[Test-Equipment] O-Scopes

[John Parker]

Thanks to all for their input.  But, what is everyone's feeling about the 
Tektronix 2213 scope?

John

-----Original Message-----
From: test-equipment-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:test-equipment-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Steve Harrison
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 6:48 PM
To: test-equipment at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [Test-Equipment] O-Scopes

At 06:51 PM 12/2/2007 -0600, you wrote:
>On Sun, 2 Dec 2007, John Parker wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to figure out which is the best general type of O-Scope to
>> purchase without breaking my wallet.
>
>My opinion, which probably isn't worth much would be to try and get 
>something like a Tek 465. I think scope prices have come down with the 
>advent of digital scopes with screens other than CRT's.
>
>I use a Tek 2236 which has a built-in DVM/counter which is handy.

Go to eBay and do a search on search terms such as tektronix, tekt*, etc.
You'll get several hundred listings. Many will be from fly-by-night
equipment brokers, some of whom will have warranties, some won't. For your
application, a 60 MHz scope will be adequate but a 100 MHz will be really
good. You can find all sorts of things like 465s, 475s, 7603s, 7633s, etc.
Make certain the seller claims it works and that you can return it if not.
Shipping won't be cheap so take that into account. You can generally get
one of the above for less than $150. Many of the dealers will have
Buy-It-Now prices several times that but usually, if it works, at least a
30-day warranty. Many even offer 7-day "Right-Of-Refusal" or the ability to
immediately return it if you don't like it, even if it works properly.

Remember you also need probes and those aren't cheap; you won't usually
find a pair of 100+MHz probes complete with tip clamps and grounding wires
for less than $40.... EACH.

To get an idea of a dealer's price structure, be sure to look at other
things they've got listed. You may, as I did, find them listing a scope at
what looks like a low BIN price but when I checked their other listings of
other equipment, most had higher prices than I thought reasonable. While
checking with buddies who knew the companies, they said the companies
weren't their own first choice when they ran across them at swap meets; the
equipment generally was in pretty crummy shape. Going back to eBay, I then
looked further at other listings of these companies and discovered they
were using the same photograph of one model, for ALL listings they had of
that model. In other words, they weren't showing exactly what the equipment
really looked like. Further, both of the two companies I was looking at,
had only a few dozen feedbacks, despite having nearly a hundred listings.
That likely means they recently changed user IDs, probably to get away from
numerous complaints/poor feedback.

Steve, K0XP
______________________________________________________________
Test-Equipment mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/test-equipment
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html
Post: mailto:Test-Equipment at mailman.qth.net