Digital Oscilloscope?

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cihtog

Member
Joined 2006
anatech said:
Hi cihtog,

So, are you saying that you don't use your 'scope?

-Chris
Click to expand...

NO - "for a newer scope, that I just don't need"

Not sure how you got, "don't need at all", out of, "don't need a newer one", but my point was - That for all of the features offered, on the newer scope (which I talk myself out of frequently), they would go mostly unused, as a wasted investment, that would add nothing to my bench, besides a bigger screen, and smaller footprint - i.e., as cool as a brand new SUV would be, if my old Subaru ever broke down, I'd probably just get another old Subaru. - it takes me to work, that's all it does, that's all I need it to do.

If I got a newer scope, it most likely would be one of the two Rigols mentioned, but it would be an impulse buy, and not something that I could live without.
 
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jasse

jasse

Member
Joined 2015
anatech said:
Hi gadut,
The old Tek 465 is a real workhorse and an excellent 'scope. Sometimes the tantalum capacitors fail. Just do them all if that happens. The newer 2235 is another good scope, but the buttons break easily and there is a triac that you need to solder the leads onto the connector. The Philips PM3070 is actually a very good 'scope. Major failure is all the electrolytic caps in the power supply. You get about the sharpest trace with that one. Any HP / Agilent 'scope is excellent. I found and rebuilt an old 1722A from 1974. It's excellent! Any HP scope is well worth grabbing. No so-called trigger problems. The 1741A is the 100 MHz model. The 1722A is about 275 MHz, dual trace. I really like that one, and if my 2465B fails too bad to fix, the 1722A will take it's place.

B&K, Leader are so-so. I would go with a Leader between those two. Hitachi and others are okay.

-Chris
Click to expand...

I have a Tektronics 465 at home that just goes blackout sometimes.
Not even the "grid backlight" works when it zonks out, but the rest of the indicator light work all the time.

I have not tried to repair it yet (I own 3 other scopes), but suggestions on starting points to repair it are appreciated.
I have the manuals for it but have not read'em all yet.

I'm reluctant to scrap a 100MHz scope without even trying to fix it.
 
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cliffforrest

Member
Joined 2004
Jasse,

The tek service book is all you need to fix it!

First step is to check all the power rails for DC and ripple. You will see that there is one reference supply that the others refer to.

Expired electro caps and small tantalum decouplers that fail dead short are common with this vintage - -but intermittent is more difficult to track down.
 
Mooly

Mooly

Administrator
Joined 2007
Paid Member
:cop:

rickv14623... please read the rules regarding advertising in the standard forums.

Quote/
Not allowed... 11: Posting overtly commercial information or advertising in non-commercial forums. (Note 4)

I am moving your post over to your existing vendors thread.
 
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1audio

Member
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Picoscope-An alternative view
I have been using them for over 15 years. The other USB scopes I tried really did not work well. The version 5 software worked great for me. The transition to version 6 was jarring but I'm warming to it. They are really capable but that brings complexity. I have not had problems with either the software crashing or the hardware (even the 2 15 year old parallel interface scopes still work at spec in Win 10).

The latest software (V6.13.6) seems to work quite well. Some trick features like resolution enhancement are useful. The zoom doesn't give me random settings. I did not find a zoom for the vertical axis and the timebase zoom worked as expected.
 
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SemperFi

Member
Joined 2002
You're probably right. I haven't tried the latest software. I can attest to Picoscopes at least being professional tools and the results can be presented in formal documents. I just happen to have a grunch with them, ought to keep that to myself. I have a 5444B which isn't cheap and it lastet about 2years before dying. I've tried multiple times to contact Picotech regarding fixing it, and the vendor which forwarded me to Pico. I never get an answer. I have used them since about 2000, the 16bit parallel port version, ADC216? But my old PC is dead and that old PC scope doesn't work with newer PCs. About the axis setting. I asked them at Electronica16 and the folks at the stand were agreeing with me but said the old man doing the software didn't think it mattered and refused to fix the software so the axis could be set to whole numbers, or any number selected by the user. Perhaps that has finally been fixed. I have the dirt cheap 2205A for basic T/S duties and can try the latest software. If I can find it...
 
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1audio

Member
Joined 2004
Paid Member
I did have a problem in the far distant past with a Picoscope and they were quite helpful. I'm surprised you are having trouble getting support.

I have 2 ADC200-100's. They work on systems with internal bidirectional parallel ports. Even the add-in cards don't work. But some motherboards still have the parallel ports.

The Version 5 software still supports them. Your 16 bit Picoscope should be pretty useful with version 5, which works on Win 10. However you need to install Win 10 as 32 bit.
 
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