> On Apr 1, 2024, at 8:14 PM, Brent Hilpert via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> On 2024Apr 1,, at 3:33 PM, Just Kant via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>
>> I have more then I need. All the working ones are HP w/color crts, and as
>> far as older, verifiably vintage tools (right down to the 680x0 processor in
>> either) I have to admit I favor them as a brand. Call we an oddball, weird
>> egg, badges I wear with pride.
>>
>> But who could resist the allure of the newer ultra portable, even handheld
>> units (some with bandwidth or sampling rates to 50mhz). I'm a big cheapo.
>> But there's no real reason to agonize over a 65 - 200$ or thereabouts
>> acquisition. It's a bit tiring to wade through the piles of availability. I
>> favor a desktop unit, larger screen (but not always, careful). But most of
>> those need wall current I think? The convenience of a handheld battery
>> powered unit obviously has it's benefits.
>>
>> I will always love and dote upon my color crt based HPs. But the damned
>> things are so heavy, so unwieldy. Judy-Jude knocked my 54111d over, hit the
>> paved floor, shook the house. And still works! Built to withstand an atomic
>> bombardment.
>
>
>
> Pardon the plug for my own web page, but given the topic of scopes and DSOs,
> for any interested in some minor reading on the origins of the DSO and
> geeking out on sophisticated and little-known HP equipment from their heyday:
>
> http://madrona.ca/e/HP5480A/index.html
> <http://madrona.ca/e/HP5480A/index.html>
>
> Or TLDR: digital capture of analog signals to the low KHz in the late 1960s
> using core memory & TTL, or, “a DSO before the DSO”.
> As for portability, it’s possible for one person to manhandle it around but
> it comfortably needs 2 people to carry.
The same could be said for the Tektronics scope I have, a DSA602. It just fits
in an H960 rack, and weighs perhaps 50 pounds. I can lift it -- if I'm careful.
That is my main oscilloscope, but once in a while I grab the Tek 7603 (thanks,
Fair Radio!). Analog, two channel, 100 MHz bandwidth on a good day. But if I
think I'm looking at aliased signals, the 7603 will tell me because it doesn't
have any.
I once had a 535. Repairing the HV supply was interesting; not all that easy
to find the rectifier tubes.
Speaking of A/D specs, that old HP device reminds me of a digital voltmeter in
my father's university lab, I think also by HP: it had a successive
approximation A/D constructed out of relays. It would typically sample every
other second or so, and make a "krrrrrrrt" sound while all those relays were
flipping. The display was some number of columns of 10 light bulbs showing
digits 0-9.
paul
