16 Apr
2001
16 Apr
'01
11:07 p.m.
On April 16, Jim Strickland wrote:
On this note, can someone recommend me a good
'scope for a beginner?
I'm looking to get into microcontroller programming and robotics and can see
a whole bunch of places where a scope is pretty much a necessity.
inexpensive is good, and I'm not afraid to use vaccuum tube equipment so
long as it doesn't require too too much tweaking to produce useful results.
Tek 465/475 scopes are compact, reliable, predictable, and old
enough to be affordable. Those scopes are easily the most popular of
that era, sorta the Fluke 77 or Simpson 260 of oscilloscopes. Solid,
proven design, easy to use, predictable, smooth, bulletproof.
If you have a bigger budget, a Tek 2445 is a *sweet* machine, as are
its bigger brothers in the 2465 family. I paid about $1200.00 for my
2465A as a point of reference.
But if money is a concern, if you can live without fancy on-screen digital
parameter display and stuff like that, a 475 (or 475A) can be had for
less than $300.00. There's one on eBay right now, two hours left, at
$175.00. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=12291278377837.
-Dave McGuire