[Boatanchors] new toy(s)

[Ron Bussiere via Boatanchors]

Hi. I just purchased a pair of AN/USM-159As. Why 2? Dunno.
Anyway, they are a Frequency Meter that covers from 125 kHz to 1,000 MHz. Kinda like the old 221 series. It comes with a book (Calibration Table).
It is all solid state and can run on 6 D batteries, if necessary... I was wondering how it could display that large a frequency range. It has a 'fisheye' lens in the front and uses a vertical optical tape. As you switch ranges, a backlight moves to different strips of the tape.

Anyone ever used one? I'm asking this because the lamps it uses to light the different tape segments look like they are neon lamps. They are not too bright (like their new owner) and I'd like to replace them with high output LEDs.

Luckily, the Manual was free on line (all 200+ pages of it!), so getting to the lamps shouldn't be that hard.

Famous last words, right?

ron
N4UE