I have a like new HP3800 sitting in the basement. Still works. It came with the battery box which was how you input the met corrections. It also has a throw back piece HP contracted to Berger Instruments that sits on the top of the EDM and allows the vert/zen angle to be read so a H correction can be made.
BTW... It is definitely gray.
I offered this to anyone who would pay for the packing/shipping, then a local guy expressed interest... then I never heard from him. So, is anyone looking for one??
2xcntr, post: 385206, member: 584 wrote: I have a like new HP3800 sitting in the basement. Still works. It came with the battery box which was how you input the met corrections. It also has a throw back piece HP contracted to Berger Instruments that sits on the top of the EDM and allows the vert/zen angle to be read so a H correction can be made.
BTW... It is definitely gray.I offered this to anyone who would pay for the packing/shipping, then a local guy expressed interest... then I never heard from him. So, is anyone looking for one??
I would very much like to get this EDMI from you. I will pay you by money order for packing/shipping and some beer money too boot. Just tell
me how much and where to send it to.
JOHN NOLTON
FL/GA PLS., post: 385142, member: 379 wrote: Prior to the HP we manually "programmed" the beast below with tickertape than dialed up the server and let 'er rip. The closures would start coming immediately on roll paper in the contraption. I thought I was WAAAY cool while on that thing.
I still have my teletype that was connected to Tech-Mac to do my calc's, 1974-1984 and some thereafter. In 1984 I went to an HP 86B with Wild Volumes C and F. I also bought an HP 7475 Plotter expecting it to do the work of an HP 7580, which it would't perform a complete plot, thinking I could plot piecemeal and splice sheets together to take to the reproduction firm and have a camera mylar made for the final map. At that time, I think the 7580 plotter was close to $16,000 in price. So we still plotted the coordinates on grid vellum in pencil for the draftsman to trace and finalize.
I also still have my HP 3800, sold all 3 of my 3805's and replaced these with 3810A's, and still have 2 of my 4 HP 3810A's. My first computer that I used was an Olivetti Programa 101, which at the time I thought was a cats meow compared to using a Marchant or Frieden and a book of tables, and also watching the blinking red and blue light when it was calculating before printing out the data. Then changing the program card in order to do another function, i.e., traverse, inverse, intersections, areas, and whatever else was needed. Then the little ole HP65 handheld calculator came out in 1975 with the program cards that allowed you to do all your calc's right out on the job site and would do more than the big old Olivetti except it didn't have a printer. But HP took care of that with the HP97 and the HP65 cards would work in it, but not vice-versa.
JOHN NOLTON, post: 385208, member: 225 wrote: I would very much like to get this EDMI from you. I will pay you by money order for packing/shipping and some beer money too boot. Just tell
me how much and where to send it to.JOHN NOLTON
Hello John Nolton,
It's yours.
I am the guy you bought the subtense bar from earlier this year. I believe I have your address.
I will get this packed up and on its way... UPS ground. I will include what it cost to send and you could just drop me a personal check in the mail. We are cleaning out our house and some of my collection (accumulation) has to go. Thanks for helping out.
GeeOddMike, post: 385073, member: 677 wrote:
I used th AGA Geodimeter Model 76. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_748813
back in 1974. Visible beam, LEDs, decent range, fiddly controls (set and return). So futuristic at the time.
Actually the readout was nixi-tubes not LED(s).
I still have a AGA 78 (in the truck), and there might still be an AGA 76 in my garage!
lmbrls, post: 385191, member: 6823 wrote: The big improvement with the 3805 was the onboard battery. You did not have to carry the motorcycle type battery separately. At least that is what I liked about it.
Also all you had to do was to push the button in order to measure and this eliminated the possibility of a wrong dial setting when near a change in a reading for the footage, especially at the 100 foot dial in as with the 3800.
I'm from the northeast....but I started with a Topcon [emoji23]
Loyal, post: 385223, member: 228 wrote: Actually the readout was nixi-tubes not LED(s).
I still have a AGA 78 (in the truck), and there might still be an AGA 76 in my garage!
You are, of course, correct. Nixie tubes not LEDs.
GeeOddMike, post: 385242, member: 677 wrote: You are, of course, correct. Nixie tubes not LEDs.
Except I spelled it wrong, and didn't notice in time to correct it!
not my real name, post: 385050, member: 8199 wrote: I am surveying for a client whose land was previously surveyed in 1974. The map of the survey shows corner marks and I have found a great number of them. The positions of the corners markers are very precise given that they were set in the year 1974 according to the map.
I am wondering how the surveyor made the measurements to set the marks. Was there electronic distance measurement (EDM) devices in 1974? I read about the yoke mounted EDM that was an affordable distance measuring device, but, I don't know when that came into general use.
The surveyor of this map was not one to invest in leading edge technology. He was just a regular guy. So I doubt that he would have purchased an EDM if it were very expensive. My feeling is the survey was done with a transit or theodolite and a steel tape.
Any ideas on what would have been the time of the first instance of EDM use for surveyors in practice?
Have you tried looking for the original field notes? I usually write my inst + model down on every project.
Welcome, Greg. I see this is your first post. Start a thread in the Introduction category and let everyone else know you are joining in these days.
Greg Rodger, post: 385264, member: 11989 wrote: Have you tried looking for the original field notes? I usually write my inst + model down on every project.
Hi Rodger, The original field notes are the property of the surveyor. They are not publicly shared information. I did make contact with some family members and they are also surveyors. Maybe they will care to share some stories of how their father did his work back then.
Thank you for your response. This has certainly been an interesting lesson and discussion of the distance measuring aspects of surveying. I especially enjoyed the old photographs.
