In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:

I would be interested to buy good second-hand VU meters by
Ernest Turner or Sifam.


Ernest Turner
http://www.kolumbus.fi/iain.churches...tTurner702.jpg


Sifam
http://www.kolumbus.fi/iain.churches...SIFAM_AL20.jpg

Keep an eye on Ebay - do a search and save that. You'll then get emails if
anything matching that search comes up. Those and PPM movements do come up
from time to time.

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a replacement
or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a pretty
unhelpful reply.

--
*I get enough exercise just pushing my luck.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a replacement
or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a pretty
unhelpful reply.

Unhelpful in what way ? Do you expect a large company to be interested in
making a loss on a one-off repair ?

Graham

In article ,
Eeyore wrote:
Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a
replacement or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a
pretty unhelpful reply.

Unhelpful in what way ? Do you expect a large company to be interested in
making a loss on a one-off repair ?

Of course not. I just wanted to do business with them in the normal way.
They didn't seem interested. Not my usual experience of a small UK company.

--
*There's no place like www.home.com *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Eeyore wrote:

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a
replacement or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a
pretty unhelpful reply.

Unhelpful in what way ? Do you expect a large company to be interested in
making a loss on a one-off repair ?

Of course not. I just wanted to do business with them in the normal way.
They didn't seem interested. Not my usual experience of a small UK company.

When you say 'repair' what bits are you looking for ?

Graham

In article ,
Eeyore wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Eeyore wrote:

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a
replacement or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and
got a pretty unhelpful reply.

Unhelpful in what way ? Do you expect a large company to be
interested in making a loss on a one-off repair ?

Of course not. I just wanted to do business with them in the normal
way. They didn't seem interested. Not my usual experience of a small
UK company.

When you say 'repair' what bits are you looking for ?

The meter movement was open circuit. I contacted them to find out if they
could either repair or supply a replacement. The chap I spoke to was very
off hand - talking about obsolete gear - and never got back to me. I
eventually got a similar movement off Ebay and swopped the scale.

To give the full story I'd bought a good but very tatty RTS2 only from a
place I used to work at. And bought several more off Ebay if I could get
them at a decent price - working or not. And eventually ended up with a
mint set including the monitor unit. . Sold all the others after repair
etc at a reasonable profit.

--
*I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don't care.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:

I would be interested to buy good second-hand VU meters by
Ernest Turner or Sifam.


Ernest Turner
http://www.kolumbus.fi/iain.churches...tTurner702.jpg


Sifam
http://www.kolumbus.fi/iain.churches...SIFAM_AL20.jpg

Keep an eye on Ebay - do a search and save that. You'll then get emails if
anything matching that search comes up. Those and PPM movements do come up
from time to time.

Thanks Dave. I did that a month ago.
The Ernest Turner is the best of the best.
They are very hard to find these days.

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a replacement
or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a pretty
unhelpful reply.

I got a spare meter from them for my Ferrograph RTS without
any difficulty (though this was some time ago)

Make contact with:

Dawn Blackburn
Marketing Co-Ordinator
Sifam Instruments Limited
Woodland Road
TORQUAY
TQ2 7AY

Tel: 01803 407689
Fax: 01803 407699
Email:
www.sifam.com



Best regards
Iain

In article i,
Iain Churches wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:

I would be interested to buy good second-hand VU meters by
Ernest Turner or Sifam.


Ernest Turner
http://www.kolumbus.fi/iain.churches...tTurner702.jpg


Sifam
http://www.kolumbus.fi/iain.churches...SIFAM_AL20.jpg

Keep an eye on Ebay - do a search and save that. You'll then get
emails if anything matching that search comes up. Those and PPM
movements do come up from time to time.

Thanks Dave. I did that a month ago.

Other thing might be to use the scale from a broken one with a more common
voltmeter of the same basic style and movement. Of course I realise a
*true* VU has a very special movement - but many fitted to UK equipment
were only suitable for line up on steady tone where the ballistics aren't
so important. Some BBC spec tape recorders, for example.

The Ernest Turner is the best of
the best. They are very hard to find these days.

Indeed - the same applies the PPMs. The Ernest Turner movements are the
best too.

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a
replacement or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a
pretty unhelpful reply.

I got a spare meter from them for my Ferrograph RTS without any
difficulty (though this was some time ago)

Make contact with:

Long since sorted. Can't remember who I spoke to on the phone - the name
gets forgotten long before the bones of the conversation.

Incidentally, I OCR'd and re-printed manuals for both the RTS2 and ATU1
and have the files for them stored. Ended up with a rather higher quality
product than the original duplicated ones.

Dawn Blackburn
Marketing Co-Ordinator
Sifam Instruments Limited
Woodland Road
TORQUAY
TQ2 7AY

Tel: 01803 407689
Fax: 01803 407699
Email:
www.sifam.com



Best regards
Iain

--
*Happiness is seeing your mother-in-law on a milk carton

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article i,

Keep an eye on Ebay - do a search and save that. You'll then get
emails if anything matching that search comes up. Those and PPM
movements do come up from time to time.

Thanks Dave. I did that a month ago.

Other thing might be to use the scale from a broken one with a more common
voltmeter of the same basic style and movement. Of course I realise a
*true* VU has a very special movement - but many fitted to UK equipment
were only suitable for line up on steady tone where the ballistics aren't
so important. Some BBC spec tape recorders, for example.

The application I have for these meters requires proper VU ballistics.
There are lots of cheap Taiwanese copies but many of them have not
even taken the trouble to get the scale right on the face plate:-)

The Ernest Turner is the best of
the best. They are very hard to find these days.

Indeed - the same applies the PPMs. The Ernest Turner movements are the
best too.

The PPM which interest me is not the BBC type, but the EMI/Decca
meter, on which the red scale starts at +8dBm and goes to +12dBm

Sifam seem to be a strange company - I contacted them about a
replacement or repair for the meter on a Ferrograph test set and got a
pretty unhelpful reply.

I got a spare meter from them for my Ferrograph RTS without any
difficulty (though this was some time ago)

Make contact with:

Long since sorted. Can't remember who I spoke to on the phone - the name
gets forgotten long before the bones of the conversation.

But did you get your replacement meter?

Incidentally, I OCR'd and re-printed manuals for both the RTS2 and ATU1
and have the files for them stored. Ended up with a rather higher quality
product than the original duplicated ones.

I have original manuals for both the RTS and ATU.
It's still a very useful piece of equipment.

Iain

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:14:24 +0000, Audix wrote:

I know the Decca PPM and have a pair of them. Mine use Ernest Turner
703 movements, scaled from -30 to +18dB. The drive amps to go with
them are a custom Decca job too. I have also seen an Ernest Turner
early twin movement with Decca scales. I have never seen a formal
specification of the Decca PPM.

Not a BBC scale then? Remember the BBC engineering version of the
motto: "Nation shall peak 6 unto nation"

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Don Pearce wrote:

Audix wrote:

I know the Decca PPM and have a pair of them. Mine use Ernest Turner
703 movements, scaled from -30 to +18dB. The drive amps to go with
them are a custom Decca job too. I have also seen an Ernest Turner
early twin movement with Decca scales. I have never seen a formal
specification of the Decca PPM.

Not a BBC scale then?

Doesn't sound like it. 48dB dynamic range on a meter is pretty good.

Graham