[TenTec] OT: Scopes

[James C. Owen, III]

I don't know how anyone can easily trouble shoot without a scope. When I was gainfully employed it was the one piece of test equipment that was dead center on the workbench and it's still center at home.  Scopes can be found cheaply if you work the hamfest or watch ebay. My most recent one I wasn't even planning to purchase, since I already had four. But at the Frost Fest in Richmond the first of the month when everyone was packing up to leave, one guy had a Tektronix 7904 for sale. If you're not familar with it it's a 500 Mhz scope with space for four plug-ins and 20 years ago cost in the area of $10,000. He had a $25.00 price on it and kept trying to get me to purchase it. I kept resisting until he said "I don't want to cart it around anymore, you can have it for $5.00". Well guess what, I bought it and when checking it out found it worked perfectly and even looks to be in or quite close to calibration. My point with this  long spiel is, you don't
 have to pay too much if you look in the right places and be patient. Now for my recommendations: The Sencore SC-61 waveform analyzer is a 60 Mhz scope with built in digital  DC voltmeter, frequency counter and Peak to Peak AC voltmeter. You can find it on Ebay usually around $100.00 but if patient much less. I have two and paid less than $75.00 each. The next is the Tektronic 465 or 475 again around $100-$150 or less. Just look at any of the swap sheets and wait till a nice one comes along.  BTW you can fine great signal generators as well. I picked up my HP-606 for $75.00 on ebay and my HP-608E at a hamfest for $15.00.
73 Jim



________________________________
 From: "Hulett, Russell" <rhulett1 at consolidated.net>
To: tentec at contesting.com 
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 2:14 PM
Subject: [TenTec] OT: Scopes
 
I've avoided owning a scope, but the recent discussion about troubleshooting low power from an Omni D has me rethinking.  Most of the gear I own now old, have managed to diagnose problems without owning a scope.  In one case, the problem with an old hollow-state receiver was found by poking around with a wooden dowel to expose a poor solder joint.  My main concern is spending more money on a scope than my shack is worth, or alternately spending more time fixing a used scope than is warranted.  

Would be curious about thoghts from others who repair their own gear about what minimum-required scope would be.
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