Dear Tek friends,
Yesterday, after an interesting logistics operation (involving a 18 wheel
truck, which transported the unit to a meeting point in the middle of a
highway), I finally got my LA-265A Tektronix clone. BTW, it has made a
large trip, as fist attempt to pick it up las week failed, as route
changed, so it went from south Spain (Granada) to south of France
(Perpignan), then to Spain again (Madrid), then back to Granada and
finally, to Valencia (east of Spain)
But, well, it is at last here!. I only own one 500 series oscilloscope, a
545B which I got last summer in a flea market in Marseille (south of
France). I was there with my family during a holiday period... but you know
Tek-illness goes with you to everywhere ;-)!
So I was tempted when somebody offered me that Tek clone... I had read
mostly bad things about them (from 'electronic trash' to 'only junk' or
'bad copy') but I was also sure there in Spain there are not too many of
them... so I bought it.
It came with a partial photocopy of the military manual (TM 33A1-13-97-1)
which is also a copy of the Tek manual (!). If you have never seen a
Lavoie, well, it is very close to the real Tek, lookwise. Obvious
difference is the dark gray painted panel, instead of the classic anodized
aluminum. Also, panel border construction is different, as Tek panel is
bent in the border but Lavoie panel has a trim piece, probably cheaper to
build than the bent panel, I guess.
I have not yet opened the unit but hope to do it soon. As I have plenty of
545B pictures, I plan to build a WEB page depicting / comparing both
oscilloscopes, so everybody could see the truth of Tek clones ;-)
BTW, my unit arrived with a late S/N (2xxxx) 'real Tek' 1A1 plug-in. This
is very nice, as I have another 1A1 but of the first series... so now I
have both types. Hope this is not so microphonic as my other 1A1 is!
As these oscilloscopes are so large, I can't host them in my already
crowded shack/repair shop. So I plan to build a new shelf in my recently
refurbished garage (which now it is really two small rooms, about 8 sq
meters each: a wood working shop and an small garage for my motorcycle and
auxiliary electronic workshop). It will host both large oscilloscopes and
the extra plugins (now I have only a D and a 1A2... but sure more will
come!). My idea is to build a real classic workbench, using my oldest test
gear (from a 60s Philips tube generator to a Hickok 600 tube tester, a VTVM
and so on). That way I will save some space in my main radio shack / lab
and, on another hand, will have an extra workbench to work on large
items... but this is another story :-)!
I will let you know when I build the WEB page depicting all of this. Of
course, if you are curious about the Lavoie specifics, just answer!
Best regards,
JOSE
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73 EB5AGV / EC5AAU - JOSE V. GAVILA
La Canyada - Valencia (SPAIN)
EB5AGV Vintage Radio Site:
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