[Amps] Advice on instruments for ham use

[carl seyersdahl]

Bill: I tried to answer your letter to Pete, with a CC to Amps, but my
server said "what's going on here?
 So, I ll try again a little shorter .!! If anyone has a scope that's better
than my old "an/usm-117 (a real antique) Please let me know. I used several
HP's in the late 50's early 60's in govt work, but I don't recall the
no's.!!
 they were pretty big, mounted on carts, and we used them mostly for RTTY
adjustments, etc.
   I'm not a beggar , but I have a few things I woul;d part with if I find
the right scope.!!! (but time is short)
  We have a local Hamfest coming up next week and some of my "treasures"
will go there (or to the dumpster)
  , even tho it makes me sad.!!!!
    Solid state or tubes is not important, as long as it works properly.!!!
     carl / kz5ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bill weinel" <tube_radio at mindspring.com>
To: "Pete Smith" <n4zr at contesting.com>
Cc: <amps at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Amps] Advice on instruments for ham use


> Pete Smith wrote:
> > I'm interested in acquiring a used solid-state oscilloscope for ham
> > use.  I know this isn't the place to ask, but hope that people who hang
> > out here can point me to a ham radio homebrew or similar mailing list
> > where people would have good advice on which models, what to pay, etc.
> > There are skillions of Google results based on searching for the above
> > topics but nothing, so far, that looks like the right answer.
>
> Hi Pete,
>
> I'd recommend you look for a Tektronix 465M or a 465. Both are 100Mhz
> triggered sweep dual trace scopes, very common, and can be found at good
> prices. The 465 series also features an external trigger and a B'delayed
> trigger. These are handy for looking for signal timing / glitch issues.
> I have two 465Ms here, one I bought for $75 in working condition, the
> other I bought as a parts unit for $25 (It had a broken volts/div switch
> on one channel.) However, since it was such a nice unit I couldn't bring
> myself to junk it. So I repaired it and use it here in the shop as well.
>
> As others have stated, I would go for a good quality analog scope over a
>   digital scope. Digital scopess tend to be harder to fix. Also I don't
> think digital scopes provide as good a picture of whats happening in an
> analog signal as an analog scope does. This is due to the
> sampling/averaging nature of the digital scope. So unless you can afford
> to purchase one with a very high sampling rate, I would go for a good
> quality analog scope.
>
> 73 Bill W4WHW
>
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