What ever happened to Systron Donner?

I would have to look back in my e-mails to find out "who" is "who" there, but I called them about a piece of test equipment they made and stuck the "Motorola" name on "for" Motorola. They didn't have the info available any longer. Seems perhaps at the time of buy-out, change of hands - through some other method or whatever, much information was lost or tossed.

How I got in contact basically - was do a search (not even using Google) on the internet search bar for "Systron Donner". I got a few hits naturally - where the name just appears just because, but there was one listing which took me to the company I needed to contact. They "are" if I recall "still" Systron Donner.......... But drastically changed from yesteryear. I believe (if my feeble memory is working) they're now doing only Military type stuff - and I'm not referring specifically to "electronics". Seems it was some aviation parts (mechanical).

Stephan I think they essentially went away, morphing into Gigatronics. I'm pretty certain you'll find no official sources of repair parts. The 1590 amplifier shouldn't be too hard, that was common a lot of places around

1970 or so. The om355 doesn't ring a bell and if you can't figure out what it is and does to build an act-alike circuit, your only recourse may be to look for another parts-only instrument.

good luck

Glenn

I worked for SD off and on, from 1968 until the late seventies, as a bench tech, and later as a member of Customer (repair/warranty) Service. The company was bought out by an English company, I believe called Thorn/EMI, after I left for good. Historically, the instruments division was always in fierce competition with the likes of HP and Fluke to name a couple of old firms. I can only guess that the Instruments Division was "phased out" by Thorn as they became more interested in keeping other divisions, like the Inertia Division (across the street) and the Microwave Division (in So. California) active and solvent. I also guess that Instruments Division raw inventory was auctioned off sometime in the mid-eighties.

Giga-Tronics was separate from SD, born of an idea by a former SD manager, that a good signal generator could be built as needed for several potential government contracts. (IIRC, the Instruments Div did not fiddle in this market). I subsequently worked for the Navy for about 25 years, and saw Gigatronics generators everywhere.

I too, have flogged search engines for parts and assemblies for SD stuff I've bought over the years. Have never found a central ordering point for spares or manuals.

You have my windy $0.02 worth. Dave

Thanks all for the nice updates. Stepan

Another case of empires being built and then scrapped!

EMI was separated from Thorn, who also at one time owned what was MEL Ltd (Mullard equipment Ltd) and a piece of Philips that did military stuff.

Don't know where Thorn are these days, they had a big place in Drayton or Uxbridge someplace, but don't see them crop up at all in business terms.

Potted history here:

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

what parts and manual numbers are you looking for?

I've actually posted the 1702 manual to Bama. I was just wondering what happened to Systron Donner, that's all. Thanks from Stepan

"I" would have to get the exact model number of the item, but I have an FM Deviation meter - Frequency Counter combo device - made by Systron Donner - for Motorola (apparently) as both names are on the unit. I'd love to have the manual(s) for it (service and user) including the schematics. This item though usable as is, has two issues which need corrected for it to operate correctly. If you think you can be of help, let me know in here.

Thanks