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Re: [TenTec] more oscilloscope questions

To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] more oscilloscope questions
From: Michael Goins <wmgoins@gmail.com>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:36:01 -0500
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
I'm not finding any of the "good ones" for $100 or less anywhere. Most are
$150-200 and freight, or in fairly bad shape (as in really beat up) with the
owners statement "lights up."

Mike, k5wmg
Pipe Creek, Texas
Fast cars, slow boats, big dogs, old trucks, little radios, and summers off
to write




On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Charles P. Steinmetz <
charles_steinmetz@lavabit.com> wrote:

> Mike wrote:
>
> >What about the more uncommon brands? Outside of Tek, B&K, Sencore are a
> >number of more high end and less expensive scopes. I am sort of "Joe
> >average" ham - build some, design a little, and want to design more and be
> >able to troubleshoot deeper.
>
> Outside of Tek and HP, there simply isn't much that passes as a
> useful scope.  Phillips and Hitachi both made some OK scopes, but
> B&K, Leader, and Sencore never did IMO.  The lesser scopes don't
> trigger properly, drift, don't hold calibration, have nonlinear
> sweeps, have peaky high-frequency responses, intermittent switch
> contacts, etc., etc., and are often unreliable and
> failure-prone.  IME, the Tek 22xx "value" series shares some of these
> attributes -- I'd stick with the 4xx or 24xx series if the price is > $75.
>
> Can someone get by with less?  Sure -- just like Isaac Stern will
> sound good on any fiddle you hand him.  But the casual user is even
> more in need of decent equipment than the expert, because (s)he needs
> to be able to count on it without having to work around and take into
> account a host of irregularities.  And since good HP and Tek scopes
> are available for so little these days, there is just no need to
> consider others unless the budget is truly miniscule (< $100).
>
> >I don't think I need a 200 MHz all-the-bells-and-whistles scope, but I'm
> not
> >sure a 50 MHz is the best choice either - at least based on the
> information
> >I received from some of the knowledgeable guys here.
>
> There is a reason that the 100 MHz dual-trace delayed-sweep
> "portable" bench scope is, and has been for 40+ years, the workhorse
> of the industry.  Since you can get a good one for $100 or less if
> you shop carefully, why not, unless you're looking for something
> cheaper than $100.  As for the presence or absence of features, any
> HP 17xx or Tek 4xx or 24xx comes with a set of features that you will
> eventually be very glad you have, even if you do not yet know what they do.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Charles
>
>
>
>
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