Advance UHF Millivoltmeter VM 79

[AlanBeckett]

Slow down George. It say 'Turning' not 'Tuning'. I was referring to the Brass parts that might need to be made on the Lathe.
Why do you think the Frequency limit is 500MHz young Al? I haven't come across that figure anywhere, but I'm prepared to be convinced.
I would think that the hp8640 would be a good starting point for a source once I've warmed it up.

Alan

[Alan Douglas]

A long shot, but Advance and Boonton may have shared designs, and possibly one of the Boonton schematics may be helpful. Some of those manuals are online for free.

[AlanBeckett]

... or ripped each other off

There's a Marconi and an Advance Bridge which bear a remarkable resemblance to each other.

   

Alan

[Alan Douglas]

So they do. I never see Advance equipment here. I don't know if Boonton sold there or not, but they were the name in RF millivoltmeters here.

[Skywave]

Slow down George. It say 'Turning' not 'Tuning'. I was referring to the Brass parts that might need to be made on the Lathe.
Why do you think the Frequency limit is 500MHz young Al? I haven't come across that figure anywhere, but I'm prepared to be convinced.
Alan

Hi Alan,
Err, sorry about that. I'm having a bad day - you know the way things are here.

500 MHz? Like others here, I did do a 'Net search. I'm sure that I came upon that figure whilst doing that - but found nothing else that would help you.

However, perhaps you'll forgive me for my sins if I tell you that I have subsequently discovered that in the August 1970 edition of Practical Electronics, G.W. Smith (remember them?) had an advert for the Advance VM79 UHF milli-voltmeter.

The ad. stated:

VM79, UHF MILLIVOLT METER: new, unused.
100 Kc/s to 1,000 Mc/s.
a.c. 10 mV to 3V.
d.c. 10 V to 3 V.
Current 1 µA to 0-3 mA.
Resistance 1 ohm to 10 megohm.
£1125.0.0.

Serious money eh?

Al.

[AlanBeckett]

That's splendid information young Al, and makes it well worth fettling.
Serious money? I was paid around £1300 p/a at the time so yes, it was serious allright.

Alan

[Yorkie]

... I have subsequently discovered that in the August 1970 edition of Practical Electronics, G.W. Smith (remember them?) had an advert for the Advance VM79 UHF milli-voltmeter.

The ad. stated:

VM79, UHF MILLIVOLT METER: new, unused.
100 Kc/s to 1,000 Mc/s.
a.c. 10 mV to 3V.
d.c. 10 V to 3 V.
Current 1 µA to 0-3 mA.
Resistance 1 ohm to 10 megohm.
£1125.0.0.

Serious money eh?

Al.

Strewth really? £1,125 in 1970 equates to £16,000 in 2014!!

Huh?

I can't imagine what sort of testing and diagnosis would require such a degree of accuracy that would warrant that sort of outlay, but clearly the makers and the punters did.

Historical inflation widget:

http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-i...onversion/

[AlanBeckett]

The Serial Number on mine is 459 so even if they stated at 100 they managed to convince a good few people.
What did the equivalent hp or Boonton ones cost at the time?

Alan

[pwdrive]

Testing and accuracy on some equipment is essential otherwise some manufactures might be up in front of the trades description act.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

Maybe that price is a misprint, found an advert from 1989 for the Marconi TF2603 millivoltmeter, 1.5 Ghz £99, secondhand I am assuming.

Lawrence.