at one time they were a bit less-expensive than Bird's. Their 81000 meter is functionally equivalent to the classic Bird 43 meter, however it has a much bigger case and a much bigger mirrored-scale meter, great for us older folks who have problems reading the small Bird meter. You may see similar-looking meters for sale, with brands like Sola, Sola Basic, or Dielectric. This product line was bought out by CDI.

CT Systems and Wavetek Information about test equipment manufactured by Wavetek (service monitors and signal generators).
Over the years Wavetek bought several companies, including CT Systems.

Cushman Electronics Information about communications test equipment manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s by Cushman.

DSI 5600A Frequency Counter 2.83 MB PDF Donated by A. Nony Mous
DSI was a small company in San Diego California that made excellent equipment, but has folded. They made several products, at this time this counter is the only one we have any manuals on.

Fluke 83 / 85 / 87 Multimeters Service Manual 11 MB PDF

The Heath / Heathkit HM-2102 VHF Wattmeter 1.4 MB PDF This is the forward-and-reverse power meter that covers 50 to 160 MHz at 0-25 or 0-250 watts - it has no dummy load. The HM-102 is the equivalent for 3.5 to 30 MHz at up to 2000w, and is in the same package.

The Heathkit HM-2103 HF Dummy Load 5.2 MB PDF Heath had two compact dry dummy loads. This is the HF version, which can handle 1kw for one minute, derating to 175w continuous duty. The front panel overtemperature indicator lamp is powered by a 9v battery which has been forgotten about and leaked in every one I've seen at hamfests. BTW, the original design didn't have a fan, but several have been seen at hamfests with a muffin fan mounted on the end of the cabinet. One had the thermal switch attached to the fan and a big red neon lamp.

The Heathkit HN-31 "Cantenna" Dummy Load 785 KB PDF
Note that many of the cantennas are getting to be 40 and 50 years old, and if you buy a used one you may not know it's history... it may heve been overheated at some point. In the early days Heath used military surplus 50 and 52 ohm resistors to make them. Later they had resistors specifically made at 50.0 ohms for the kit. Over the last few years it's been noticed that the resistors are no longer 50.0 to 52.0 ohms... they are drifting. If you get weird SWR readings on your cantenna you might want to measure the resistor. One had drifted upwards to 60.5 ohms... The owner salvaged it by dismantling the RF head and wiring in a line cord and a pigtail AC outlet temporarily. The pigtail had an electric heater plugged into it to limit the current. Applying 120vAC mains power across the series combination of the electric heater and the cantenna resistor (still in the oil) resulted in about 140-150 watts dissipation in the cantenna. He kept this up for two months, and the "cooking" of the cantenna resistor brought the value back to about 52-53 ohms - much better! And the electric heat helped keep the ham shack warm during the winter !

Helper Instruments Information for test equipment manufactured by the old Helper Instruments Company.

HP / Agilent Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by the old Hewlett Packard Test Equipment group, now known as Agilent.

IFR / Aeroflex Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by Instrument Flight Research corp, better known as IFR, now a part of Aeroflex.

Knight-Kit KG650 RF Signal Generator Schematic 27kB PDF.

Lampkin Type 107B Digital Frequency Meter and Type 107C Communication Service Monitor Operation and service manual 4.1 MB PDF Compliments of Greg Miller, K2GTM.
This 159 page manual is dated October 1972.

Marconi Marconi is an English company and their equipment is not found too often in the USA. There is a Canadian Marconi company and their mobile radios were fairly popular for a while.

Measurements (Boonton) Corp. Model 560FM Standard Signal Generator 1.54 MB PDF file Courtesy of Bob WA1MIK

Motorola Moto has made their own test equipment or private-labeled other manufacturers (like Measurements Corp. or Boonton) since the late 1940s. They've also worked with other companies to design specialized equipment, like the telephone line test set that was co-designed with Triplett and made by them, but sold by both.

Radio Frequency Labs 5950A Crystal Impedance Meter 142kb PDF.

Simpson 160, 165, 215, 255, 260, 261 and 270 series VOMs (offsite link to http://www.simpson260.com)
Data sheets, schematics, owners manuals, operating instructions, sales brochures, and more.

Tektronix Information about test equipment manufactured by Tektronix, best known for their oscilloscopes.

Telonic 1019 Sweep Signal Generator 20MB PDF file Courtesy of A. Nony Mous

Triplett Corp has a number of current and older manuals on their web site. See http://www.triplett.com/manuals.php.
Tripplett is located at 850 Perimeter Road, Manchester, New Hampshire 03103 (USA).
Toll free phone is at 1-800-METERS-1 (800-638-3771)

Triplett 630 Series 5 VOM manual 3.3MB PDF file. Donated by John Riddell VE3AMZ

Triplett 630 PL and PLK VOM instruction manual 890kB PDF file. Donated by John Riddell VE3AMZ

Triplett 850 instruction manual 2.8MB PDF File. Donated by Mike Morris WA6ILQ

VIZ WD-76x series digital wattmeters 590 KB PDF courtesy of Eric Lemmon WB6FLY

Wavetek and CT Systems Information about test equipment manufactured by Wavetek (service monitors and signal generators).
Over the years Wavetek bought several companies, including CT Systems.

Construction and Modification Articles:

A Poor Ham's Deviation Meter A theory and practice article on measuring deviation of FM transmitters, by Robert W. Meister WA1MIK.

Build Yourself a Service Monitor? Well, sort of. By Tom Alldread VA7TA A simple deviation monitor circuit used with a scanner receiver.

Poor Man's Spectrum Analyzer A Spectrum Analyzer / Tracking Generator Kit by Science Workshop (offsite link)
If anyone wants to write a review article after acquiring one we'll put it on this page.

Other info:

A lot of equipment, including many HP and IFR and Motorola spectrum analyzers and service monitors, have an RF fuse, in the output connector. The original manufacturer is Littelfuse Corp, and they named it a "Pico Fuse". Other companies now make a similar and interchangeable product. Two forms are made: one is axial about the size and shape of a 1/4 watt or 1/8 watt resistor, the other is a small cylindrical plug-in element a little smaller than a pencil eraser.
The name "Pico Fuse" is a LittelFuse corporate trademark, but has become synonymous with the fast acting fuse in either shape.

Jameco, Digikey and Mouser all sell these fuses. Here's a 214kB PDF datasheet for the axial fuses (which usually have a solid color body in green, yellow, orange or gold). They're available from 1/16 amp through 15 amps, fast-blow and slow-blow; you want the fastest they have.
Here's a 91kB PDF datasheet for the 373/TR5 series plug-in fuses if you need the round 8.5mm diameter plug-in style. They are available in 50ma (yes, milliamps) through 10 amps. The most common size that I have found in RF test gear (like service monitors) is the 1/16 amp.

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This page initially created 30-March-2009 by splitting all of the Cushman, HP and IFR information away from the Other Manufacturers page. Other brands were added later.

This web site, the information presented in and on its pages and in these modifications and conversions is © Copyrighted 1995 and (date of last update) by Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors. All Rights Reserved, including that of paper and web publication elsewhere.

	Aeroflex / IFR Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by Instrument Flight Research corp, better known as IFR, now a part of Aeroflex.
	Agilent / HP Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by Agilent, better known as the old Hewlett Packard Test Equipment group.
	Automated Industrial Electronics Corp Model 2TSG-1 Two Tone Generator Instruction Manual 986 KB PDF made from over 20 separate page scan files front panel photo As a result of a request made in a comment thread on the repeater-builder mailing list John Kernkamp WB4YJT scanned his manual, took a front panel photo and emailed both to me. This is a unit that can generate two clean audio tones from 10 Hz to 9.999 Khz, and send tone A or a two-tone A-B sequence with variable delay, duration and level. It was a very popular service monitor add-on for doing CTCSS generation, tone burst, single tone, or two-tone pagers. While they call it an "instruction manual" it contains all available documentaton including service info and schematics.
	Bird Electronic Corp. Products, including the Thruline™ and Termaline™ Wattmeters.
	Boonton 92BD Instruction Manual 7.2 MB PDF Boonton 92BD Probe Information 9.3 KB PDF Boonton RF Probe Info from 9200A manual 25 kB PDF
	Motorola S1339A RF MilliVoltmeter Instruction Manual 4.6 MB PDF Donated by A. Nony Mous It's actually the Boonton 92E manual, but the Moto S1339 was a relabeled Boonton 92E, so it works just fine.
	Coaxial Dynamics Inc (Coaxial, or CDI, at http://www.coaxial.com) makes Bird clone products, such as wattmeters, elements, and dummy loads. Their elements are interchangeable with Bird equivalents (same sizes, ranges, etc) and at one time they were a bit less-expensive than Bird's. Their 81000 meter is functionally equivalent to the classic Bird 43 meter, however it has a much bigger case and a much bigger mirrored-scale meter, great for us older folks who have problems reading the small Bird meter. You may see similar-looking meters for sale, with brands like Sola, Sola Basic, or Dielectric. This product line was bought out by CDI.
	CT Systems and Wavetek Information about test equipment manufactured by Wavetek (service monitors and signal generators). Over the years Wavetek bought several companies, including CT Systems.
	Cushman Electronics Information about communications test equipment manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s by Cushman.
	DSI 5600A Frequency Counter 2.83 MB PDF Donated by A. Nony Mous DSI was a small company in San Diego California that made excellent equipment, but has folded. They made several products, at this time this counter is the only one we have any manuals on.
	Fluke 83 / 85 / 87 Multimeters Service Manual 11 MB PDF
	The Heath / Heathkit HM-2102 VHF Wattmeter 1.4 MB PDF This is the forward-and-reverse power meter that covers 50 to 160 MHz at 0-25 or 0-250 watts - it has no dummy load. The HM-102 is the equivalent for 3.5 to 30 MHz at up to 2000w, and is in the same package.
	The Heathkit HM-2103 HF Dummy Load 5.2 MB PDF Heath had two compact dry dummy loads. This is the HF version, which can handle 1kw for one minute, derating to 175w continuous duty. The front panel overtemperature indicator lamp is powered by a 9v battery which has been forgotten about and leaked in every one I've seen at hamfests. BTW, the original design didn't have a fan, but several have been seen at hamfests with a muffin fan mounted on the end of the cabinet. One had the thermal switch attached to the fan and a big red neon lamp.
	The Heathkit HN-31 "Cantenna" Dummy Load 785 KB PDF Note that many of the cantennas are getting to be 40 and 50 years old, and if you buy a used one you may not know it's history... it may heve been overheated at some point. In the early days Heath used military surplus 50 and 52 ohm resistors to make them. Later they had resistors specifically made at 50.0 ohms for the kit. Over the last few years it's been noticed that the resistors are no longer 50.0 to 52.0 ohms... they are drifting. If you get weird SWR readings on your cantenna you might want to measure the resistor. One had drifted upwards to 60.5 ohms... The owner salvaged it by dismantling the RF head and wiring in a line cord and a pigtail AC outlet temporarily. The pigtail had an electric heater plugged into it to limit the current. Applying 120vAC mains power across the series combination of the electric heater and the cantenna resistor (still in the oil) resulted in about 140-150 watts dissipation in the cantenna. He kept this up for two months, and the "cooking" of the cantenna resistor brought the value back to about 52-53 ohms - much better! And the electric heat helped keep the ham shack warm during the winter !
	Helper Instruments Information for test equipment manufactured by the old Helper Instruments Company.
	HP / Agilent Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by the old Hewlett Packard Test Equipment group, now known as Agilent.
	IFR / Aeroflex Information and modifications for test equipment manufactured by Instrument Flight Research corp, better known as IFR, now a part of Aeroflex.
	Knight-Kit KG650 RF Signal Generator Schematic 27kB PDF.
	Lampkin Type 107B Digital Frequency Meter and Type 107C Communication Service Monitor Operation and service manual 4.1 MB PDF Compliments of Greg Miller, K2GTM. This 159 page manual is dated October 1972.
	Marconi Marconi is an English company and their equipment is not found too often in the USA. There is a Canadian Marconi company and their mobile radios were fairly popular for a while.
	Measurements (Boonton) Corp. Model 560FM Standard Signal Generator 1.54 MB PDF file Courtesy of Bob WA1MIK
	Motorola Moto has made their own test equipment or private-labeled other manufacturers (like Measurements Corp. or Boonton) since the late 1940s. They've also worked with other companies to design specialized equipment, like the telephone line test set that was co-designed with Triplett and made by them, but sold by both.
	Radio Frequency Labs 5950A Crystal Impedance Meter 142kb PDF.
	Simpson 160, 165, 215, 255, 260, 261 and 270 series VOMs (offsite link to http://www.simpson260.com) Data sheets, schematics, owners manuals, operating instructions, sales brochures, and more.
	Tektronix Information about test equipment manufactured by Tektronix, best known for their oscilloscopes.
	Telonic 1019 Sweep Signal Generator 20MB PDF file Courtesy of A. Nony Mous
	Triplett Corp has a number of current and older manuals on their web site. See http://www.triplett.com/manuals.php. Tripplett is located at 850 Perimeter Road, Manchester, New Hampshire 03103 (USA). Toll free phone is at 1-800-METERS-1 (800-638-3771)
	Triplett 630 Series 5 VOM manual 3.3MB PDF file. Donated by John Riddell VE3AMZ
	Triplett 630 PL and PLK VOM instruction manual 890kB PDF file. Donated by John Riddell VE3AMZ
	Triplett 850 instruction manual 2.8MB PDF File. Donated by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
	VIZ WD-76x series digital wattmeters 590 KB PDF courtesy of Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
	Wavetek and CT Systems Information about test equipment manufactured by Wavetek (service monitors and signal generators). Over the years Wavetek bought several companies, including CT Systems.

	A Poor Ham's Deviation Meter A theory and practice article on measuring deviation of FM transmitters, by Robert W. Meister WA1MIK.
	Build Yourself a Service Monitor? Well, sort of. By Tom Alldread VA7TA A simple deviation monitor circuit used with a scanner receiver.
	Poor Man's Spectrum Analyzer A Spectrum Analyzer / Tracking Generator Kit by Science Workshop (offsite link) If anyone wants to write a review article after acquiring one we'll put it on this page.