Oscilloscope replace?

[hermitcrab]

My old heathkit 10 mhz dual trace scope is on it's last legs... I built this back in the 80's and has worked fine , but now sometimes it works, other times not... I would rebuild it, but my bench is too crowded now and having a 18" long cabinet sitting on the bench is out of the question ... I have been looking at the new digital scopes that are only the size of a VOM ... but kinda wary if they are worth what they want for them or if they can handle the high voltages... anyone have one that can enlighten me ?

[electra225]

I have no experience with one of the new oscilloscopes like you describe. I don't have a lot of experience with ANY scope, if I'm being totally honest. I have an old Heathkit IO-12 and a Tektronics 532 that my elmer fixed and gave me. The Tek has 77 tubes and it really cool to watch in operation. The little Heathkit is more practical to use, but it needs a new probe. I like using the old tube equipment on old tube entertainment gear. Both of mine have enough bandwidth for anything I mess with. I'm sure the modern stuff would work just fine, maybe better. Good luck.

[Motorola minion]

Not much in between size-wise. I have a '70 Tektronix 516, '64 RCA WO-91 and very cheap/portable Sencore PS-120. First two of those are not for a small bench, but a rolling cart. The Sencore is a budget model for quick diagnosis, rather than alignment/troubleshooting finesse. Only a TV shop let them take up precious space on the bench. Audio work occasionally demands a dual trace scope.

The RCA is a dedicated workhorse that was mandatory for early (round CRT) color TV work, which I still do 45 years later, because some guys in my age group really want them fixed. It is a green single trace CRT but the resolution and input sensitivity is ideal for this work.

I bought and sold two Japanese made dual-trace scopes, Leader LBO-524 and Hitachi V422.
While they could do the same thing as the Tek 516 and were portable, I can also sell them to beginner techs. I can appreciate the Tek more, though its not very portable

The small LCD scopes are pretty interesting and if I REALLY needed one, I'd spend the money like I did on my Fluke 177. Like an ESR tester, a DMM is a must have for anyone working on audio equipment.

[electra225]

I haven't decided yet whether I want to mess with tube CRT TV's or not. Probably not color, though. I have neither the room not the interest in messing with old color TV sets. I would like to get the TV in the Stereo Theater sorted and usable, plus I have three or four other old B&W TV's I have saved from the junk for various reasons. One was my dad's last new TV. I know I need a scope for many of the repair procedures in TV, so I need to get more familiar with a scope. Maybe somebody on here can help me with that when the time comes.

[Firedome]

My late uncle had 3 Tek scopes, all ex-IBM. I gave the 2 big ones, huge old 535 and 545A series with all the manuals to the TechWorks Museum downtown, and I kept the cool little 310A, also with manuals (he saved everything). It's missing probes, and I need to get some to learn more about it. The 310s were used by IBM customer engineers in the field. All 3 Teks were all-tube models with ceramic strip wiring, and no doubt be difficult to restore. The little 310A was the one he liked most and I saw him using it only 6-7 years ago, so hoping it still works. When we get back from Denver (it snowed 4" here this morning, 60s by Saturday), I plan to look into finding the correct probes so I can play with it enough to find a use for it. It looks just like the big Teks but it's about 1/4 the size, it's cute!

[electra225]

I haven't had the 532 on for several years. It has a 6AL5 that hangs upside down that doesn't make good contact in the tube socket. Lloyd would take the side panel off and massage that little tube when it went wonky. I'm not brave enough to risk contacting mega-voltage to mess with that tube. The thing is full of 5U4 rectifiers, several of them. But, it's neat to use and to see it in operation. IT has a cart and all that, just not very practical to use. I probably should remove the tubes and toss the rest, but it has sentimantal value, and we all know how that works.

[19&41]

With the digital scopes, the refresh rate is important. For the purposes we use a scope for, you will want as continuous as possible. It would be comparable to a movie film in that it should show a signal with as little flicker as possible.

[Firedome]

Actually there is following for those old 500 series Teks, there's a whole FB group devoted to vintage scopes. Though the audience is small and they're not likely to ever bring a great deal price-wise, there is an audience that appreciates them.

[electra225]

I'd let mine go to a good home. I don't want to just junk it, but I really don't have any use for it.

[hermitcrab]

Maybe I'll wait and see if they make a app for your smart phone to turn it into a o-scope... they have aps for everything else

[electra225]

I work part time so I don't set around and rust. I don't want to work to be a manager or for a promotion. Just do my thing, go home at the end of the day. I don't even care about the money. They pay me to do what I enjoy, so fine. Recently, the boss came to me and advised me that I have to accept a new company cell phone. I can't make calls on it, can't get on the Internet, so I would still have to carry my phone for those duties. The company phone would basically be a scanner so we wouldn't have to fight over the current scanners, hide them so we can find one when we need it. I can barely be accountable for my phone, let alone two phones. But, here we are, in the land of the cellphone. Kids can walk while looking at their phone. I can barely walk paying attention to what I'm doing. An app for checking turntable speed might be nice, and I'll bet there is one out there. I have a friend that still twists wrenches and his phone does all kinds of cool stuff in that regard. People our age wear glasses thick as stovelids because we stared at a 10" black and white TV snowy TV screen watching Heckle and Jeckle cartoons on Saturday morning. Kids nowadays, when they are our age, will wear glasses thick as stovelids from staring at those little bitty screens on a cellphone. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Motorola minion]

Maybe I'll wait and see if they make a app for your smart phone to turn it into a o-scope... they have aps for everything else

Oh no, another super-tiny screen! Ill keep my 5" round green screen. I just got an EICO 460, https://www.ebay.com/itm/334376771820?_ ... BMiqKVj_df
which was the exact scope we used in HS voTech. Single-trace scopes like that and my RCA are great for TV work. Tech has some very intimidating Tek, DuMont and HP scopes, but the high schoolers like me were intimidated and used the EICOs instead

But there is something awesome about a Tektronix scope, that no other manufacturer matched, not even HP. My dual trace 516 is going on a "crash-cart" with my signal generator and tracer. It is a must-have for FM alignment and signal troubleshooting of radios. Scopes are more fun on audio equipment.

[Motorola minion]

oop dbl post

[TC Chris]

I have done that more than once. Many more. But either the program or one of our vigilant moderators fixes it. I only see one post.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

Here's the baby Tek 310A I got from my uncle, so cute, now need to find some probes and learn how to use it!
It'll be good to learn on a simple one and it should be able to do all I need.

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/310

[electra225]

This is the one I have. It seems to be an orphan, a stop gap model. There is not much information out there on it.

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/532

[19&41]

It's not the actual unit, but this is the one I have.

[Firedome]

I just gave away H and Z Tek plug-ins to my recording studio friend last week, he got my uncles 545 scope as well.
I couldn't keep it, it was too heavy to schlep around even just in my basement.

[electra225]

The 545 is the good one, the one all the collectors like.

[hermitcrab]

Well here is part of my tax refund... there are so many features on this that I will never use... but it seems to do what I need just fine..