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Re: SC502 Trace Issues - Beginning and ending of trace connected.

 

blanking problems.? You might want to check the CRT bias adjustments and similar voltages.? Turning down the intensity should make it vanish.? If not, then definitely blanking problems.

Harvey

On 3/4/2024 10:07 AM, Barry Breaux wrote:
I posted a phot of my new problem. Someone with more experience than I will probably know!

Please have a look.

/g/TekScopes/album?id=293496

Thank You!




Photo Notifications #photo-notice

Group Notification
 

The following photos have been uploaded to the SC502 Trace Issues ( /g/TekScopes/album?id=293496 ) photo album of the [email protected] group.

* IMG_2066.jpeg ( /g/TekScopes/photofromactivity?id=3755037 )

*By:* Barry Breaux <groupsio@...>



---

The following photos have been uploaded to the SC502 Trace Issues ( /g/TekScopes/album?id=293496 ) photo album of the [email protected] group.

* IMG_2066.jpeg ( /g/TekScopes/photofromactivity?id=3755038 )

*By:* Barry Breaux <groupsio@...>



---

The following photos have been updated in the SC502 Trace Issues ( /g/TekScopes/album?id=293496 ) photo album of the [email protected] group.

* IMG_2064.jpeg ( /g/TekScopes/photofromactivity?id=3755036 )

*By:* Barry Breaux <groupsio@...>


SC502 Trace Issues - Beginning and ending of trace connected.

 

I posted a phot of my new problem. Someone with more experience than I will probably know!

Please have a look.

/g/TekScopes/album?id=293496

Thank You!


Re: Help with floppy drive

 

I solved the issue...

Digged out my oldest Apple laptop, a 3400c, from about the same era than the AM700 and still working with MacOS 8. Once I formatted a floppy in that laptop the AM700 was perfectly happy, reading and writing as told in the manual and still readable on OSX. Meanwhile I also found a method to do it on OSX - I had to create an image of the working disc and copy it on another one. OSX seems to be formatting DOS discs with FAT12 as required, but adding a partition the AM700 (and an old Apple laptop) are unable to see.

I added some pics here (/g/TekScopes/album?id=293272), showing some screenshots of the low-level tests.

Now the question is: what the heck is the AM700 doing when it says "formatting floppy"?

BTW, the lithium battery of the NVRAM, with date code from 1994, still delivers exactly 3,0 volts as written on the battery. It seems there is nothing vital on NVRAM (like calibration constants), most folders are empty. Anyone knows for sure?

cheers
Martin


Re: I've done it! Finally, a real Tektronix book!

 

Is the 456 a typo in the table of contents?

I think the issue you'll have is someone else recently done a very similar book and gave it away for free.


Re: about those vintage ceramic terminal strips...

 

Silver solder is still made and some RoHS lead free may qualify. See AIM

We designed the 500 kHz Metcal SP-200 solder station in 1990, constant current resonant supply.

20 sec warmup time, excellent temperature reg with large thermal mass work.

These were also sold by OK industries, etc.

Hakko Japan also made great irons, the odlper digital 926, 936 etc.

Still have some huge Hexacon irons....

Bon chance,

Jon


Re: Tek "CONSOLE PORT" TDS 5/6/7xx Oscilloscope Debug Card RS-232

 

I've thought about emulating the MC68681 for a 'proper' console debug card, but didn't need it bad enough. Not sure if it would be possible to meet timing requirements with a microcontroller, but it looks like someone started an HDL implementation for FPGAs :


Re: I've done it! Finally, a real Tektronix book!

 

Thanks to everybody!

@Grayson: they are preparing a better sample pdf and yes, they ship everywhere. Congratulation for your book! Such more scientific than I am. It will be of great hep to me in the future.


Re: about those vintage ceramic terminal strips...

 

3% appears to be optimum.
Here is a table of soft silver alloys:
Sn/Pb/Ag Solid - Liquid(C)
60/36/4 179-246
61.5/35.5/3 179-227
62/36/2 179-189
62.5/36.1/1.4 179 (eutectic)

The temperature range of 4% is significantly higher. The silver contents of 2% and 1.4% are lower; although their temperatures are lower. For reference, the 63/37 Sn/Pb melts and solidifies at 183C


Re: F.S.: Tek "CONSOLE PORT" TDS 5/6/7xx Oscilloscope Debug Card RS-232

 

On Sat, Mar 2, 2024 at 07:39 AM, rivet_head wrote:


hey maurizio, glad to see your still fighting the good fight!
Anybody have a spare Option 13 board they wouldnt mind parting with? Hell, id
even be will to put a deposit down to borrow one for a week or three. I would
like to dig a little deeper into my 684B.
I have a spare one I can sell you, shipped from Japan. It's small so shipping shouldn't be too bad as it can be sent as a 'small packet'.

Jared


Re: about those vintage ceramic terminal strips...

 

Excerpt from the Tek Type Z plug-in manual:


"Soldering Precautions
In the production of Tektronix instruments, a special silver-bearing solder is used to establish a bond to the ceramic terminal strips. This bond may be broken by the repeated use of ordinary tin-lead solder, or by the application of too much heat. Occasional use of ordinary solder will not break the bond however, if too much heat is not applied.

If continued maintenance work is to be performed on Tektronix instruments, it is advisable to have a stock of solder containing about 3% silver. This type of solder is used often for work on etched-circuit boards and should be readily available. It may also be purchased directly from Tektronix in one pound rolls (part number 251-514).
Because of the shape of the terminals on the ceramic terminal strips, the soldering iron should have a wedge- shaped tip. A tip such as this allows the heat to be applied directly to the solder in the terminals and reduces the amount of heat required. It is important to use as little heat as is possible. Do not use force or twist the tip in the slot as this may chip or break the ceramic strip."

Greg


Re: 7704A - Readout Stretches Vertically

 

Hi Albert,

I can certainly try that. I'm almost to the point of just living with this. I've had the boards off and back on all too many times for this little bit of annoyance but I would still love to know why it's doing what it's doing.

Thanks again,
Barry - N4BUQ

----- Original Message -----
From: "Albert Otten" <aodiversen@...>
To: "tekscopes" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 3:51:29 PM
Subject: Re: [TekScopes] 7704A - Readout Stretches Vertically
Hi Barry,

With the same setup you can add a second input (plugin or channel) in the
monitoring scope and display there the amplified signals present further on at
the vertical amplifier board. Triggering as before (R4470) should remain
unaffected when you change 7704A vertical position up/down. I would start with
the deflection plates. With DC coupled input the observed actual character
wave forms fragments will remain at the same vertical position while the
normal trace moves up/down when you change the vertical position in the 7704A.
Again you may see or not see an effect of that on the character waveform
fragments.

Albert



Re: 7704A - Readout Stretches Vertically

 

I've been through checking most of that but there is certainly the possibility of something I haven't checked. I get proper waveforms for the timer chip (U33433). I could always try swapping U3480 to see if that helps.

Regarding your other, later, email, I didn't think of trying XY mode to see the characters. I've tried to make sense of the squiggles for just the vertical signals and, to some extent, I think I can see how those are working but to see the entire character would be nice as well.

Thanks again,
Barry - N4BUQ

The same vertical amplifier drives the display for both trace and
characters.? If, while displaying a triangle wave, you do not see any
non-linearity when the trace is within the zone of the readouts, then
it's the readouts.

Looking at J3405 on the Y readout connection to the vertical amplifier
suggests that if Q4470 on the vertical amplifier is odd, then you've got
some problems.? What I would suspect is non-linearity either around
Q4470? (possible, check waveforms on good and bad scopes), or back in
the Y readout.? I'd think that Q4479 and Q4485 might be well behaved,
although they are not in the signal path except for the readout.? One
presumes that the capacitors C4427, C4424, and pots R4427, R4423 are
well behaved.

On the readout board, I'd hope that U3480 is ok, that's the stroke
generator.? That leaves you with checking Q3486 and Q3489 for bad
biasing.? If you have a good board (I think you do), then comparison
between boards is going to be a key, also looking at waveforms.

Q3486 is an example of a grounded base system, where the voltage gain
has to do with the emitter resistor to +15 and collector resistor
(effective) to -15.? Q3493 looks to be more of an emitter follower than
anything else, so it generally gets non-linear if it's leaky or it runs
out of headroom.? Again, voltage and waveform comparisons are likely the
key.

Hope this helps a bit.


Harvey



On 3/2/2024 12:59 PM, n4buq wrote:
I have monitored the signal at that point and cannot see any difference there
when positioning the trace at the top or bottom. Yes, fully CW or CCW is most
likely overdriving the vertical amplifier and the stretching is at its worst at
those settings; however, the stretching is quite noticeable even when a trace
is positioned at the top or bottom of the screen. The stretching is worse on
the characters at the top when the trace is at the bottom and vice-versa. I
can see a very small bit of this effect on the characters in my other 7704A but
it is much worse in this one.

Thanks,
Barry - N4BUQ

Hi Barry,

It should be not too difficult to check whether or not the incoming signal at
R4470 is affected by vertical position changes.
I tried this (and saw no effect, of course) viewing and triggering that incoming
signal, also with delayed sweep. It's best to have all readouts in the same
row since then you can enlarge the waveform without overdriving the monitoring
scope. The actual observed character height can be twice that of the height on
the 7704A.
By the way, 7704A positions fully CW and fully CCW might also be at the border
of overdriving the vertical amplifier. I would not go beyond top and bottom of
the CRT.

Albert






Re: What caused this on electrolytics in 422?

 

This mold happens on plastic knobs also. I take a heat gun to the knobs and the mold just disappears.


Re: I've done it! Finally, a real Tektronix book!

 

Gianni,

Congratulations! The book looks nice. Let us know when it is available in the states. I see it is 70 euro and sold out. I would FAR rather have a physical book than a PDF. I would be one of the ones that would buy a copy when available here.

Mark


Re: Free: Tektronix Scope evaluation board

 

If no one else wants it, I will take it. Just tell me the shipping fee.

Gary Robert Bosworth
Cellphone: 626-803-8336
E-mail: grbosworth@...


Get Outlook for Android<>
________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Ken Eckert <eckertkp@...>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 4:25:38 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [TekScopes] Free: Tektronix Scope evaluation board

Free: Tektronix Scope evaluation board.

9V battery was stored but leaked anyways. Board will have to be cleaned up. Original beat up cardboard box. Never used.

Sorry no model number visible on the board or box. Looks like 0805 SMD size components.

Located in Vancouver, BC Canada
Local pick up is fine.

Paypal okay for shipping, you cover any transaction fees.


Free: Tektronix Scope evaluation board

 

Free: Tektronix Scope evaluation board.

9V battery was stored but leaked anyways. Board will have to be cleaned up. Original beat up cardboard box. Never used.

Sorry no model number visible on the board or box. Looks like 0805 SMD size components.

Located in Vancouver, BC Canada
Local pick up is fine.

Paypal okay for shipping, you cover any transaction fees.


Re: 7704A - Readout Stretches Vertically

 

Another trick you can pull is to take the second scope, put it in XY mode, and look at the outputs of the character generator, I'd initially suggest the connectors to the V and H boards.? Should get the whole vertical/horizontal amplifier question out of the way.

Harvey

On 3/2/2024 4:51 PM, Albert Otten wrote:
Hi Barry,

With the same setup you can add a second input (plugin or channel) in the monitoring scope and display there the amplified signals present further on at the vertical amplifier board. Triggering as before (R4470) should remain unaffected when you change 7704A vertical position up/down. I would start with the deflection plates. With DC coupled input the observed actual character wave forms fragments will remain at the same vertical position while the normal trace moves up/down when you change the vertical position in the 7704A. Again you may see or not see an effect of that on the character waveform fragments.

Albert




Re: 7704A - Readout Stretches Vertically

 

Hi Barry,

With the same setup you can add a second input (plugin or channel) in the monitoring scope and display there the amplified signals present further on at the vertical amplifier board. Triggering as before (R4470) should remain unaffected when you change 7704A vertical position up/down. I would start with the deflection plates. With DC coupled input the observed actual character wave forms fragments will remain at the same vertical position while the normal trace moves up/down when you change the vertical position in the 7704A. Again you may see or not see an effect of that on the character waveform fragments.

Albert


Re: about those vintage ceramic terminal strips...

 

I imagine you can use it - on a good strip - but there's no repairing it once the silver that was bonded to the ceramic is gone. Now it's just bare ceramic.

Dave Wise
________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of greenboxmaven via groups.io <ka2ivy@...>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 11:44 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [TekScopes] about those vintage ceramic terminal strips...

Finding 3% silver solder is not easy, but 4-6% is readily available. Is
there any problem in using it to repair the ceramic strips? This may
seem to be a foolish question, but sometimes when a little of something
is very good a little more may not be such a good choice.

Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY

On 3/2/24 13:23, Dave Wise wrote:
I should have asked for one of those [Hexacon soldering iron] when I was laid off, in addition to the Weller and the Antex. I worked at Tek after the strip era but I remember seeing a few in dusty back rooms. Nowadays I do a lot of work on ceramic-era instruments.

Dave Wise
Information Display, 1980-1994
________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Art S <artsamps@...>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 7:03 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [TekScopes] about those vintage ceramic terminal strips...

When we closed up our assembly department, my old boss gifted me an entire box of the Hexacon stick irons shown in the video. All brand new in boxes, spare elements, the whole deal. They may not be temperature controlled, but I still believe them to be one of the finest, most reliable irons ever made.

Cheers, Art