[Amps] LeCroy scopes

[Bill Fuqua]

Good point, Once I got past the deficiencies of the input amplifiers I 
should have mentioned the probes because many thing that the x10 probes 
will protect their equipment when often they will not. The compensation 
capacitor which is between the probe tip and the input of the scope 
(parallel with a 9 MegOhm resistor normally) may break down. My only 
explanation of why Tektronix scopes are generally better is because they 
had a longer history of solid state oscilloscope development and production 
than HP or LeCroy. HP for a while completely got out of the Oscilloscope 
business. And until digital oscilloscopes became more practical. Their 
first fast Digital  Scopes had + - 20 volt limitations on the inputs and 
the horizontal inputs and vertical inputs had different impedances so that 
you needed two sets of probes if you were going to externally sync on a 
waveform.

73
Bill wa4lav
  At 11:54 AM 2/27/2006 -0500, Carcia, Francis A         HS wrote:
>  Be careful with probes also. Many are not rated for high voltage and will
>fail if clipped to a high voltage signal for long periods of time. gfz
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: amps-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces at contesting.com] On
>Behalf Of Bill Fuqua
>Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 11:37 AM
>To: craxd1 at verizon.net; amps at contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [Amps] LeCroy scopes
>
>LeCroy is a manufacturer of electronic scientific instruments. Their
>instruments are designed to meet the needs of researchers and not those
>repairing or aligning equipment. An example a LeCroy digitizing
>oscilloscope will properly average a number of waveforms  while some of the
>Tektronix scopes will not. Some of the older digital Tektronix scopes use
>an algorithm that is not a true average but does appear to the eye  to be,
>which is generally good enough unless you are gathering statical data in an
>experiment.
>      HP and LeCroy Scopes (older ones at least) do not have as good of
>input amplifiers as the equivalent Tektronix scope. Almost all Tek scopes
>will allow input signals up to about 400 volts peak on their input with out
>damage to the scope, even on the most sensitive ranges. This is very
>important when you may be probing around in vacuum tube equipment and may
>perhaps drop the probe or mistakenly connect it to the wrong test point.
>Many of the other manufacturer's scopes are limited to 20 or 40 volts peak
>on the inputs some as low as 5 volts.
>
>
>73
>Bill wa4lav
>
>
>At 09:31 AM 2/27/2006 -0500, Will Matney wrote:
> >All,
> >
> >I'm thinking about buying one more scope for the shop with about a 200 to
> >300 MHz bandwidth and am looking at my options. I've noticed a few LeCroy
> >scopes out there for sale, am wondering how good they are, and some
> >details about them. They seem to be pretty high priced though as compared
> >to an HP or a Tek. What's the deal with these high prices, and what would
> >make them command a higher price than a HP or a Tek? I've also noticed
> >they're more scarce for sell than either of the others also. Any info on
> >these LeCroys would be helpful. Thanks to all in advance.
> >
> >Best,
> >
> >Will
> >
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