#80 - Servicing HP 8563E spectrum analyzer

This analyzer needed some servicing. The key pad had to be cleaned. And there was a hope that display focus could be improved, which did not quite happen, but it was not too bad. In the process some capacitors in the power supply were found to be bad, so all of them have been replaced.

[TheDefpom]

Very nice unit design, the people that designed them did an amazing job.

[kmgy]

You set an excellent example for careful, thoughtful, well-planned work. I recall another video you did for the 8590, and it helped me a lot as I brought mine to life. Happy Christmas!

[OrbiterElectronics]

Thank you for another great video 👍. This HP is a great example of how equipment should be assembled.

[ptronix]

You were lucky with the keypad, I had same problem on a Marconi Sig gen, no amount of cleaning worked! So got some stuff for repairing tv remotes off eBay, it's conductive paint probably graphite loaded. Since then keyboard has worked fine for two years

[davidv]

Excellent work and thank you for another well made video. I thought my HP 8594E was packed into its case, but the 8563E is packed even tighter! Also, thank you for showing us how you search for replacement parts.

[TheRadioShop]

Very nice detailed repair. Thanks for sharing.

[largepimping]

I appreciate you keeping this stuff up and running rather than going to e-waste or the landfill and I love your repair vids like this!

I had the same thoughts as some others about some of your cap replacements (Amir B, who mentioned potential oscillation, etc.). I had an HP 3456A volt meter with some blown/burned caps and diodes, so I replaced the caps with "same or better" -- higher voltage, same or higher capacitance, etc. But nothing worked at all until I got caps that matched the original capacitance and ESR much more closely. It wasn't an oscillation thing in my case, but definitely caused problems. I know the specifics of the circuit will dictate whether or not you can just "go bigger" and be safe, but some guidance on that might also make for a very interesting video.

[amirb]

excellent video as always. these are great spectrum analyzers, really dependable. they still beat many of the modern ones in accuracy and stability and repeatability. and I should add in ease of use.

[davidblunn]

Hi, I'm a bit late to the party but I have the same specan that emitted a nasty flash followed by a rich brown smell. One of those RIFA filter capacitors blew up. Hopefully nothing else has been damaged. Thanks for the video.

[Spence-qe]

Great vid!! One of the 1st things I do when I get an older piece of gear is to check the power supply for those Riva caps and 9 times out of 10 they are all puffy with cracks just waiting to pop. I also like the way you go through the specs on the caps, , , Always better to up the specs never go down if you can avoid it.

[paulstucky]

I found this to be a very useful video as i have an Agilent 8563EC (color) and I will perform the same re-capping of the PSU. Would have been useful if you had placed the caps info/part numbers in the description. Thx for sharing.

[borisj]

As I have the same instrument, this was particularly interesting. While you have the psi out it was wise to replace the Rifa caps. I got my HP 8563E from Japan which uses 110 volts. Here in Australia we use 240 volt mains and my Rivas lasted about one minute until going up in smoke. Same happened with the tracking generator. My display tube is ok but it would be good if there was a LCD replacement just in case. Worth it as this is a very powerful and desirable instrument.

[ebayscopeman]

There are two 196K 1% resistors (R201 and R202) and two 215K 1% resistors (R203 and R204) that are in the power supply that are prone to failure. Also on your HP8590A that you have you should go through the procedure and manually read out and back up the cal flattness data and the attenuator cal data. You will need it when the backup battery goes flat as the 859x series uses SRAM to store the data, unlike the 856X series that backs up the cal data in EEPROM.


Nice Video by the way.
W3OHM

[ableutopia]

Excellent workmanship and troubleshooting, congratulations and thanks.

[TheGmr]

that is a nice one, i have one as well. great for measuring amps, filters, and RFI hunting.

[hendryparman]

I really appreciate your videos, there always something new to learn from you, thank you for your educational videos this will be my new favorite Channel. Ceep up your intessting work....

[philippemaier]

Hi ! I own the same SA. I had to change an EEROM and the most expensive part : the YIG tuned filter & mixer (RYTHM). But never had trouble with focus or intensity controls. Maybe your unit has to many hours (mine had under 3000 hours) as it shows burn traces on the CRT. New or like new CRTs are obtainable on ebay for best price under $ 200. There is also a LCD display kit which is easy to install and costs around $ 650.
Thank you for this very interesting video !

[manfredgotzinger]

I apreciate your videos!!! Thanks a lot!

[SoddingaboutSi]

Great to watch. Those caps were worse than expected.

[metclapton]

Thanks i have a 8560A with the TG and i may need this vid sometime.