Marconi Test equipment - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Wendymott · 23rd May 2023, 9:37 pm

Hi peeps.. Not my usual field of interest. Some of you may be interested.
As mentioned in the Items for Sale, I purchased 3 Marconi Test pieces, from a vendor on FB Marketplace, As the photo's on the ad were not good, with fingers crossed, hoping it may be of use to my RF interests, I bought the items. Delivered to my door in under an hour. I was slightly disappointed that it was Telecom based and not RF test gear.
The stand alone item is / was built like the proverbial "outhouse" VERY Heavy, case must weigh a few Kg's. It has 3 highly populated pcb's mostly TTL and 2 X FPGA's
I have not ventured into the other two items yet, but are also very heavy and in a case offering rack mount .
If anyone has any ideas regarding "worth" "Value" technically, I could be persuaded to part with the two rack mounted items. If not I will attack with vigour and lekky screwdriver. Please see photo's attached

Radio Wrangler · 23rd May 2023, 10:41 pm

BERTs Bit error ratio testers. They can also count raw errors and likely do statistics on errored minutes and error-free minutes, that sort of thing. The first box likely only does 2048 kBit/sec primary rate. The second box says it does 140MBit/sec and some intermediary PCM levels. If memory serves me, that 140MBit/sec is probably the 139.264 Mbit/sec pleisiochronous data hierarchy in Europe.

THere isn't much that will interest you inside. It looks like you've bought a couple of boxes, knobs, power supplies that something usedful could be built into.

David

Wendymott · 23rd May 2023, 11:11 pm

Theres a few "nick nacks" in the stand alone item, a few SMA connectors with good grade coax, might even fire up the hot air gun.. a SMPsu +12v, +5V and -24V. It was worth £30 just to see what was in them. + A pair of moving coil meters, my knobs box will be more full too

knobtwiddler · 24th May 2023, 9:50 am

Note that the grey knobs are similar to / same as those used on vintage Neve recording equipment. If you put 'Neve knobs' into Google, you'll see what I mean. There are replicas made by several firms, such is their desirability for DIY projects. The originals could fetch a few quid, if you bear in mind that a complete mixing console from this era will cost you about as much as a family house now.

edit - if you decide there isn't much of interest to your hobby in there, it could be worth offering them to a firm who rents film props out.

Wendymott · 24th May 2023, 1:22 pm

Hi Knob twiddler. Before I saw your post "just now"..... the items have been dismantled and the useful bits stored, but thanks for the idea

.

23rd May 2023, 9:37 pm	#1
Wendymott Octode Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,740	Marconi Test equipment Hi peeps.. Not my usual field of interest. Some of you may be interested. As mentioned in the Items for Sale, I purchased 3 Marconi Test pieces, from a vendor on FB Marketplace, As the photo's on the ad were not good, with fingers crossed, hoping it may be of use to my RF interests, I bought the items. Delivered to my door in under an hour. I was slightly disappointed that it was Telecom based and not RF test gear. The stand alone item is / was built like the proverbial "outhouse" VERY Heavy, case must weigh a few Kg's. It has 3 highly populated pcb's mostly TTL and 2 X FPGA's I have not ventured into the other two items yet, but are also very heavy and in a case offering rack mount . If anyone has any ideas regarding "worth" "Value" technically, I could be persuaded to part with the two rack mounted items. If not I will attack with vigour and lekky screwdriver. Please see photo's attached Attached Thumbnails __________________ Should get out more. Regards Wendy G8BZY

23rd May 2023, 10:41 pm	#2
Radio Wrangler Moderator Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Fife, Scotland, UK. Posts: 22,211	Re: Marconi Test equipment BERTs Bit error ratio testers. They can also count raw errors and likely do statistics on errored minutes and error-free minutes, that sort of thing. The first box likely only does 2048 kBit/sec primary rate. The second box says it does 140MBit/sec and some intermediary PCM levels. If memory serves me, that 140MBit/sec is probably the 139.264 Mbit/sec pleisiochronous data hierarchy in Europe. THere isn't much that will interest you inside. It looks like you've bought a couple of boxes, knobs, power supplies that something usedful could be built into. David __________________ Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done

23rd May 2023, 11:11 pm	#3
Wendymott Octode Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,740	Re: Marconi Test equipment Theres a few "nick nacks" in the stand alone item, a few SMA connectors with good grade coax, might even fire up the hot air gun.. a SMPsu +12v, +5V and -24V. It was worth £30 just to see what was in them. + A pair of moving coil meters, my knobs box will be more full too __________________ Should get out more. Regards Wendy G8BZY

24th May 2023, 9:50 am	#4
knobtwiddler Heptode Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: London, UK. Posts: 905	Re: Marconi Test equipment Note that the grey knobs are similar to / same as those used on vintage Neve recording equipment. If you put 'Neve knobs' into Google, you'll see what I mean. There are replicas made by several firms, such is their desirability for DIY projects. The originals could fetch a few quid, if you bear in mind that a complete mixing console from this era will cost you about as much as a family house now. edit - if you decide there isn't much of interest to your hobby in there, it could be worth offering them to a firm who rents film props out.

24th May 2023, 1:22 pm	#5
Wendymott Octode Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,740	Re: Marconi Test equipment Hi Knob twiddler. Before I saw your post "just now"..... the items have been dismantled and the useful bits stored, but thanks for the idea . __________________ Should get out more. Regards Wendy G8BZY