Speaking of Tek scopes, I am reminded of a departed ham friend of mine who
worked for Tektronix. In the late 1950s, the state of the art Tek scope
went up to 30-50 MHz. The Atomic Energy Commission went to Tektronix and
wanted to examine nuclear particles and needed a scope that would go to 1
gHz. This was a 20 fold increase in badnwidth. Most of the Tek engineers
said it was not possible. But Cliff Moulton, W7MFW, thought he could do it.
Cliff was a bit different. He was a true genius and exhibited some
characteristics of a mind that works at a different level (perhaps a
characteristic of all hams). The Tektronix campus was large and Cliff rode
his unicycle between buildings. Like Rudolph, some of the other engineers
did not treat him as an equal and were upset when he got permission from
Jack Murdock to take his unicycle into the buildings.
So, Cliff began working on the 519. Some time later, no results and someone
complained that Cliff was building a ham amplifier on company time and with
company funds. Parts ordered by Cliff were 4CX250F tubes and hardline coax
cable - certainly not for a Tektronix scope. Soon, the 519 appeared, which
had a bandwidth of 1 gHz, all before 1960. Of course the 4CX250F was used
for the sweep generator and the hardline was the delay line.
Cliff retired early and Tek tried to discontinue the 519 many times, but
demand kept it returning from its grave. The last catalog appearance was
1973.
Cliff used a Collins 75S-1 and 32S-1 along with a Johnson amplifier.
73, Colin K7FM
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