Upgrading to the TEK 2465B

[Bryan]

Hey Guys,

I'm thinking about upgrading from my current TEK 465 to the 2465B. Can anyone share ther impressions of this highly regarded scope? Will I notice a HUGE difference in quality and capability with the better scope, or should the funds go towards buying other toys (distortion meter, freq. gen., spectrum analyzer). I've heard good things about the 2465B, and verey few dislikes.

Also, does anyone have experience with having their unit serviced? What is the average going price for a good, clean, calibrated unit. Is there anything (or anyone - ebay) to avoid when purchasing a 2465B?

Any and all input is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bryan

[Algar_emi]

Hi. I worked in a calibration lab. for about 10 years. I had the extensive TEK service course on the 2445 and 2465 scopes. I worked also a lot on the 465 scope serie.

The 2465B is a superb scope but there is a catch. It uses a great deal of very specialized big TEK chips, for example 1 chip only per vertical channels. The service on these is almost impossible now. Most parts are no longer available. The last time I wanted our 2465B fix at work, the TEK service rep. didn't even know this scope model, too old

So, if your 2465 goes ''bye, bye Kansas, Dorothy'', you're dead in the water

The 465 serie is almost all discrete, except for a few chips. They can be rather easily fix, all transistors are in socket (matter of speaking, I search for about a month a defective transistor in mine, the horizontal sweep, dual timebases, is some time very difficult to troubleshoot.)

I would recommend that you stick to your 465. Much better scope for home. Or try to find some of the new TEK scopes on ebay (the suitcase serie with LCD screen. Some of their models sell for about 1.5K brand new. You should get a better price used. At least you can have it fix

My two cents