Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Scope question

Y

Yoda

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi All,

I'm getting ready to buy an oscilloscope for my own use. I had decided to
buy an older refurbished HP 54600A DSO. Mainly because it's what I use at
work and I'm comfortable with it and like the automatic measurements. But
after pricing them ($800 and up), I feel like I'd probably be better off
going with one of the new low-end Tek scopes like the TDS 1000 or TDS 2000
series. I'm not building spaceships and just need a good general purpose DSO
for everyday signal and measurement use. I don't want to take my chances on
Ebay.

My question is, how do the newer Tek scopes compare to this old HP I've been
getting ready to buy? Max budget is about $1500 which puts the TDS 2012 in
reach. And secondly, please recommend any good places to buy online, good
service and support etc. Thanks for any comments.

-Dave
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi All,

I'm getting ready to buy an oscilloscope for my own use. I had decided to
buy an older refurbished HP 54600A DSO. Mainly because it's what I use at
work and I'm comfortable with it and like the automatic measurements. But
after pricing them ($800 and up), I feel like I'd probably be better off
going with one of the new low-end Tek scopes like the TDS 1000 or TDS 2000
series. I'm not building spaceships and just need a good general purpose DSO
for everyday signal and measurement use. I don't want to take my chances on
Ebay.

My question is, how do the newer Tek scopes compare to this old HP I've been
getting ready to buy? Max budget is about $1500 which puts the TDS 2012 in
reach. And secondly, please recommend any good places to buy online, good
service and support etc. Thanks for any comments.

-Dave

I have, um, about 50 oscilloscopes, and the 2012 is the one I use
regularly [1]. It's small, light, works great, has a nice color
display, and is easy to drive.

John

[1] and an 11801 for the fast stuff.
 
B

Bob

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Larkin said:
Hi All,

I'm getting ready to buy an oscilloscope for my own use. I had decided to
buy an older refurbished HP 54600A DSO. Mainly because it's what I use at
work and I'm comfortable with it and like the automatic measurements. But
after pricing them ($800 and up), I feel like I'd probably be better off
going with one of the new low-end Tek scopes like the TDS 1000 or TDS 2000
series. I'm not building spaceships and just need a good general purpose DSO
for everyday signal and measurement use. I don't want to take my chances on
Ebay.

My question is, how do the newer Tek scopes compare to this old HP I've been
getting ready to buy? Max budget is about $1500 which puts the TDS 2012 in
reach. And secondly, please recommend any good places to buy online, good
service and support etc. Thanks for any comments.

-Dave

I have, um, about 50 oscilloscopes, and the 2012 is the one I use
regularly [1]. It's small, light, works great, has a nice color
display, and is easy to drive.

John

[1] and an 11801 for the fast stuff.

Yep. I concur.

I've used, and own, a bunch of scopes. I just bought a TDS2024. It's a
fabulous piece of equipment for its cost.

Get the 2012. You won't regret it.

Bob
 
R

Rich Webb

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi All,

I'm getting ready to buy an oscilloscope for my own use. I had decided to
buy an older refurbished HP 54600A DSO. Mainly because it's what I use at
work and I'm comfortable with it and like the automatic measurements. But
after pricing them ($800 and up), I feel like I'd probably be better off
going with one of the new low-end Tek scopes like the TDS 1000 or TDS 2000
series. I'm not building spaceships and just need a good general purpose DSO
for everyday signal and measurement use. I don't want to take my chances on
Ebay.

My question is, how do the newer Tek scopes compare to this old HP I've been
getting ready to buy? Max budget is about $1500 which puts the TDS 2012 in
reach. And secondly, please recommend any good places to buy online, good
service and support etc. Thanks for any comments.

I have one of its older siblings, a TDS 220, and find it to be a great
"home" scope.

Isn't there a thumb-rule that goes: Buy Tek scopes and HP analyzers?
 
Y

Yoda

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thanks all for the comments. It seems that duty cycle is not one of the
automatic measurements. Not a huge deal considering this would be easy to
get with everything else it does but it would be nice if it was auto. Did I
miss something?

Dave


Bob said:
purpose
chances
on
Ebay.

My question is, how do the newer Tek scopes compare to this old HP I've been
getting ready to buy? Max budget is about $1500 which puts the TDS 2012 in
reach. And secondly, please recommend any good places to buy online, good
service and support etc. Thanks for any comments.

-Dave

I have, um, about 50 oscilloscopes, and the 2012 is the one I use
regularly [1]. It's small, light, works great, has a nice color
display, and is easy to drive.

John

[1] and an 11801 for the fast stuff.

Yep. I concur.

I've used, and own, a bunch of scopes. I just bought a TDS2024. It's a
fabulous piece of equipment for its cost.

Get the 2012. You won't regret it.

Bob
 
B

Bill Bowden

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yoda said:
Hi All,

I'm getting ready to buy an oscilloscope for my own use. I had decided to
buy an older refurbished HP 54600A DSO. Mainly because it's what I use at
work and I'm comfortable with it and like the automatic measurements. But
after pricing them ($800 and up), I feel like I'd probably be better off
going with one of the new low-end Tek scopes like the TDS 1000 or TDS 2000
series. I'm not building spaceships and just need a good general purpose DSO
for everyday signal and measurement use. I don't want to take my chances on
Ebay.

My question is, how do the newer Tek scopes compare to this old HP I've been
getting ready to buy? Max budget is about $1500 which puts the TDS 2012 in
reach. And secondly, please recommend any good places to buy online, good
service and support etc. Thanks for any comments.

-Dave

I have an old scope I'll give away for the cost of shipping if you are
interested. It's a single trace "Lab-volt AA792D" 15MHz I bought at a
swap meet for $10. Worked well for a couple years, but now has an
attenuator problem. I tried tuner cleaner and WD-40
with no success. Probably need to bend the switch contacts
to fix it. But getting inside is a problem and requires disconnecting
20 or so connections from a circuit board that covers the attenuator
box.

Looks like a lot of effort, and it may never work again when I get
done, so I'll just send it off to a good home if I can find one.
Or, I could just put it in the trash can.

Contact me at this address if interested:

[email protected]

-Bill
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have an old scope I'll give away for the cost of shipping if you are
interested. It's a single trace "Lab-volt AA792D" 15MHz I bought at a
swap meet for $10. Worked well for a couple years, but now has an
attenuator problem. I tried tuner cleaner and WD-40

Sorry, but if you got WD-40 in the contacts, it's all over. It's
landfill, or maybe you could part it out.

WD-40 is for door hinges and car front end squeaks. It's about the
worst possible crap you can inflict on electronics. (other than,
say, battery acid, of course.) When it dries, it turns to Cosmolene.

The WD-40 can be cleaned out with acetone or MEK, but they're
awfully hard on plastic parts, so that would just break something
else. I don't know if it's possible to get TCE (trichlorethylene)
or TCA (trichlorethane) - they're pretty benign solvents that will
clean up WD-40. Maybe even isopropyl alcohol - but use 75% or
better so that it dries properly.

Sorry.
Rich
 
B

Bill Bowden

Jan 1, 1970
0
Rich said:
Sorry, but if you got WD-40 in the contacts, it's all over. It's
landfill, or maybe you could part it out.

WD-40 is for door hinges and car front end squeaks. It's about the
worst possible crap you can inflict on electronics. (other than,
say, battery acid, of course.) When it dries, it turns to Cosmolene.

The WD-40 can be cleaned out with acetone or MEK, but they're
awfully hard on plastic parts, so that would just break something
else. I don't know if it's possible to get TCE (trichlorethylene)
or TCA (trichlorethane) - they're pretty benign solvents that will
clean up WD-40. Maybe even isopropyl alcohol - but use 75% or
better so that it dries properly.

Sorry.
Rich

Well, I think I used WD-40 on another scope attenuator last year and
it's still working well. I'm running a WD-40 experiment now on a old
intermittent 2500 ohm circuit board pot. I soaked the pot with WD-40
which eliminated the bad spots and the resistance changes very smoothly
now. The mechanical movement is also much easier. I'll check the
condition in 10 days and report the results.

-Bill
 
Top