tektronics 503 scope

From: Barry A. Watzman <Watzman_at_ibm.net>
Date: Mon Dec 14 18:34:37 1998

The 465 series are generally considered to be excellent scopes. Tony was right, $600 is about the going rate, neither a bargain nor a ripoff (depending to a degree on the condition of the scope). When looking at a square wave, it is normal for the horizontal tops and bottoms to be brighter/thicker than the vertical segments. The linear speed of the beam when drawing the vertical lines is MANY times (sometimes hundreds or thousands of times) faster (in mm/second of beam travel) than when drawing the horizontal tops and bottoms, which results in a difference in the nature of the display.

Barry Watzman


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From: Tony Duell [SMTP:ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk]
Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 2:29 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: tektronics 503 scope

>
> So, what's your (or anyone else's, for that matter) opinion on the Tek
> 465B? I bought a used one as a Christmas gift for my partner; with two

_Very_ nice portable 'scopes. I never owned one, but I've used the 465,
466, 453, etc and I like them a lot.

> probes, an original manual, and shipping, it was around $600. It

That is about the 'going rate', I think. Not a bargain price IMHO, but
not high either. And considering that's what you'd pay for a cheap new
no-name 'scope, I'd much rather have the Tek.

> appears to work fine except that when I connect the probes to the
> square-wave calibration output, the horizontal portions of the waves
> seem to be much "thicker" vertically than they should be. The vertical

Does the thickness depend on the vertical attenuation (is it noise coming
in from somewhere)? Can you resolve any structure to it by fiddling with
the timebase (in other words could it be noise on the supply lines from
somewhere - noise which almost certainly isn't at line frequency). What
does the spot look like in X-Y mode with no signal?

> Anyone know if there's another adjustment I'm missing? I've only got
> the user's guide - not the service manual. =20

I can't think of another adjustment, but it's worth getting the service
manual and going through the performance checks in there. And also
checking for supply ripple, etc (yes, a second 'scope is worth having at
this point...)

-tony
Received on Mon Dec 14 1998 - 18:34:37 GMT