Favorite Tektronix Scope

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Depends on what you want to use it for.

If you want an older, inexpensive, general purpose 100 Mhz scope, I think the 465B (not the 465) was the best Tek ever made. They sold for about $2500 back in the '70s and were worth every penny.

Ok, I'm a bit prejudiced because I worked on the production line for both models for three years, testing and calibrating. In that time I did about 2000 of them.

They have been out of production for more than 20 years now, but a good one can still be had. Shop around. Tek built them to last.

73, Bill W6WRT

p.s. Actual quote from a Tektronix customer: "I gave my purchasing people instructions that they can buy any kind of scope they want, as long as they are blue and come from Beaverton, Oregon."

I've got a 2445, which I've had for about six years. It was the first equipment purchase made when I started a new job; it was purchased reconditioned from Tucker. I inherited the scope when that employer went bankrupt. I enjoy it very much, but need storage... I have a TDS210 (same provenance) which is pretty good, but I lust after the HP scope I have at work, which has two analog channels and 16 digital channels, and LOADS of memory... *sigh*. So many projects, so little time and money :)

I have used a 7603 for about 15 years for general troubleshooting, and it's my favorite scope. It's rock solid, and bright and sharp. I haven't been able to find a horiz plug-in with TV sync, but the trigger is so good I can get it to lock on video anyway. Only problems are the huge Mallory capacitors in the power supply that will open without warning. Replace all of these and you'll have no trouble at all.

John

The 7000 series is hard to beat. It's stable, it's not that hard to work on, and there are plenty of useful plug-ins available at reasonable prices.

That said, I still have a 545 on my bench at work. The calibration contract just went over to a new company and the new cal guys aren't really sure what to make of it....

--scott

--
"C\'est un Nagra.  C\'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

7104 is an even nicer analog scope, with its phenomenal writing rate.

A used 11801 or 11802 and a sampling head will get you a 12 or 20 GHz dual-trace digital scope for under $2K, a *much* nicer sampling system than the 7000-series stuff.

My everyday scope is a TDS2012, which is great for most things. You can take beautiful photos of the color screen for engr notes, manuals, or test procedures.

Great plugin: 7A22 (or 1A7A, for the 547) which has switchable bandwidth and differential input down to 10 uV/cm.

John

Thanks for the replies so far...they are appreciated.

One feature of the 7000 series that I have appreciated is the plugin capability.

Spectrum analyzer, semiconductor tester, differential amps, etc. all add to its flexibility.

Does anyone have a history of the 7000 series?

Another issue I have seen with the older scopes is at least one can usually repair them....with parts from another parts scope. The newer scopes are reaching the point of throw away status with no parts available and if by chance they are, the price prevents a reasonable repair.

TMT

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Now there's my kind of guy!!

73, Bill W6WRT

I finally sold off my great Tek 475 and picked up a Tek 2440 -- nice to be able to "save" the display and then be able to make measurements on the signal at your leisure. Especially nice when looking at the slew rate of the slower op-amps.

Dino KL0S/4

Do you prefer Analog or Digital? Do you have room for an old tube mainframe scope, or prefer a "portable"?

I have a Tek 454 that I got at a company auction years back where I used to work (paid $150 for it). The 453,453A,454, 454A series are easy to work on, and parts are available from many sources (the nuvistor tubes in the front end and the tunnel diodes in the sweep circuits can be a bit hard to find, but are available). The 485 is a look a like that is all solid state with higher BW but many do not consider it as good a scope design. I would not turn one away if it were cheap enough though, when working they do a good job.

The 453,454,485 scopes have a good CRT that will give years of service. I've been told that the 465-475 series (larger tube) will suffer from CRT burn-out eventually, the 453-454-485 scopes rarely need a new crt. (The company where I got the scope from had bought spare parts to keep all their scopes going, they NEVER replaced a 453-454 crt but used up all their 465-475 crt spares).

I use the new Tek DPO scopes for most work, but keep 7904 (500MHz) with high speed plug-ins and samplers for the times I need analog.

You can get 7k scopes for almost nothing. The DPOs will cost a bunch.

Steve.

--
Steven D. Swift, novatech@eskimo.com, http://www.novatech-instr.com
NOVATECH INSTRUMENTS, INC.      P.O. Box 55997
206.301.8986, fax 206.363.4367  Seattle, Washington 98155 USA

Goodness. I had to get rid of a couple of 545s years ago ( no room to keep them ).

My current scope at home is a 465. Basic but nice.

Graham

I am very happy wuth my 2445A. I still have the 475, which is like a Kalashnikov of oscilloscopes -- very simple and sturdy and has high voltage ability. I will sell the 475 though, two scopes is too much.

i

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Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. :-)

73, Bill W6WRT

I like the TEK2465, Personally I don't think that it can be beat for an analog scope.

Until last month I'd treasured my Tek 7633. Cost the eqiv' of only $60, yet gave 5 years continuous, unremitting, troublefree service. Lovely bit of kit. Looked right, felt right and offered a vast, soul pleasing array of buttons and knobs. Switched on with the fan purring away, I knew that I was at one with the world. Sadly, the display character generator started to fail. Even bought a service manual and had a poke about. Joy was not to be, a Tek chip was giving up the ghost. I knew then it's life was drawing to an honourable close and another Tek scope would have to be sought. I'd previously fancied the more modern Tek 2445, so downloaded a service manual. Shock-horror!, perusal of the circuitry revealed that there is nothing in them other than a few special Tek chips. Ended up buying a 100MHz Hitachi scope (equiv of $160). It does much more than my old Tek, having benefit of modern uP aided cursors and measurements etc. It's also smaller, lighter and repairable. I love using it but I can't help feeling there's something missing that's really crucial. Something that raises an instrument from the status of 'nice' to that of 'beloved'. (probably the Tek fan :). Obviously I need to get out more. regards john

Ignoramus32654 wrote: (snip) >

That's just crazy talk!

He's crocheted the nicest doily and 'scope cosy for it too.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

I love my 465B, depends on what you need in a scope though.

Tek 475. I have fancier scopes that do fancy stuff, but the 475 is an all-time

*classic* par excellence. I love it so much I also use it as a decorative centrepiece for the dining room table.

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"What is now proved was once only imagin\'d" - William Blake