Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Tektronix 2215A

AndrewBrolowski

Mar 7, 2014
1
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Messages
1
I just bought a Tektronix 2215A o-scope and it all functions work well EXCEPT that the both traces on the CRT gradually fade to becoming nearly invisible when the "A and B SEC/DIV" is decreased to below 0.2 microseconds (...and 0.1 and 0.05 being the last lowest time settings). I suspect it is degassing of the CRT but would really appreciate additional opinions before I tear into it.

Andrew
 

davenn

Moderator
Sep 5, 2009
14,254
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
14,254
Hi Andrew
welcome to Electronics Point :)

tho you may get some answers here
if not there a really good tektronix group on yahoo groups
that I have belonged to for many years and lots of very good help will be found :)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TekScopes/

cheers
Dave
 

elebish

Aug 16, 2013
177
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Messages
177
I just bought a Tektronix 2215A o-scope and it all functions work well EXCEPT that the both traces on the CRT gradually fade to becoming nearly invisible when the "A and B SEC/DIV" is decreased to below 0.2 microseconds (...and 0.1 and 0.05 being the last lowest time settings). I suspect it is degassing of the CRT but would really appreciate additional opinions before I tear into it.

Andrew
Most scopes use a brightness enhancement circuit to brighten the trace when the time base switches to higher speeds. Sounds as though your problem is the opposite! I would check the crt cathode voltage at different sweep speeds. The potential should be approx. a negative 2400 vdc. There are also "unblanking" circuits that are used for eliminating the retrace lines that are controlled by sawtooth waveforms that are produced in the horiz sweep circuits. The trigger circuits provide the trigger to start the sweep. Make voltage measurements in the Z axis and horiz sweep circuits first but be careful of the higher voltages that can bite.
Another problem can be the persistence of the phosphor is degraded enough to not maintain a bright enough trace when sweep speeds are slow. That would indicate a bad crt. NOTE: The high voltage to the anode of the crt should be about 12000 to 15000 vdc, enough to cause severe dilatation of the eyeballs! Ed.
 

shrtrnd

Jan 15, 2010
3,876
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
3,876
All good advice above.
The first thing I'd do however, is increase the CRT 'intensity' pot, to see if those signals become visible.
 
Top