Dead Oscilloscope

[Koolaide]

Well my old scope finally died. Went to turn it on yesterday to check some caps, and no fricking trace. Old dual trace Tektronics. It sits in a detached garage that is also my woodshop. ( not a good idea) It did power on and I could get beam find to show a partial trace. I slid the modules out cleaned with compressed air and now it won't even power on. Oh well it is probably 40 plus years old.
I found a Protek 6502 for a little less than $100 on fleabay with shipping. So it is on the way. I think it will be stored in the house.
I think I'll keep the old one for salvage parts. I ani't smart enough to try to troubleshoot it. I barely know how to trace an amp with it.

Anyone have or use a Protek?

[pompeiisneaks]

Well my old scope finally died. Went to turn it on yesterday to check some caps, and no fricking trace. Old dual trace Tektronics. It sits in a detached garage that is also my woodshop. ( not a good idea) It did power on and I could get beam find to show a partial trace. I slid the modules out cleaned with compressed air and now it won't even power on. Oh well it is probably 40 plus years old.
I found a Protek 6502 for a little less than $100 on fleabay with shipping. So it is on the way. I think it will be stored in the house.
I think I'll keep the old one for salvage parts. I ani't smart enough to try to troubleshoot it. I barely know how to trace an amp with it.

Anyone have or use a Protek?

often that old of stuff has a power supply failure because the filter caps go bad, and it's a pretty easy fix. Do you have an ESR meter? you could look for any filter caps near the power supply that look bulged or leaky etc. You might also be able to sell it for parts on EBay as there are a lot of people that like to repair old scopes etc.

~Phil

[Koolaide]

Thanks for the reply Phil.

I don't have an ESR meter. I haven't done much troubleshooting, even in tube amps. I am not even sure where to start. I may attempt to download service manual and see if there is something I can do.

I did get the new Ksger T-12 and you were right it is the stuff. Only bad was the handle they sent has a feral so no easy change on the fly. Heck it heats so fast, I am not sure that is a big issue for me. I think I am really going to enjoy it.

Cheers,
Jim

[Stevem]

I had to recaped my Mid 70s Heathkit top to bottom finally 8 years ago and doing the same on yours will get it back up & running!

[studiodunn]

Not to sidetrack this thread, but I am currently watching this scope in an auction and wondered if anyone had any input on it.

I have never owned or used any test equipment in my builds, but thought if I could pick it up cheap enough it would be good to learn how to use them.
The Auction also has several signal generators, spectrum analyzers, ect......

http://server2.maxanet.com/cgi-bin/mnli ... spear28/53

[pompeiisneaks]

Tek scopes are amazing, that's a 300MHz scope so you've got more than enough to use for audio frequency stuff (up to maybe what... 20kHz max or something for human hearing?)

I don't know that specific model, but so long as it's working, check the same scopes prices on ebay and see if it's less and you'll probably be getting a great deal.

~Phil

[studiodunn]

Tek scopes are amazing, that's a 300MHz scope so you've got more than enough to use for audio frequency stuff (up to maybe what... 20kHz max or something for human hearing?)

I don't know that specific model, but so long as it's working, check the same scopes prices on ebay and see if it's less and you'll probably be getting a great deal.

~Phil

Thanks Phil.

I saw some of that same model selling in the $300 range, so I think I can get it for less.

[Phil_S]

It would be nice to know if the seller believes it is in working condition. It probably isn't calibrated. For what we do, unless it is way out of spec, I can't imagine calibration is really necessary. Given what's going on in the world at the moment, if you have a few extra dollars to make a purchase, a used o-scope is likely to sell at a steep discount. Good luck!

[studiodunn]

It would be nice to know if the seller believes it is in working condition. It probably isn't calibrated. For what we do, unless it is way out of spec, I can't imagine calibration is really necessary. Given what's going on in the world at the moment, if you have a few extra dollars to make a purchase, a used o-scope is likely to sell at a steep discount. Good luck!

Since it an Auction for an entire business, I believe all the equipment was in use up to very recently. Some pics I've seen were of the equipment in position at stations on the floor.
I won't get too deep into the cost knowing there is a risk of it needing more attention than I will likely give it.

[Phil_S]

That's encouraging. I tend to agree, they wouldn't have kept junk on people's work stations. You'll have to decide how much appetite you have for it. You might get very, very lucky on this one. It wasn't clear if it comes with probes. Remember to factor that into your thinking. I would have said, you can buy decent quality probes from China on ebay. Today, I'm not sure what I'd say. Maybe you get probes and a manual inside that blue bag on top of it?

Something like this is probably be OK, but will not handle the 300MHz capability of the scope. I'm no expert, but imagine it would be fine for guitar amp work where you aren't going to see more than about 20MHz. https://www.tequipment.net/CalTestCT2703.html?v=7595 300MHz probes will be more than 2x.