9 Jun
2006
9 Jun
'06
4:24 p.m.
On Fri, 9 Jun 2006, Tony Duell wrote:
Oh, my expereinces are excellent too (and with other Tektronix 500
series). My point is that these 'scopes are 40 years old, and while
they're very well made, and will keep going a lot longer, they are going
to need some maintenance. Fine if you like doing that (I do), but perhaps
not the best choice for a beginner.
Suppose some non-technical person was looking for a computer to do simple
word procesing on. Would you recoemnd a PERQ, and get them to learn
3PROSE? It'll do the job, it's an excellent machine, but it'll need a bit
of looking after.
Don't get me wrong, I love my old Tekky 555,
but I really don't think
this sort of instrument is good for a beginner who doesn't want to learn
how to repair valve circuitry and 'scopes in general. They are very
maintainable, and the manuals are excellent, but since they're over 40
years old, you are going to have to do some work on them.
My experiences with a 555 are *very* good. Found one on a scrap heap three years ago, and someone picked the power valves (and
the funny diode
2AS15-A) and their sockets out of the power supply (and cut the wires). It
took me some time to get replacement valves and rewire the power supply
around the sockets, but in the end, the scope worked like a charm! The
traces (it's a real dual beam, not dual trace) are sharper and finer than
everything else I've seen so far (mostly "modern" equipment like Hamegs or
I must have told the story of the time that we got a new Tektronix at the
place where I was working. I couldn't get the trace sharp (IMHO), so I
phoned Tektronix. They asked what I was comparing it against, and of
course I said my old 555 at home. They said that was probably the
sharpest CRT ever, and that nothing modern (not even Tektronix) was as
good in that respect. Hmmm
-tony