Thanks Stephen. Unfortunately, I'm in Boston. Googling HPIB now.
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On June 9, 2019 11:42:15 AM "Stephen Hanselman" <kc4sw.io@...> wrote:
I don¡¯t have a lot of knowledge but two things. In the 540, 540A, 540C, etc the ¡° ¡° and ¡°A¡± speak a different HPIB language from the ¡°B¡± and ¡°C¡±. If a lab says calibration for $300 they ¡°may¡± hook it up and make sure the readings are close but not much else.
I don¡¯t know what a fully automated set could do, I do all my calibrations manually with the Tek software. The 540B takes about 5 hours to do a good job. If you were close I say bring it by and turn you loose on my software.
Regards,
Stephen Hanselman
Datagate Systems, LLC
3107 North Deer Run Road #24
Carson City, Nevada, 89701
(775) 882-5117 office
(775) 720-6020 mobile
s.hanselman@...
www.datagatesystems.com
a Service Disabled, Veteran Owned Small Business
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On Jun 9, 2019, at 08:25, David Berlind <david@...> wrote:
Hi all,
After starting my oscilloscope journey with analog scopes for the last two years and seeing some of what the digital scopes could do (for example, maths), I had been watching my local marketplaces carefully for a good price on a digital scope in working condition. I recently picked up at TDS 620B for $85 and am now beginning the journey of getting to know it. I will be posting video of its behavior which I think may be in need of correction based on initial observations.. and I am of course looking for advice. But I may be wrong about that. I will work on eliminating other issues first (configuration, line noise, etc.).
My first inquiry involves four questions:
1. I could not locate an online manual for the 620B. I found the Technical Reference and printed that out. But in terms of the User Manual, I could only find a manual for the 620A (could just be bad Googling skills). So, I downloaded and printed that out. Now, I'm trying to ascertain whether the 620A manual is for the most part applicable (should have done this before killing a tree to print it I guess) or whether the 620A is different enough from the 620B that the manual doesn't apply. I've been looking for some way to compare the two side by side (I found some differently formatted data and specification sheets so apples to apples isn't perfect, but there's some overlapping data to get some jist). But I thought it would be prudent to toss the question out to this group because maybe someone will just know and can summarize key differences and how that impacts anything (usage, probes, etc).
2. I'll take any suggestions from you pros on great ways to get started with this scope. Configurations to try. Shortcuts. Anything that will fast-track my introduction to expert operation of the scope.
3. The 620B did not come with any probes when I purchased it. I noticed from the 620A documentation that that scope originally came with a 6139A probe which lead me into an exploration of probe characteristics. That probe's specs appear to match the 500Mhz capability of the scope. Over the last two years, I haven't thought much about the probes themselves. Just been using what I acquired along the way and things seem to work. So, in the spirit of rooting out any configuration problems before needing to effect any repairs, to what extent could basic probe differences impact behavior? For example, I have some basic 1X/10x probes (which might not be rated for 500Mhz) that work nicely on my 7603. What incompatibilities could exist between these probes and the 620B such that I might get unexpected/inaccurate behavior?
4. Wondering whether it might be best and faster just to have the pros take a look at the scope, I have inquired with a local calibration service as to the cost of a "tune-up." The estimate just for calibration for was over $300 (way more than the cost of the scope). It dawned on me that one option might be to pay someone in this group to bring her up to snuff. This is for hobbyist work (repairing amps, radios, etc) so it's not like I need a certificate. Is there someone here who does that sort of thing?
Thank you.
David
