Hi Dan, Glad to see you chimed in on this thread.
> "Dan Graybeal" <dangerousengineer...@...> wrote: > The SM-512 is a service monitor that covers 1 to 512 MHz > if memory serves correctly. I had incorrectly posted the follow up model as the SM-1024, but it was actually the SM-1000 as later indicated. (I was thinking in hex again...) > It has a built in Sinadder and Millivolt meter. The > system was designed around a Bearcat scanner. When Bearcat > quit making the scanner, the system was redesigned > from scratch and expanded to go to 1GHz, hence the > SM-1000. If you look at the boards inside the SM-512 > you will be able to identify the Bearcat model from the > processor board. And more than one of us learned to use a Bearcat Scanner as a fairly strong signal source. Really neat Helper Instrument trivia... More than a few of the (now retired) local/regional Comm Shop Owners have told me stories of how a Helper Sales Rep would often loan Sinadder and similar demo products out to a shop to quickly prove their real on the service bench dollar value. Not only were the Helper Products well thought out, but those early sales folks including Bill were quite innovative. > We made a bunch of neat stuff at Helper while Bill > Detwiller (the owner) was still alive. I have a "transitional Helper Catalog" where shortly after Bill's passing his daughter announced a plan to go forward and continue operations. Not much is known to us the general public about the "wind down" of production and operation of Helper. As a Zetron Products Dealer one of the inside technical products support people told me about their purchase of some Helper Products, which were later discontinued as the Land Mobile Industry started to fall out of bed. > I will look to see if I still have a users manual for > either of these still around. I have a modest number of Helper Instrument Manuals but nothing for the Service Monitors or the RF Millivolt Meter, which I would pay dearly for (a copy of the RF mV Meter manual). Of course anyone nice enough to share would know I (or others) would pdf scan the manuals and donate copies to the Repeater-Builder and other similar web sites. The Helper 800 cell antenna performance instrument works fairly well for low 900 Amateur Band work. Not to mention the even more rare 460 band version. cheers, skipp skipp025 at yahoo.com
