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write your own review of the HP-8640B.
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W8AAZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 19, 2009 19:28
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Heavy but clean spectrum
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have used or owned these in the past quite alot. Both the mil. version and the commercial. Of course the mil. version does not have the freq.lock feature and requires a long warm up. And it is built like a tank. Nothing flimsy. HP's golden age of hi grade test gear. The thing has a UHF cavity oscillator for tuning, and divides it down for the lower ranges, thus lower freq ranges have less and less drift. For testing bandpass of receivers, the clean carrier is a boon. Some of the synthesized generators are not as clean. SO if you are testing a rx. for the minus 60 selectivity response, the noisier synth. units will give a falsely broad skirt response. Downside is the weight and size. IF you got the room for it, you can't go wrong with a good HP. Somewhat outdated in appearance and controls.
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N4UE
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 24, 2008 17:02
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A 'standard'
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Hi. I have a bunch of HP Signal Generators. Most are of the 606 and 608 vintage. Although excellent, the 608s lack coverage below 10 MHz. I came across my 8640B on ePay, er, eBay. The seller stated it was in good condition and "works as far as we can tell". What the heck, I did a 'Buy it Now', for pretty cheap. The unit was packed in spray in foam and arrived in perfect shape. The only thing wrong (!!!) was that the 'Fine Tune' control was not working. There was a label on the front stating so. I used it for a while in this state (which is not difficult) until I ran across an 8640B 'guru'. He told me that the 'fine tuning' was part of the cavity and was mechanical. Heck, I opened her up and lo and behold, there was NO shaft connecting the knob to the shaft on the cavity. There is an offset to these 2 shafts, which probably accounts for the broken/missing part. I found a short piece of vinyl tubing that was a press fit on both shafts and she's back in business.
The inside of these units are just scary - beautiful!!!
If I were to nit pick, I would rather have LCD display segments rather than those 'dots'.
Once you select your frequency and "Lock" it, it will stay there ALL week!!!
Wonderful! Wish I had bought one years ago!
By the way, ALL of it's Manuals are available FREE on Aligent's website. In PDF format, they are great. Just buy stock in a paper company first!!! ha ha
ron
N4UE
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SV8YM
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 24, 2008 03:50
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A great classic
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The HP-8640(A or B) may be a bit old, but for amateur radio purposes it just can't be beat! Its phase noise performance is exceptional, enabling dynamic testing of even the best receivers. All it requires is a bit of infrequent basic maintenance, and it goes on ticking - but even in case of trouble, it can be (relatively) easily repaired. A great instrument to own and a joy to use.
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WN5EGO
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 27, 2008 12:10
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Great tool!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I use my HP-8640B (with options 001, 002, and 003)
to align my R-390 and R-390A receivers, among other duties. It's a fine gadget for that. It also has turned out to be useful in aligning more modern receivers, such as the Debeg E2000, with IFs up in the VHF.
One particularly useful dodge with the 8640B, when I want to get response curves for a device, is to
drive the 8640B's FM modulation input, in DC mode,
with a linear ramp, and use the same ramp as the X-axis drive on my 'scope.
The attenuator does down to tiny levels with great
accuracy, and the shielding is good enough that
the generator just doesn't leak.
One of the options takes my 8640B up to 1024 MHz
according to the specs and about 1200 MHz in practice; the bottom end is officially 500 KHz, and in practice about 440 KHz, which covers almost
all IF's I've ever had to deal with.
I wish I had another.
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KA7BTV
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 17, 2006 01:48
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Excellent
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've been using an HP 8640B for about 2 years for every type of servicing from alignments to receiver sensitivity tests. I find it to be a quality, professional grade instrument which offers great accuracy, stability, and output purity. These generators offer all of the needed features for most applications, and they are easy to service and maintain. These units are true bargain jewels.
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K6DPZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 22, 2006 06:07
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One of the greatest units available for the price. .
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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We use these generators in repairing all types of radio communications equiptment AM and FM in our shop and has lived up to all expetations.very low phase and very high accuracy in sensitivity.measurments.And can be very stable with its phase lock capabilities.it has .1 uv to 3 volt output at 50 ohms.And some are available with reverse power protection.
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