My HP 3561A Dynamic Signal Analyzer has Alzheimer's Disease :( - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: valvedoctor
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2014, 12:25:23 am
content: Hello Dave and fellow enthusiasts.I have a HP 3561a for audio band spectral analysis, and I bought it from a test equipment in the US of A, who shall remain nameless. I got it for a decent price and is in mint condition, but the only thing I had to live with is it won't keep it's last known state. It will revert to defaults.There are no errors on start-up.I deal strictly with vacuum tube electronics, that's my niche per se. So I cracked it open and tested the 3.5 volt battery on the memory board, but that's about all I know how to do with it.It also has the option 001: Bubble memory. Guessing it's kaput also.Any help with this would be great, because each time I start it I have to configure it for the audio band and the settings I want.-SOLVED-

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2014, 12:35:02 am
content: I've never used one but usually HP have a fairly well defined method of operation for their analysers.Therefore, on power up, I would expect your instrument to forget its last known state and to always boot up in default mode and it would then be up to the user to use a RECALL function to recall a previously stored favourite setup. Usually you will get half a dozen user STORE/RECALL memories. The bubble memory probably adds a whole lot more of these as a side benefit of having this option.Have you tried using the STORE/RECALL memory functions?

author: valvedoctor
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2014, 12:47:17 am
content: Well I haven't before, no. So I just set up the analyzer the way I wanted it and pressed save on the instrument state. It comes up "illegal file reference". There is an option to recall power down, but does nothing. I guess it wouldn't if a state hasn't been saved.

author: dander
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 15, 2014, 05:31:35 pm
content: Do you have a manual?I have calibrated hundreds of these. to save time I use to have a preset saved in #9. no one used state 9 so I could keep it forever. What you want to do is to set up the parameters and save the state. to check press preset, preset all and then go to recall and recall the state you wave. If this doesn't work then I am thinking either the bubble memory module is bad (you can remove the module and its normal) or the backup battery is bad. It this doesn't work try reseating all the boards.

author: uncle_bob
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 02:58:19 pm
content: HiStandard drill on a 3561 whenever anything odd happens:Unplug each card, dust off the edge connector fingers. Plug each one back in.The connectors are only rated for a few hundred cycles. If you find you are doing this more than once a year, dig a bit deeper.That said, I'd dig into the manual for a "factory reset / initialize" on the bubble memory module. If that does not clear the problem ... time for a new module. It could easily be that it is a two step process (first clear, then initialize). The last owner may have done the first setup, but not the second. I'd also look to see if the module is still there. There are a lot of places these days that pull any sort of mag memory out of everything before it's sold. This would be the first time I've ever heard of that being done on one of these beasts.Bob