Very cool upgrade

[WA1GFZ]

About a year ago I repaired a couple broken HP8566B spectrum analyzers at work. I really wanted to take one home but my boss is no fool. A couple months ago we lent one to a couple guys who pinched a 115 VAC lead with a current probe and blew the low frequency front end and managed to mess up the display. We were very unhappy because this unit had a good CRT. Well they owned up to hurting our equipment and offered to pay for the repair.
We sent it to Tucker where they installed a cool modification, a new multicolor LCD display. They replaced the blown front end and returned the good CRT to go in of our very dim unit.
The HP8566B is one of the best spectrum analyzers known to man and this upgrade makes it as good as new. My boss and I were like two kids under the Christmas tree playing with it this morning. I think the modification was just over $2K including a fresh calibration sticker.  Well worth the price for this classic. Didn't make it any lighter....

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

That's good to know. There are quite a few 66's and 68's out there with good RF sections but a crapped out display section. Looks like new life for a classic!

About a year ago I repaired a couple broken HP8566B spectrum analyzers at work. I really wanted to take one home but my boss is no fool. A couple months ago we lent one to a couple guys who pinched a 115 VAC lead with a current probe and blew the low frequency front end and managed to mess up the display. We were very unhappy because this unit had a good CRT. Well they owned up to hurting our equipment and offered to pay for the repair.
We sent it to Tucker where they installed a cool modification, a new multicolor LCD display. They replaced the blown front end and returned the good CRT to go in of our very dim unit.
The HP8566B is one of the best spectrum analyzers known to man and this upgrade makes it as good as new. My boss and I were like two kids under the Christmas tree playing with it this morning. I think the modification was just over $2K including a fresh calibration sticker.  Well worth the price for this classic. Didn't make it any lighter....

[WA1GFZ]

I found out about it quite by mistake. A supplier brought in a consultant to give them the same information I provided a year earlier. A real sharp RF guy and we made quick friends. (UK Ham)  He told me he had just done the modification on his 8566.I got right on the phone to my boss and we have been looking for a reason to get one of our dim units done.
They remove the HV supply board, a plug in board which must be the display interface and the CRT assembly.
I'll drop the good CRT in a dim unit when I get some free time. There is another company doing the mod beside Tucker but don't remember who.
Tucker offered it when they saw our unit.
The only bad thing is my boss will never give me an 8566...I was close once before I repaired the two broken units.

[WA1QHQ]

Frank,

I saw something like this on eBay for the newer portable spectrum analyzers 859X series like I have but those use fairly inexpensive computer monitor displays. I wonder if the units you are talking about make use of a composite video output to drive the new display, some of the HP analyzers have this and it would make retrofiting in an LCD video monitor easy and cheap. The real trick is to do this on analyzers that never had a composite video output like for instance my 8505 network analyzer which has a weak CRT. If this retrofit kit worked on the older analyzers I would be interested in finding the OEM for this unit and installing it into the 8505. Keep us posted if you find out more. And yes the 8566 has to be one of the best spectrum analyzers ever to come out of HP and they can often be found used for cheap money if you are willing to take the risk of having a dim CRT, the used ones are also often missing the interconnect cable between the top and bottom halves but these can be purchased aftermarket.

[WA1GFZ]

Mark,
They removed a board that plugged into the CPU data bus so I think they are getting raw CPU data. When you watch a scan it doesn't look like composite video. BTW I downloaded the service manual off the HP site. Our manual was only an A and needed the B. They are not that bad to work on but the synthesizer is quite the system. After 4 days under the hood I found them a work of art. I don't know about other models. I guess Tucker could tell you.
Some of the 859X are good some are not. I guess it all depends what you want to do.