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 Jim’s magazine binder also included this unpublished index.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 !! |