8
That moment you realize your old avionics bench took up twice the space it needed to
I remember building a bench back in '03 for radio work, had a big old oscilloscope and a desoldering station that must have weighed 40 pounds. Now I'm using a handheld spectrum analyzer and a tiny rework station that fits in a tool bag, and it gets the job done faster. Any of you old-timers swap out your heavy gear for the compact stuff yet?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
victorb7414d ago
That's the truth... I scrapped a 60-pound HP spectrum analyzer last year for a little RTL-SDR dongle that does almost as much for most jobs. The old analog gear had soul but zero practical use when you move apartments every few years.
4
hart.cora14d ago
Lol seriously though, it's like trading your grandpa's muscle car for a Honda Civic. Gets you there fine but man, the vibe is totally different.
5
terryh2014d ago
Man you're missing the whole point. Those old HP analyzers weren't just "soul" they were built like tanks and could take a beating. My RTL-SDR dongle dies if I look at it wrong or forget to ground it. @hart.cora said it right about the vibe being different but that difference actually matters when you're trying to do real measurements instead of just seeing if there's a signal. That 60 pound beast was probably rock solid on amplitude accuracy within a fraction of a dB even after 30 years. Your little dongle is lucky if it's within 3 dB of reality and good luck trusting any absolute reading from it. I'd rather haul that old HP up three flights of stairs than trust my work to something that costs less than a pizza.
2