On Wednesday, December 14, 2011 11:01:55 AM Mark Wendt did opine: > On 12/14/2011 09:42 AM, gene heskett wrote: > > On Wednesday, December 14, 2011 09:02:43 AM Mark Wendt did opine: > >> A bit off tangent, but Jon's post in the Encoder thread brought > >> something to mind. I recently became the proud papa of a Tektronix > >> 7623A O'scope, purchased off the Bay of E. It's a mainframe storage > >> scope, capable of handling three plugins - two vertical amps and a > >> horizontal timebase. I got that machine, a few different plugins, a > >> number of probes, and some other odds and ends for less than $500. > >> It's an analog scope, but in it's time, it was one of the high-end > >> scopes that Tek made, and it's still going strong even at close to > >> 30 years of age. > >> > >> This one is identical to the one I have: > >> > >> <www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-7623-Oscilloscope-Modules-and-Manuals-/23 > >> 055 2776690> > >> > >> You can get better prices by waiting a bit. I got mine for $100 plus > >> shipping. > >> > >> A venerable high quality machine that you can use to help > >> troubleshoot problems like the ones that showed up in the Encoder > >> thread. > >> > >> Mark > > > > Mark, be aware, very aware that tek has one HUGE Achilles heel. Its > > input attenuators are all custom, in house made parts. And they age > > out of calibration, both for DC measurements and for waveform > > fidelity on the screen, with square waves no longer being shown as > > square waves, and no amount of fiddling with the probe comp screws > > can fix it. This starts to get noticeable at about the same time tek > > takes advantage of the statutes re service parts and discontinues the > > parts 5 years after production ceases, or decides if they still have > > one, that it is worth 20x what it was worth a year before when it was > > still subject to the federal parts availability statutes. Been > > there, done that, threw it in the ditch when it was 7 years old in > > one case, 8 in another, because I could not believe what it was > > telling me. > > > > My now 25 year old Hitachi V-1065 (computerized, dual trace 100 mhz, > > triggered& delayed sweep, good to at least 200mhz with some rolloff& > > loss of headroom in the vertical amps) is still within a couple > > percent for any measurement its simple computer can make including > > frequencies by reciprocal of time. And the tube is as bright and > > sharp as it was when new as of last night when I measured the baud > > rate on a serial data line I thought was off. And yes, a midi port > > was running at about 37,000 baud. The keyboard obviously ignored the > > data. :( > > > > I have worn out at least 8 sets of 10x probes in its time. The 200mhz > > models I can get from MPJones are as accurate at $40 a copy as > > anything else I've ever bought, and mechanically sturdier than Tek's > > $200/copy versions. > > > > Sadly, the Tektronix that earned our trust as the final word back in > > the early 60's, and had lifetime warranties on any in-house built > > parts including their CRT's& power transformers, has been sold to > > the stock market 25+ years back, and is no longer worthy of our trust > > as a standard test gear item unless its still in warranty AND they > > will fix it. Note the caps, voice of experience. Whether they will > > honor the warranty is 100% up to the rep that sold it and there > > effectively is no warranty on anything you didn't buy new from him. > > If you buy it new from Rudy, but move to Jeffs territory, Rudy won't > > service it since its out of his area now, and Jeff won't service it > > because he didn't sell it. Obviously, its been 15 years since I have > > considered the purchase of anything from Tektronix. > > > > Cheers, Gene > > Gene, > > That's why I bought a 30 year old scope... ;-) I ain't too worried > about Tek not honoring the warranty. I'm my own warranty. All the > things you said about your Hitachi hold true for my Tek scope. And I've > been picking and choosing Tek OEM probes for about $25 or less apiece. > And, I have all the service, cal and operators manuals for the scope, > probes and plugin modules. There are still a bunch of places that I can > get OEM parts for the Tek scopes too, so I'm not terribly worried about > non-availability of parts. Guys on the Tek mailing lists always seem to > have parts carcasses that have tested good components too. > > Mark
That is good to hear. At the time I was caught between those 2 mountains, the info to allow that simply was not 'on the net' then, so I (and the tv station) was well screwed without any KY. And for that sort of experience, I tend to have an excellent memory, always looking for the chance to 'get even'. Tek's problem AFAIAC. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ------ Cloud Computing - Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future? > This paper surveys cloud computing today: What are the benefits? > Why are businesses embracing it? What are its payoffs and pitfalls? > http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sdnl/114/51425149/ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet. -- Lao Tsu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cloud Computing - Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future? This paper surveys cloud computing today: What are the benefits? Why are businesses embracing it? What are its payoffs and pitfalls? http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sdnl/114/51425149/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
