Rohde & Schwarz EB150 Receiver - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Andrew2 · 8th Apr 2017, 9:14 am

..but not sure if it can be classed as 'vintage'!
A little while ago a friend of mine died and I've been flogging his stuff for his family. There are a few items that he left to me personally, and one of them was a cardboard box full of odd-looking stuff, much of it carefully wrapped in tissue paper. The other day I had a good look at it and it's a Rohde & Schwarz EB150 RX :mrgreen: . It's all in bits, but it's all there (even all the screws etc) plus lots of documentation re the original fault. No workshop manual, of course!
According to Mr Google, the EB150 is the EB200 without the remote operation option. It covers 10KHz to 3GHz all mode with digital filters and demodulation. Apparently it was designed for portable tracking of EMC problems. It seems to date from around 1999.
I couldn't pass this one up, so I assembled it (it's all modular) and applied the volts. Ah! Start-up screen indicates a DC/DC converter problem, so after finding out where it lived I opened the can and found two very tired-looking electrolytics.
With the module back in place, with fingers crossed I plugged in. Up it came, this time without any errors!
More soon, once I've found my way around it.

HamishBoxer · 8th Apr 2017, 9:18 am

Nice bit of kit and a good repair.

turretslug · 8th Apr 2017, 10:45 am

Wow- a wish-list find and satisfying fix to boot. The only drawback I can see is that others in the household might say, now that you've got that radio, why do you need any others....

Andrew2 · 8th Apr 2017, 10:54 am

Ah, I usually say 'you can't have too many radios', just as she tells me she can't have too many bags & shoes. Touche!

I've been twiddling with this radio and I've found a users' manual online. It has AM, FM, CW, USB, LSB and pulse. Bandwidths from 150 Hz to 150 KHz in 12 steps, with all IF filtering and demod done in the digital back-end.
It's not as convenient for tuning around the bands as a dedicated scanner or SW receiver as it has only one VFO and if you want to change step size you have to go flipping through the menu system. To ease matters, I've set up several memories, one for each mode and preferred step size. All I then do is to select the memory for the mode I want and enter the frequency. Although it's only about half the size of a video recorder it weighs about 2 tons. There are a number of them on Ebay, but they are way beyond my wallet!
I've discovered that the 10 MHz ref osc is about just under 10 Hz out, so the receiver gets 1 Hz-per-Megahertz further out the higher it is tuned, so 3 KHz out at 3GHz. I suspect the osc is trimmed via a service menu, so I'm rigging up on old Racal ovened standard to plug into the receiver's REF IN socket.

8th Apr 2017, 12:03 pm

My OFCOM guy who came to find some PLT had one of those, nice bit of kit.

8th Apr 2017, 9:14 am	#1
Andrew2 Nonode Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 2,038	Rohde & Schwarz EB150 Receiver ..but not sure if it can be classed as 'vintage'! A little while ago a friend of mine died and I've been flogging his stuff for his family. There are a few items that he left to me personally, and one of them was a cardboard box full of odd-looking stuff, much of it carefully wrapped in tissue paper. The other day I had a good look at it and it's a Rohde & Schwarz EB150 RX :mrgreen: . It's all in bits, but it's all there (even all the screws etc) plus lots of documentation re the original fault. No workshop manual, of course! According to Mr Google, the EB150 is the EB200 without the remote operation option. It covers 10KHz to 3GHz all mode with digital filters and demodulation. Apparently it was designed for portable tracking of EMC problems. It seems to date from around 1999. I couldn't pass this one up, so I assembled it (it's all modular) and applied the volts. Ah! Start-up screen indicates a DC/DC converter problem, so after finding out where it lived I opened the can and found two very tired-looking electrolytics. With the module back in place, with fingers crossed I plugged in. Up it came, this time without any errors! More soon, once I've found my way around it. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Andy G1HBE.

8th Apr 2017, 9:18 am	#2
HamishBoxer Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: W.Butterwick, near Doncaster UK. Posts: 8,935	Re: A real find... Nice bit of kit and a good repair. __________________ G8JET BVWS Archivist and Member V.M.A.R.S

8th Apr 2017, 10:45 am	#3
turretslug Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Surrey, UK. Posts: 4,400	Re: A real find... Wow- a wish-list find and satisfying fix to boot. The only drawback I can see is that others in the household might say, now that you've got that radio, why do you need any others....

8th Apr 2017, 10:54 am	#4
Andrew2 Nonode Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 2,038	Re: A real find... Ah, I usually say 'you can't have too many radios', just as she tells me she can't have too many bags & shoes. Touche! I've been twiddling with this radio and I've found a users' manual online. It has AM, FM, CW, USB, LSB and pulse. Bandwidths from 150 Hz to 150 KHz in 12 steps, with all IF filtering and demod done in the digital back-end. It's not as convenient for tuning around the bands as a dedicated scanner or SW receiver as it has only one VFO and if you want to change step size you have to go flipping through the menu system. To ease matters, I've set up several memories, one for each mode and preferred step size. All I then do is to select the memory for the mode I want and enter the frequency. Although it's only about half the size of a video recorder it weighs about 2 tons. There are a number of them on Ebay, but they are way beyond my wallet! I've discovered that the 10 MHz ref osc is about just under 10 Hz out, so the receiver gets 1 Hz-per-Megahertz further out the higher it is tuned, so 3 KHz out at 3GHz. I suspect the osc is trimmed via a service menu, so I'm rigging up on old Racal ovened standard to plug into the receiver's REF IN socket. __________________ Andy G1HBE. Last edited by Andrew2; 8th Apr 2017 at 11:04 am.

8th Apr 2017, 12:03 pm	#5
Guest Guest Posts: n/a	Re: A real find... My OFCOM guy who came to find some PLT had one of those, nice bit of kit.