I’m looking to see if anyone out there might have in their dusty archives a manual to the circa 1980 Hewlett Packard HP 3820a Total Station- (pictured below) -this would be an older, 1st generation Total Station- HP’s only total station (and their last surveying instrument) I’m looking for the operator’s manual. I'm open to paying for a good-quality copy/ scan/ .pdf if available. I do have the September 1980 HP Journal magazine which describes the 3820a- but would like the actual operation manual.
HP instrumentation is now "Agilent" and although they do have online-archives of their scientific instrumentation, the manuals for surveying instruments (3800, 3805, 3810, etc) apparently were not documented online.
I've tried Hayes Instruments and Earl Dudley- no luck so far (Hayes even sold the 3820a when it was new, but no one there is left from that time frame and apparently their older manuals were purged at some point. )
I'm also posting this to the RPLS.com forums, in case someone else has one as well- there are a few posts there from people who had used them in the past, so hopefully someone still has a manual.
Thanks!
I'm reachable at:
Nathan Drummond
Gray Research
655 Discovery Dr
Huntsville, Al 35806
ph: 256-319-8251
cell: 937-689-6493
ndrummond@gray-research.com
drummond93@aol.com
Thanks!
Had 2 of them back then. Seems like they cost $35k each. $1650 per year maintenance contract. The zenith compensator broke and gave erroneous horizontal distance on slopes over 16 degrees, which cost us about a much as the unit on a project. I remember shooting 3.5 miles to a single prism with it.
I'll see if I can find the name of the people who ended up with them.
Nathan.....sent you a email about the manual.
I have used the 3820 and they are great total stations. I have one to sell if anyone is interested and some batteries and charger.
I saw that you had an HP 3820 unit for sale. Is it still available? If so, I would be interested in seeing a few pictures if you can provide them. You can reply to this inquiry at the email on record or email me at jtighe@saminc.biz.
Thanks,