[net.wanted] Oscilloscope Recommendations

cem@intelca.UUCP (Chuck McManis) (06/26/85)

I am in the market for a general purpose oscilloscope for around the house
trouble shooting (TV's, stereos) and serious experimentation on TTL, and
microbased circuits that are from .01 to 20 MHz. So it looks like I could
use a 100MHz scope and found there are quite a few available. Of the many
I have looked at the following are the current contenders (in order of
increasing cost)

B&K - Pretty cheap at $995 but also feels it too.
Hitachi V1050F - some what nicer at $1685.
Kiksui (sp?) 6100 - which is real nice at $1995 with simultaneous viewing of
 regular sweep and the delayed sweep. Plus trigger view and some others.
Tektronix 2200 series (2215 probably) - Has a good name behind it but I have
 heard some disappointed comments from people who have used them.

So the call goes out, if you have used one of the above or some other 100 Mhz
scope that had delayed sweep and a reasonable sized screen (NLS doesn't count)
and it retails in qty 1 for less than $2000 I would be interested in 
hearing your comments pro or con.

--Chuck
-- 
"Unix, the Teco of Operating Systems."      - - - D I S C L A I M E R - - - 
{ihnp4,fortune}!dual\                     All opinions expressed herein are my
        {qantel,idi}-> !intelca!cem       own and not those of my employer, my
 {ucbvax,hao}!hplabs/                     friends, or my avocado plant. :-}

parnass@ihlpm.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (06/28/85)

x
     My	first decent scope was a used B&K  1472,  a  30	 MHz
     unit  actually  manufactured  by Trio.  Its performance
     and quality of  construction  were	 very  satisfactory.
     Perhaps  some  of	the newer B&K models aren't built as
     well.  The	newer Hitachi and Hameg	 scopes	 don't	have
     the same quality "feel" of	the older B&K.

     I later upgraded to a 60 MHz Tek 2215  scope  and	have
     been satisfied with it.  My 2215 was an early unit, and
     was modified for free by the local	 Tek  field  service
     office  within  the  1  year  warrantee period with all
     updates, including	 a  modification  to  the  switching
     power supply unit to reduce audible noise and RFI.	 The
     only feature I miss on the	Tek  2215  is  the  lack  of
     switchable	 input filtering (e.g. HF reject, LF reject,
     etc.).

     A lot of money  was  saved	 by  buying  the  B&K  used,
     although I	reluctantly paid list price for	the new	Tek.
     I always wanted a Tek, and	there was no way  to  buy  a
     new  Tek or HP scope without paying list price plus tax
     (in Illinois).

     Although I	don't get as much use out of the scope as  I
     thought  I	 would,	there's	just no	substitute when	I do
     need it.  I built a 550 - 1650 kHz	band  reject  filter
     using  hand  selected components.	Having a scope and a
     sweep generator allowed me	to  measure  filter  charac-
     teristics as I tried different capacitors from my junk-
     box.

     A good technician can use a  scope	 for  many  measure-
     ments,  but  I  still haven't broken away from using my
     trusty Fluke 8024B	DMM and	solid state VIZ	Master	Vol-
     tOhmyst.

     Having the	proper equipment, and several cans  of	cir-
     cuit  cooler  spray, gives	me the confidence to take in
     the "tough	dog" repair jobs, like	the  Drake  R4C	 ham
     receiver  that the	factory	couldn't or wouldn't fix (an
     flakey product detector caused by a cold  solder  joint
     on	the BFO	transistor).

> I am in the market for a general purpose oscilloscope for around the house
> trouble shooting (TV's, stereos) and serious experimentation on TTL, and
> microbased circuits that are from .01 to 20 MHz. So it looks like I could
> use a 100MHz scope and found there are quite a few available. 

	......
-- 
===============================================================================
Bob Parnass,  Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414
             ignore paths in the header, use this one instead