Sencore SM158 Speed Aligner

[drh4683]

I have wanted one of these for the longest time, I've seen them in TV repair magazines and electronics magazines of the late 60's/early 70's. It seems like a very simple and practical unit for IF alignment. I mainly wanted to find one that was MIB so that way, it would have the cables and manuals. After literally years of searching "Sencore" on ebay, I finally found one that was complete. They are either missing the cables or the manuals and have never found a MIB one before.
Does anyone else own one of these? Your thoughts? I assume its top notch, I've always been a fan of sencore. Their stuff is the best for TV repair in my opinion. I have the B+K 1515 marker generator, but the SM158 seems to be a much better unit. The marker frequencies are crystal controlled with the push of a button, so it should make alignment dead on. I want to complete IF and Chroma alignment quickly and easily and I think I can finally do it now with one of these. I have my 1968 tektronix model 564B with the factory "Scope Mobile" cart, my favorite oscilloscope. This was a lucky estate sale find from years ago. I think the two will make a great set up for TV alignment.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:B:BCA:US:1123











My Tek 564B:

[DaveWM]

well if you do that I would love to see a video. I started a post about IF alignment over in the tech forums, I just got a eico 368 and I have a HP 10mhz scope so it all pretty low end, but I jus want to practice on some old B&W sets.

[bandersen]

I really like Sencore equipment too, but I'm not familiar with the speed aligner. That's a really nice setup you've got an I'd love to see it in action.

I recently restored a Hickok 615 sweep & marker gen and picked up a slightly used HP 54600 scope + demod probe. I'll record a video just as soon as I work on something that needs an alignment. I'm itching to try it all out

[Findm-Keepm]

Geez! Given that VA48's and VA62's are out there that do the same thing and close for less (VA48) or a little more (VA62's) in the eBay bidding, I'd take a pass on the Speed aligner. More markers, easier alignments with the VA62 (I have no alignment experience with the VA-48, just used it for the bias supply and yoke ringer). Dad had both, and the VA-62 sings when it comes to working with old and new sets. Just make sure you get the cables. I got sold in the early 80's during a Sencore presentation at a Holiday Inn in Hampton, VA - two sets, a hybrid RCA portable and a CCII where we "students" got to really hork up the IF and sound , and then undo our doings. Neat stuff! We didn't buy then, but held out for some used (and FREE!) Sencore equipment later.

Does the Speed Aligner come with the necessary bias supplies? RCA generators had that problem - you had to buy the separate bias supply(ies). Sencore solved that with the VA48, and it's built in bias supply.

Heathkit made a nice two-piece clone of the Speed Aligner. I have the marker-adder and bias supply, but lack the sweep generator and manuals - I have no need for either really.

For me, I'd go with a Sencore VA-62 - easier to use, maintain and obtain parts for - the speed aligner is in a 60's PF Reporter topical article on "selling alignments" - making it 40 years old.

Now match a VA62 with the SC61......ahh....

'jes my $.02....

Cheers,

[Findm-Keepm]

PS.... Great scope find! Did it come with all four plugins and the cart/cover? If so, you hit a grand slam. Those scopes are worth their weight in gold. 1nSec rise time and STORAGE! Easy to maintain too - just hop over to the Yahoo Groups and join TekScopes or TekScopes2 for the assist if needed. Parts are available there too, kinda like the swappin we do here on VK.

Cheers,

[Bill R]

I have the speed aligner, scope, and bias supply. I need to repair the scope, shorted filter I think, but the aligner and bias supply still work. Only problem I recall is that the trace was upside down. Completely correct, but upside down. Never was a big deal just something that was wrong right out of the box, and I didn't use it enough to fix it.

[ctc17]

I would recommend verifying that the crystals are on frequency. Seems like everything I work on from tvs to radio equipment that's more than 20 years old the crystals are off freq.

[Findm-Keepm]

Doug,

I did some digging - it seems I have a mint-in-box speed aligner and BE156 bias supply - it was in some goodies given to me over the holidays by a retired TV repairman, a friend of my Dad's. I called him - he said there's a reason it's near mint. He rarely used it! He still has his little scope - it's a toy for his grand-nephew. The styrofoam box inserts are still virgin-new on mine, but my box has aged more than the one on eBay. The serial number label on the box is filled in with a pencil!

FYI - the Speed Aligner came with a workshop manual that's not pictured in the eBay listing. It has a green cover and walks the tech through an alignment of an Admiral K-10 Solid State chassis. If you need this, lemme know, and I'll gladly loan it so you can make a copy.

Interestingly, the PF Reporter article and the workshop manual mirror each other, talking about how to sell alignments to make the speed aligner pay for itself. They claim up to $10,400 annually in selling alignments.

I'm gonna play with mine this weekend - see how the frequency stability of the markers compares.

Ditto on what CTC17 has to say - silver migration in older crystals is a very real problem - the silver migrates onto the crystal, changing it's mass and lowering (typically) the frequency. Saw lots of affected crystals in the COMM/NAV/IFF shop I worked in while in the Navy.

Cheers,

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by Bill R

I have the speed aligner, scope, and bias supply. I need to repair the scope, shorted filter I think, but the aligner and bias supply still work. Only problem I recall is that the trace was upside down. Completely correct, but upside down. Never was a big deal just something that was wrong right out of the box, and I didn't use it enough to fix it.

Usually this is a function of the demodulator probe used with the scope, and can be rectified (no pun intended) by reversing the detector diode. This was acutally a prank we pulled on some of the IFF guys in the Navy - reverse the diode and the alignment bell curve suddenly became a big ditch!

Cheers,

[Bill R]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Usually this is a function of the demodulator probe used with the scope, and can be rectified (no pun intended) by reversing the detector diode. This was acutally a prank we pulled on some of the IFF guys in the Navy - reverse the diode and the alignment bell curve suddenly became a big ditch!

Cheers,

Yeah, I just used it as it was. I knew about that, but used it so rarely that I just never changed it. Would make a great prank.

[jshorva65]

Isn't the SM-158 basically the same as the B&K 415 but without the built-in bias supplies? (ie: sweep & marker presets are for 44 MHz IF)