[Test-Equipment] Q meter?

[Pete Lancashire]

Heres a good start

http://www.jamminpower.com/main/260A.html



http://www.hparchive.com/Boonton.htm

download the index and pick the relevant issues

the 260A was the 'work horse' in the industry. Stay away from is
predecessors 100A and 160A. The 160A is very easy to damage. The
biggest issue with the 260A is one of the tubes was selected. There's
been discussion on making it solid state.

Just before BRC was acquired by HP they were working on the next
generation Q-Meter, when HP took control it went to Japan to be part
of HP's Yokogawa joint venture, commonly known as YHP. The result was
the 4342A. There was one
more after that but it was an option to a LCR meter. The combination
still goes for over $2,000 even today.

I'll toss in there was a high frequency version as well, the 170A /
190A the 170A being the older version. If you don't need to look at
components over 70 MHz you may want to stay away from the 190A. Pretty
hard to use and get useful results.

The next thing is working coils or inductors. The 260A/4342A had a set
of 17 (I think) and 5 calibration units.

The inductors are model 103A-xx. If you take your time you can find
them at a reasonable price. Oh yea HP had their own model numbers for
the same units. Many time they are referred to as just coils.

The Calibration coils are a different story. The are assembled in to a
inside can the evacuated and dry nitrogen filled. You see them from
time to time and usually are in their own hardwood boxes. Again take
your time, but expect to pay around $40 to $60 each.

Marconi made a unique variation that combined the bridge section of a
260A and a 170A but you needed to change the oscillator, a company in
the former East Germany made a 'clone', and Mergo in Japan made a
clone of the 260A and a more modern model.

There's a start ..

-pete



On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 2:39 PM, Brian Burns
<brian at lessonsinlutherie.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
>
>
> There has been quite a bit of chat about Boonton Q meters, in a peripheral
> sort of way, over on the funwithtubes group. It's made me curious about the
> usefulness of that device, or some other brand, on an RF experimenters test
> bench. Opinions?
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> Brian
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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