[ARC5] Minimum test equipmentA

[MillerKE6F at aol.com]

My choice for the most valuable piece of test gear for any shack in the  
combination of an HP-312B and accessory HP-313A tracking oscillator unit.   
This provides the user with both a selective receiver with continuous coverage 
 from a couple KHz to a bit over 18 MHz with a sensitivity to well under   
-125 dbm and a tracking oscillator that will provide a stable signal across 
the  same coverage as the selective receiver.  Once can use the pair to 
align  any IF in that range and manually sweep any band of frequencies with a 
frequency  resolution of 10 Hz and with expanded readout provided on the 313A 
Tracking  oscillator one can resolve levels to less than 0.05 db  (+/- 1 db 
full  scale).
 
    Digital readout of frequency of course and  selectable bandwidths from 
a few hundred HZ to a nominal 3 KHz.  ( the  actually bandwidth selections 
may vary a bit depending on who the 312B was  targeted at.
 
    The nice thing about this pair is that it can be  used to trouble shoot 
low level stages and quickly quantify gain and loss.   Input Zs from 50 
ohms to HI Z are available and the unit automatically adjusts  the readout for 
proper dBm/Z.   Readout also provides RMS voltage  readings as well.  The 
313A has a precision step attenuator with a  resolution of 0.1 db over a 100 
db range.  It's output is fixed at 75 ohms  unbalanced.  It's maximum output 
level is +10 dBm at 75 OHms.  The  unit's frequency is normally determined 
by the Attached HP 312B Selective  Voltmeter, but can be manually tuned from 
1 KHz to 20 MHz in one band by a front  panel knob.
 
    This gear can deal with nearly any Military Boat  Anchor alignment in 
the HF range not to mention some of the upcoming challenges  in the new 472 
KHz band?
 
    Fuf fer thot
 
Bob, Ke6f