Foo - Tektronix 475?

I was wondering if anybody here has any experience with a Tektronix 475 oscilloscope? I am considering buying a used but tested and calibrated one for my final project, and my own personal use.

Thought you were saving up for a car instead. Sure an oscilloscope will provide hours of fun and entertainment :rolleyes: but you can't pick up your dates in an oscilloscope. Definitely go for the car.

Yea yea I know, but I need an oscilloscope for my physics project. Plus, I was just going to sell my little CNC lathe I got free and use that to get a car. I expect to get at least 1500 off that when it sells

See if you can borrow an oscilloscope from your school ... or convince them to purchase one for "future" projects. Unless you need to use one on a regular basis away from school or your workplace, it doesn't sound like an investment a student should be making ... unless you really enjoy using one as a hobby. Having said that I was hooked on metal & woodworking & to some extent electronics as a teenager and of course spent my money on specific tools, so I can sort of relate ... however I also had a car :D Sorry, had to rub it in a bit.

are the things you're testing TOO BIG to move around? Until I got my oscilloscope, I would just take my projects to the college's electronics lab and use their equipment. It was better than anything I could have afforded and I could basically walk in there whenever it wasn't reserved for hands-on demonstrations for classes (usually only happens an hour at a time, a few days per week in the first 3 weeks of class)

You can find those things at thrift stores for cheap. Unless, you're aligning radios, there's no reason you need a 200 mhz scope.

I was wondering if anybody here has any experience with a Tektronix 475 oscilloscope? I am considering buying a used but tested and calibrated one for my final project, and my own personal use.

I used to use them a lot back in the very early ´80s, along with 465s and the analog memory scopes of the same configuration. They were considered to be very good reliable instruments back then. Now they are extremely dated. I would not spend more than a few hundred dollars on one even in like-new condition. I personally wouldn´t buy one no matter how cheap it was or how good it´s condition was. Have you looked for a digital storage scope with LCD display? The newer instruments are far more versatile than the old CRT oscilloscopes, especially when it comes to capturing single sweep events.

Well, a digital is pretty expensive though. The things I am testing are not practical to bring into school. One of the things will be a stepper motor driver, about a 775 dollar value on that thing. It doesn't leave my house...
I can get this scope in good condition for 200 dollars. But now, I am thinking about maybe getting a new analog scope with only 20mhz instead. 20 is really sufficient for my needs, and the cost ends up being quite similar.

I've invested in a lot of things student's typically don't already, why stop now? :D

Well, a digital is pretty expensive though. The things I am testing are not practical to bring into school. One of the things will be a stepper motor driver, about a 775 dollar value on that thing. It doesn't leave my house...
I can get this scope in good condition for 200 dollars. But now, I am thinking about maybe getting a new analog scope with only 20mhz instead. 20 is really sufficient for my needs, and the cost ends up being quite similar.

I've invested in a lot of things student's typically don't already, why stop now? :D

Would it be possible to find a used storage scope that isn´t too expensive ? I haven´t priced them since my employers always provide the test equipment. Having worked as a technician and engineer for 31 years, electronics and electricity ceased to be amusing as a hobby many years ago.

Spring break is coming up, I certainly hope you'll be spending it somewhere tropical, with a drink in one hand and a girl in the other. You spend way too much time thinking about school. :)

Check Ebay, and make sure to get it calibrated at least once.

I've got a friend who can calibrate scopes, he has done it several times on his old tektronix and other scopes. Ebay is where I am looking. It turns out, I may not need a scope. There is a possibility that the engineer of the thing I am analyzing will speak to me, and inform me about what is going on. Still, I may want to get a scope just to have. Right now I am trying to decide whether to get a scope like hte Tektronix 475, with 100mhz+ capability, or a brand new 20mhz scope. Both are essentially the same cost.
The new scope comes with probes, a manual, and a warranty.

Here is that scope:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=018&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=280090786908&rd=1&rd=1

Any opinions?

I've considered getting one of the pc-based usb scopes. Haven't had time off work to do anything worthy of getting one though.

I've considered getting one of the pc-based usb scopes. Haven't had time off work to do anything worthy of getting one though.
I was looking at them, but they are so minuscule in terms of input voltage capacity. I think the parallax one can take a max of 20vp-p. I saw ONE that can do 50. Plus, I hear they are limited in other ways. These benchtops can take 300v +

...but how many volts do you need to measure for this project?

Keep in mind that oscilloscopes are most often used for RF and electronics. Once you leave the power supply module of most consumer electronics, you don't often see much more than 20 volts that you'd be interested in watching, and 20 volts is a LOT for RF work.

You can get used 50mhz scopes all day for much cheaper. Check the thrift store, or I know my friend has multiple ones he's selling.

I need 160v minimum. I will be using this for checking motor driver circuits, tuning servo's, not much RF work. I actually just arranged for a scope today.

A friend of mine got me in contact with an EE he knows quite well. This guy has several scopes, all working well, all late 80's Tektronix. He is sending me a 100mhz analog storage scope for only the cost of shipping from the UPS store. It's coming from an EE who has personally used and calibrated them. If anybody can assure they are working, it would be this guy. I'd say this is very reasonable :D.

Looks like that widescreen monitor is coming sooner than I thought ;)