[Milsurplus] Agilent E8285a

[Mark M]

http://www.amtronix.com/e8285a.htm

I understand Ray Fantini’s desire for period authentic test gear in his home mil surplus boat anchor lab , but if you were not of similar mind this Agilent unit and similar cellular test units from other mfrs offer amazing features at a low price. They are obsolete for modern cell systems but  provide basic test functions that will be useful forever in our own ham shack labs. 

I bought my first feature loaded Agilent 8285 for $400. I have since seen them considerably cheaper. You should definitely try before you buy unless you know the seller well and trust them.  They can be repaired and even upgraded but those services and parts are not cheap. 

You can generate or measure nearly any kind of audio or RF signal you could imagine and it has a tracking spectrum analyzer that goes up to 1000 MHz. 

It’s not easy to use and you’ll find yourself constantly referring to the manual. Buried deep in a sub menu is selectable upper and lower sideband filter for the DC to daylight test receiver that resides in this unit. I was actually able to copy 20 meter SSB signals using an external antenna. 

I had a chance to buy a cheap second unit and succumbed to temptation. You can actually do some useful troubleshooting using two spectrum analyzers at the same time. 

I gave away quite a bit of big old test gear that was not needed once I had an 8285. It freed up a lot of space. 

My first 8285 feature list includes some SDR sounding analytics involving I and Q signals. That’s currently above my pay grade so they go unused. 

Mark
AF6IM