Hewlett-Packard’s “Bench Briefs” magazine was a long running periodical dedicated to service personnel and equipment maintenance. Articles typically discussed advanced troubleshooting techniques, basic electronics (as they applied to the service bench), important service tips for current HP equipment, and indexes of parts cross-references and Service Notes. Started in 1960 (?), and running until 1998 there were over 100 issues published. HP Archive needs many missing issues, please volunteer. In the current collection (1973-1998), there are only two editors. The first was Dick Gasperini, and the second was Jim Bechtold. The last page of the Nov-Dec-1974 issue has a short biography of Dick Gasperini, and he left HP in 1976 to start his own training company (with it’s own periodical). He mailed this copy of DIGITAL UPDATE to previous attendees of his HP training courses (or was it to all BB subscribers).

Jim Bechtold is retired and living in California, and we are grateful to him for loaning us many of the post 1976 issues. Jim’s magazine binder also included this unpublished index.

 

HP Bench Briefs and .PDF links …

Click on the year of any issue for the PDF link. HParchive is currently looking for missing issues of Bench Briefs.

Volume Number Month Year/Link Comments
5 2 Jun-Jul 1964
5 4 Oct-Nov 1964
6 1 Apr-May 1965
7 3 Aug-Sep 1966
8 2 Feb-Mar 1968
8 3 May-Jul 1968
11 2 Jun 1971
11 3 Sep 1971
12 3 Sep 1972
12 4 Nov 1972
13 1 Apr 1973
13 2 May-Jun 1973
13 3 Jul-Aug 1973
13 4 Sep-Oct 1973
13 5 Nov-Dec 1973 Replacement parts cross-reference
14 1 Jan-Feb 1974
Apr 1974 Service Note Index
14 2 Mar-Apr 1974
14 3 May-Jun 1974
14 4 Jul-Aug 1974
14 5 Sep-Oct 1974
14 6 Nov-Dec 1974 Dick Gasperini bio
15 1 Jan-Feb 1975
15 2 Mar-Apr 1975
15 3 May-Jun 1975
15 4 Jul-Aug 1975
15 5 Sep-Dec 1975 Replacement parts cross-reference
16 1 Jan-Apr 1976 Safety related service notes for older instruments !!!
16 2 May-Jun 1976
16 3 Jul-Aug 1976
16 4 Sep-Dec 1976
17 1 Jan-Feb 1977
17 2 Mar-Apr 1977
17 3 May-Aug 1977
17 4 Sep-Oct 1977
17 5 Nov-Dec 1977
18 1 Jan-Apr 1978
18 2 May-Oct 1978
19 1 Nov_78-Apr_79 78-79
19 2 May-Jul 1979 Extensive IC cross-reference
19 3 Sep-Oct 1979
20 1 Jan-Feb 1980
20 2 Mar-Apr 1980
20 3 May-Jun 1980
20 4 Jul-Aug 1980
20 5 Sep-Nov 1980
21 1 Jan-Feb 1981
21 2 Mar-May 1981 Extensive IC cross-reference
21 3 Jun-Aug 1981 Replacement parts cross-reference
22 1 Jan-Feb 1982 Battery cross-reference
22 2 Mar-Apr 1982
22 3 May-Jun 1982
22 4 Jul-Oct 1982
22 5 Nov-Dec 1982
23 1 Jan-Feb 1983
23 2 Mar-May 1983
23 3 Jul-Aug 1983
24 1 Jan-Feb 1984
24 2 Mar-Apr 1984
24 3 May-Jun 1984
24 4 Jul-Sep 1984
25 1 Jan-Feb 1985
25 2 Mar-May 1985
25 3 Jun-Aug 1985
26 1 Jan-Feb 1986
26 2 Mar-Apr 1986
26 3 May-Jun 1986
26 4 Jul-Oct 1986
27 1 Jan-Mar 1987
27 2 Apr-Jun 1987
27 3 Jul-Sep 1987
27 4 Oct-Dec 1987
28 1 Jan-Mar 1988
28 2 Apr-Jun 1988
29 1 Jan-Mar 1989
29 2 Apr-Jun 1989
30 1 Jan-Mar 1990
30 2 Apr-Jun 1990
30 3 Jul-Dec 1990
31 Jan-Mar 1991
32 1 Jan-Mar 1992
32 2 Apr-Dec 1992
33 1 Jan-Mar 1993
33 2 Apr-Dec 1993
34 1 Jan-Mar 1994
34 Apr-Jun 1994
35 1 Jan-Mar 1995
35 2 Apr-Dec 1995
36 1 Jan-Mar 1996
37 1 Jan-Mar 1997
38 1 Jan-Mar 1998 Last Issue !!