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Any good? Tektronix THS720A Scope..

Hi, Just looking on eBay there is a Tektronix hand held THS720A scope. I`ve been after a scope for quite a while and this looks interesting.

The auction says "Each channel is isolated". I think I`ll be delving in to amplifiers and audio equipment, I know the output stage is often not ref'd to ground. Can anyone advise me if this scope can be used to look at output stages and ground ref'd signals (like the amp input)?

The eBay item is 7583716250, and the URL, if your're interested is:

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Also, does any one know what these scopes are generally like?

Cheers, DannyB

Reply to
danm
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The fact that the unit is battery powered means that the inputs would be inherently isolated from earth ground. However, the 'ground' side of both inputs may not be isolated from each other within the instrument. Only the owner's or service manual could tell you that.

With that said: I would think you could easily do as you describe with this unit. I will also add that it's kind of hard to go wrong with Tektronix.

Granted, there are some 'scopes they've made (or marketed) that are truly terrible in terms of serviceability, and I don't think you'll ever see another unit from them with the versatility and long-term durability of the 7000 series, but the one you're looking at seems like a fine general-purpose unit.

Happy tweaking.

--
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute.
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, ARS KC7GR, 
kyrrin (a/t) bluefeathertech[d=o=t]calm -- www.bluefeathertech.com
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped
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Reply to
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee

If you connect the ground lead of channel 1 to some point in a circuit you can connect the ground lead of channel 2 to another point without shorting the two points together ... a very nice feature but also a "gotcha" for folks who assume ground is ground and is common. In other words, when using both channels, connect both ground leads to the appropriate reference points. Be wary of the maximum voltage differential!

If you have never used a digital scope before, you might find this model not to your liking. It is a fine instrument but many prefer older analog scopes (however, they are getting to be hard to find).

Reply to
Charles Schuler

Dr. Anton T. Squeegee wrote in news:MPG.1e3d6af73c36d4c1989797@192.168.42.131:

Is that model still sold in the current TEK catalog? If not,then it's Long Term Product Support (LTPS)is 6 years after the last time it was offered in the catalog.TEK has a list of what's currently serviceable.www.tek.com.

The KEY is that after LTPS is over,there's NO repair service for it from TEK. There are NO component-level schematics or parts lists in their "service manual",so you won't be able to fix it yourself. Parts will NOT be available from TEK.They dispose of all exchange assemblies and parts not common to other current models once LTPS is past.

And being a digital scope,it's calibrated by software loading in the cal constants during the cal procedure. TEK does them on automated cal systems.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net
Reply to
Jim Yanik

not

scopes

It seems so, but why did this happen so suddenly? Five years ago the models from 25 years ago were abundant.

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Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

Most of the manufacturers quit making the basic analog models. Then, many users found that they don't like digital scopes (especially the low-end ones) and bought up, and continue to buy, the used basic analog scopes.

Reply to
Charles Schuler

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