Barbouri's Electronics Projects
Restoring vintage electronics along with designing and building new circuits. One eye looking into the past, the other looking into the future.
This time I am working on another radiation scaler/counter which is quite a bit different than the last one. This one is a decade newer from 1975 and was built by NMC (Nuclear Measurements Corp.). It has a built-in proportional counter, but has external inputs for Geiger-Mueller, Scintillation, and other sensors.
I finally came across a hard to find HP 5306A Multimeter/Counter paired with the HP 5300B Display module. It is an interesting module as it converts resistance and DC/AC voltage to a frequency that it then displays on the 5300B display, along with a frequency capability of 40 Hz to 10 MHz.
After installing a dual-input power transfer panel for power outages at the house, I was in need of a large battery for powering the second UPS input on the panel. The first input on the panel is for my backup generator, but I wanted some power available until the generator was able to be started and at night when power usage would be low and the generator could be shut off.
Something a bit different than my usual test equipment and calculator projects is this Picker Nuclear Compact Scaler built by Intertech.
Quite a few people may be wondering. What is a “Scaler” and what is it used for?
A “Scaler” is a counting device that totalizes the events detected over a period of time. Typically used with a Geiger-Muller tube or scintillation detector for measuring ionizing radiation. It is often referred to as a nuclear scaler.
I was able to pickup a non-working Nicolet Integra 40 oscilloscope for a bargain price. It was built in 2000 and is a 4 channel differential input unit capable of 20 MS/s with 12 bit digitizers and color screen.
After working on EVSE’s “Electric Vehicle Service Equipment” sometimes referred to as chargers for many years, I somehow have amassed a collection of charging cables that I thought were interesting enough to share.
Once again, I was donated a pair of Infinity Infinitesimal speakers by the same generous person, who donated the “System One” rack and three Nakamichi BlackBox series units from a previous post.
I have been looking for a Hewlett Packard signature analyzer for many years, but until I found this one they have either been in good shape and really expensive or in poor shape and really expensive.
After the restoration of the Nakamichi 620 amplifier last year, it had been working great for 6 plus months. Then one day I turned it on and there was no sound output. Luckily the speaker protection circuit did it’s job and no speakers were damaged. The right channel had it’s output shorted to B+ (53 volts).
I finally decide that I had pushed my luck far enough with my battery backed NVRAM in my Tektronix TDS 380 oscilloscope. The specifications for the Dallas Semiconductor DS1644-120 Timekeeping RAM state that it is good for at least 10 years at 25°C, and mine had just turned 28 years old.
I decided to take a gamble on purchasing a Power Designs Inc. TP330 triple output power supply. It was a bit rough looking with a bunch of stickers on the front panel, but no scrape marks from past sticker removal visible. The seller stated that the bottom analog meter was non-functional, but the output terminals measured voltage that changed with the voltage knob.
Several decades ago I owned two Beckman / Berkeley model 7360–20 Universal EPUT® and Timer’s. Because of their size and weight and an upcoming move, I gave them away to a friend. In the past few years I have somewhat regretted that decision, even though it was probably for the best. So when I saw this 7360 up for auction, I decided to make an offer on it. I was able to purchase it at a reasonable price, but as expected the shipping was a bit high due to it’s size and weight.
I was generously donated three Nakamichi BlackBox series units, by the same person who donated the “System One” rack from a previous post.
The units were in great condition, and more than likely could have been used as-is. They also surprisingly came with their original owners manuals, which usually get misplaced or lost over the years.
I found a great deal on a Hewlett Packard 3314A 20 MHz function generator that was non-functional, but overall looked to be in good shape. It arrived in great condition and was well packed for a nice change. The seller clearly stated the issues with this unit such as errors when started up cold, which worsened over time until it finally lost the display and LED’s.
I again wasn’t looking to start another calculator project when this Burroughs C5155 calculator showed up in one of my automated searches. The price including shipping was a bargain, so I purchased it.
I did not take any pictures of the initial refurbishment of the Nakamichi 610 control preamplifier as it was mainly cleaning and capacitor replacement. But as soon as I thought the work on all the components of the System One rack had been completed, one of the dB meter lamps failed in the 610 preamp.
