There are many reasons a person might value a scope. When a person cares about the beauty of an instrument and what it represents historically, its utility as an oscilloscope for everyday use becomes a secondary factor, if a factor at all.
Also, a lot of interesting concepts are embodied in old scopes. For example, distributed amplifiers, equivalent-time analog sampling, tunnel diode triggering, and storage CRTs. These things tickle my mind. I own some scopes just so I can marvel at them. Basically, they are Faberge eggs for an electronics enthusiast.
That said, I do like to bring my old scopes into proper calibration. Sometimes a decision has to be made, whether to functionally restore or just clean up a scope. Historic integrity is likely to be lost in a functional restoration of an early Tek scope. It is a tough decision. I have no rigid position on the issue.
-Kurt
For example, I recently got a 514. I'm pretty sure that I'd need to do extensive replacement of internal parts to get it working properly. It is never clear what's the right thing to do in this situation and every person has to make their own decision. For the 514, I'm going to leave it alone. Other times, I couldn't resist the urge to do functional restoration. My 567 was just too interesting not to repair. So I replaced the electrolytics and got it fully operational. I wouldn't blame somebody if they chose, in the same situation, to leave the scope unmolested.
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--- In TekScopes@..., "Steve" <ditter2@...> wrote:
--- In TekScopes@..., "mattko87" <matt8@> wrote:
That ist right.
585, 581 are a epic technologiy.
high bandwith, distributed deflection and tunneldiode -base triggering (only with A-version)
IMO, Tunnel diode trigging in the A models is a VERY IMPORTANT difference. The non-A's only triggered at a tiny fraction of their BW rating.
Not much of a fan of 4 division vertical as well. The 545 and 545A shared this same trait. Lots of BW for the time, but at an expense.
The design is interesting for its day, but I don't find them too useful as working scopes.
- Steve
