Which 'scope?

I have decided to shop around for a couple new oscilloscopes. Most likely one new and one used. Even though I like the Tek 465B the thing is a tank. It is big and heavy and hard to lug around. And the cord keepers/feet on the back of the unit have started to fall apart. The plastic has gotten weak and brittle. So the 465B needs to stay on its roll around stand. The 'scopes I'm looking for are an analog and a DSO. The analog mainly for looking at audio signals. Just for hobby work. Just because I'm curious about the audio stuff. The analog 'scope needs to be smaller and lighter than the 465B. The DSO 'scope should probably be new or fairly new. I don't know how much bandwidth but it would be used for both hobby audio stuff and for looking at the type of signals found in CNC controls. Right now the 465B is plenty good enough, way more than good enough, to look at signals from the CNC machines but it is a big pain to use much of the time and a light 'scope that I can hang in a CNC control cabinet would be great. My budget is about $100 for the analog and $300 for the DSO. So, any advice? Did I leave out something? Thanks, Eric

Reply to
etpm
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Unless you go small-screen Chinese, you left out at least one 0 in the budget lines. Or get extremely lucky.

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Is one option that will do nicely.

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Overkill, I agree.

More likely:

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Or...

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Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Reply to
peterwieck33

The 465 is a tank?

The 545 is a tank. It was working the last time I used it, but I mostly gave up on using it because it wasn't convenient, it took up too much space, and I couldn't move it around because it was heavy and big.

I had the use of a 455 (I think it was) in the seventies, and that thing was way more portable.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Black

The 465 is a reasonably sized scope. Quite good all in all,until the triggering fails. Good luck finding tunnel diodes these days.

If you think the 545 is a tank, I have a 511A. AC coupled, 10 MHz and ONE input channel. Of course, the 511 was Tek's first production model.

--
"I am a river to my people." 
Jeff-1.0 
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Reply to
Fox's Mercantile

Look at this Hantek scope. I bought one a couple of years ago. It should come with the probes.

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There are a few other DSO scopes at the same place.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

A friend of mine has a 535, which will do for a tank. He used it through his whole career at GE, and then bought it for around $20 via the company's surplus-equipment auction a few months after he retired.

Still works, still a nice bright trace, and it's still on its original set of tubes. He loves it.

It suffered the first malfunction in roughly forever, a few weeks ago; the vertical gain fell off sharply. He didn't even have to move it off of the stand to fix it - just opened up the side, exercised the vertical gain pot a few times (it was noisy... apparently some oxide had built up over the years), recalibrated the gain, and put the side back on. All fixed.

Reply to
Dave Platt

Ahem... I sold some to someone in sci.electronics.design years ago, so I think some of those in the picture are now gone.

There's also Sphere, which usually has some in stock:

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Yeah, the first two are just a little above my price range. The last one though looks promising. Thanks, Eric

Reply to
etpm

Now I have two 'scopes to compare. The Hantek is a 200 MHz bandwidth and the Rigol is only 50MHz. Just how much bandwidth should I be looking for? Thanks, Eric

Reply to
etpm

Hi Eric, this is a bit outside your price range, but I love my keysight infinium 1000

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It's an awesome 'scope for the money.

George H.

Reply to
ggherold

Equally a bit of over kill, is My HP Infiniium

--
"I am a river to my people." 
Jeff-1.0 
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Reply to
Fox's Mercantile

The 50 MHz Rigol is fine for most people, most of the time. It's a good 'scope. I don't have any experience with the Hantek, so I can't comment on it, but you don't need 200 MHz for CNC and audio.

The standard answer might be "buy as much bandwidth as you can afford" or "it depends on what signals you need to see".

Selecting which 'scope to buy can drive you nuts. I feel your pain. :-)

Ed

Reply to
ehsjr

Both of those are way above audio, which only extends to 20kHz. To get a re asonable picture of a waveform you'd want at least 8 - 10 samples per cycle . A 1MHz scope would be more than enough for audio. You can get a 200kHz po

g.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

d
d

the world's first modernish scope. But no possibility to calibrate it, the y were't accurate enough then to bother making them calibratable. I said no :)

If all you're doing is audio, any halfway sane scope will do that, even tha t Cossor.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

** While the audible range extends to just a little over 20kHz this has NOTHING to do with the frequencies regularly encountered in *audio electronics*.

You are making a common and BIG mistake !!!

A scope suitable for audio electronics needs a BW of at least 10MHz, preferably 50MHz and good waveform resolution - which counts out all the 8 bit "digital" toys being offered today.

.... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

** So they were offering to PAY you to take the POS away ?

** Absolute BOLLOCKS.

Audio is ELECTRONICS, not sound.

The range of frequencies found in audio electronics extends to frequencies of many MHz. Domestic AM and FM radio deceivers are considered "audio".

Radio microphones are considered "audio".

Faulty ( or badly designed / built ) audio amplifiers may exhibit oscillati on upto 50MHz.

Digital audio seems to know no bounds.

... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

My .02 cents....You can never have too much bandwidth. Sooner or later you will need more. Recently got a 300 MHz Tek, old CRT digital dog but I love it. So far I haven't needed 300 MHz but I know I will.

Reply to
Terry Schwartz

I would like the analog scope for audio. I know that it doesn't need to be anything fancy. Just two channels and a display big enough for my old eyes to see easily. But the DSO is for the CNC machines. Even then I know I don't need a 100 MHz 'scope. I think. I have read that when it comes to digital 'scopes you want something like 5 times the bandwidth of what you are trying to measure. There are so many options with the new DSOs that I really don't understand. Which is why I am asking for advice here. I would ask in basics but more people seem to read thisw newsgroup. And the DFSO will be used for repairing electyronics. Eric

Reply to
etpm

There are a lot of TDS 744As out there for ~$600, which can be converted to 4-GSa/s, 1-GHz TDS 784As by moving one jumper and desoldering three

0603 caps.

I have a couple, and am very happy with them.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

For years, I had been using a Tektronics 422. Reasonable size and 2 channels. Most of the work I do is on old AM broadcast tube radios.

I had to occasion to work on a Drake R-4A receiver. It had some seriously silly problems. While tracking them down, I realized I had some band width issues with the scope not giving me accurate results.

Drag the Tektronix 2465 over. Oh my, that's different. Yeah 200 MHz vs 10 MHz makes a big difference.

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"I am a river to my people." 
Jeff-1.0 
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Reply to
Fox's Mercantile

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