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Old 16th Oct 2019, 4:26 pm   #1
Wendymott
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Default Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Hi Peeps.
I bought this beast from a dealer on ebay..... not a small wadge of cash either.
Rebuilt half the workshop to accommodate it.
Not really used it in anger till this week......... I am pretty sure when I got it, that the RF output was as it said on the display.
However in the last few days I have been tearing my hair out, trying to get a new receiver mixer to give me a 4.43Mhz IF....... wound many coils etc but not getting the correct I.F. The LO is working a + 4.43 mhz.
Then another light bulb moment.. is the RF source correct.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...it is giving an output 3.77 Mhz above any set frequency....... whether that being 7 Mhz or 700 Mhz.
Anyone any ideas please, obviously I dont want to spend a fortune returning it to the Anritsu agents
Your comments, apart from.. "Idiot for buying that" would be most welcome

Sorry peeps the Title should be Anritsu... but you already knew that

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHH..

I didnt realise there was a button wrongly activated that had switched in an offset.

I fully expect a verbal kicking from you guys.... but hey.... we live and learn.

MOD if it gets too silly please pull the item. Thanks
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Last edited by Wendymott; 16th Oct 2019 at 4:43 pm. Reason: More Info
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Old 16th Oct 2019, 5:08 pm   #2
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Default Re: ANRITSI MG3642A Signal generator.

Easily done Wendy. Yesterday whilst testing an amp - "why is there no voltage?" Ahh, helps if you plug it in.

Andy.
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Old 16th Oct 2019, 6:34 pm   #3
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Coincidentally... I've just spent a few minutes puzzling why my Ethernet switch stopped working. Plugged into the wrong computer.
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Old 16th Oct 2019, 10:16 pm   #4
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

HP 8640 sig gens are damned heavy and you have to grab and manhandle them. Just where you put a hand around the back there is a little toggle switch that selects between internal and external reference for the frequency counter. Your hand naturally knocks it into 'external'

How many times did I and others wonder why the counter appeared to have died before having that 'I've been here before' feeling.

David
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Old 16th Oct 2019, 10:20 pm   #5
Wendymott
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Not just me then... LOL
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Old 16th Oct 2019, 10:33 pm   #6
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Ah aren’t offsets fun!! I use Agilent power meters at work for high power testing along with a magnetron blasting up to 60KW through the things I’m testing, one day I was testing some devices and wondering why they were all failing at about 3KW, when they should be able to handle about 25KW quite happily, turned out I’d set the duty cycle on the power meter out by 1 decimal place, so it was reading much lower than the actual power going into the device, I was actually shoving somewhere nearer 30KW up it when it was starting to keel over! Luckily I didn’t blow any of them up, and it turned out they had all passed the tests with flying colours, caused a fair bit of head scratching though. I told them they shouldn’t let me loose onto high power stuff...

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Old 16th Oct 2019, 11:24 pm   #7
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

The best one I saw was a 400hz power supply going bang, whilst we had a load of Merlin helicopters connected up to them.

This was a very large three phase powered unit about the size of a garden shed.
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Old 17th Oct 2019, 7:55 am   #8
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

There was a NASA rocket that when launched, shot upwards. did a 180 and shot straight back down into the ground. Supposed to have been smeone getting a sign wrong in some software.

People get things wrong in all fields. There is only one variable... the radius of destruction!

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Old 17th Oct 2019, 9:34 am   #9
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Yep- this was cited to us as to why we should always double-check, even fag-packet stuff!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_1

Oops...
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Old 17th Oct 2019, 10:10 am   #10
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Re Turretslug.... Problem is.. these days.. the equipment is so sophisticated.. than many buttons etc, you need to be using it constantly to get to know it..I only found out about the offset after reading the manual.. again.. wont make that mistake again... next time it will be a different mistake LOL.
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Old 17th Oct 2019, 8:44 pm   #11
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendymott View Post
Re Turretslug.... Problem is.. these days.. the equipment is so sophisticated.
About 20 years ago I made a 160M tx using mosfet pa. I just couldnt get more than about 3W out, despite around 20W dc input. I spent quite a while testing and scratching my head.
Then, after getting a painful rf burn whilst investigating the o/p stage and studying my Bird termaline sitting at about 3W, the penny dropped. The Bird was for 30 - 500MHz, NOT 1.8MHz.
The Bird is now maybe 40+ years old and not sophisticated by today's standards.
Rob
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Old 17th Oct 2019, 8:55 pm   #12
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

I only need something more sophisticated than I am for me to run into trouble.

It's like that saying that you don't need to be the fastest wildebeest in the herd, just faster than the slowest.

David
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Old 17th Oct 2019, 9:26 pm   #13
Wendymott
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

When I say.. sophisticated.... I mean more than the 2022.
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Old 17th Oct 2019, 9:53 pm   #14
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Default Re: Anritsu MG3642A Signal generator.

In the 80's, I was advertising for a new engineer to repair all types of electronic musical instrument amplifiers, effects units etc.

One chap arrived with a very impressive set of qualifications. During his interview, I asked him why he was applying for a position like this, as he was, to put it mildly, far better qualified then any of my other engineers.

He explained that there was absolutely no work around at that time, so he would accept any position offered.


Fair enough. I selected a cheap and cheerful 10W guitar amplifier from the awaiting repair rack, and handed it to him, along with the circuit diagram for him to repair.


My telephone started to ring constantly with customer queries, so I was tied up for about 30 minutes. Having a little gap, I went to see how he was getting on?


I cannot understand it, he said. I have no gain from the first operational amplifier, and he then proceeded to show me the four pages of mathematical analysis he had done on the said stage - I was very impressed.


What is the supply voltage to the operational amplifier I asked?

10 seconds later he looked up rather sheepishly to say 0V. The fault was that the fuse had blown due to a faulty bridge rectifier.


Needless to say, he did not get the job.


Kevin
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