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Open Water Otter VE7GR🏳️‍🌈Attempting to fix some <a href="https://mastodon.coffee/tags/Tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Tektronix</a> MSO4000 series O'scopes this morning. One doesn't get past the splash screen, Luckily, there's a debug port hidden in the VGA interface on the rear panel. I am glad to see that these 'scopes run Linux as their internal OS, not so glad to see that the 'scope in question is having a Kernel Panic. Not too much info in the debug output, I may have to open it and see if I can find something obvious.

PaulFound a low mileage <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/nikon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#nikon</a> D810 for a good price and decided to take the plunge. Here’s a <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> type O operational amplifier plug-in in a Type 132 power supply, which lets one operate a plug-in outside of its host <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a>. 2 flash setup, one with a soft box, the other a bounce. 105mm <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/macro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#macro</a> lens.

PaulIt feels like it’s been a bit since I posted an oscilloscope photo, and that feels wrong. So here’s a <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> 7854

Joost RekveldSpent some time today trying to reduce the ringing on top of this PWM switching of a 200W load. Nice to be using that oscilloscope again.<a href="https://assemblag.es/tags/Ringing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Ringing</a> <a href="https://assemblag.es/tags/Tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Tektronix</a> #79 <a href="https://assemblag.es/tags/SystemsThatMatter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#SystemsThatMatter</a>

poleguy looking for lost toolsI'm starting to do the repair in this video: TDS220 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weUSGjzEoVM" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weUSGjzEoVM</a><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Tektronix</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/repair" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#repair</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/diy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#diy</a>

PaulVoltage measurements starting to show signs of life after swapping out a few bum transistors in the 0% zone card. The 0% cursor isn’t working yet, so I don’t know where it’s measuring from, but I can get changing readings by moving the 100% cursor. The change roughly corresponds the peak to peak amplitude, which is promising. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/CRT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#CRT</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/nixie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#nixie</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

PaulGot time measurements working via manual cursors. Problem was in Stop Comparator card. Did a swap for now, but suspect Q54, will do component level troubleshooting next, but for now happy to get this closer to working. 0% zone still not working, which means no voltage measurements, and thus no automatic risetime measurements; that’s next on the list. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/testEquipment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#testEquipment</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

PaulImportant safety tip, thanks Egon <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

PaulNext on the bench, the Tektronix 567 oscilloscope with possibly the first digital readout facility on any oscilloscope. Swapping a bad tube in the regulator got all the rails up to spec. A few bad Nixie tubes in the readout unit were swapped, and now the real troubleshooting begins. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tek567" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tek567</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/testEquipment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#testEquipment</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

PaulThis was an easy win. Pulse generator initially had a slow rise time. Some disassembly, cleaning and reassembling got it working properly. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/testEquipment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#testEquipment</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

IT NewsOscilloscope Digital Storage, 1990s Style - You’re designing an oscilloscope with modest storage — only 15,000 samples per cha... - <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/05/09/oscilloscope-digital-storage-1990s-style/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://hackaday.com/2025/05/09/oscilloscope-digital-storage-1990s-style/</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/analogshiftregister" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#analogshiftregister</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/toolhacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#toolhacks</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/teardown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#teardown</a>

PaulCome to where the flavor is. Come, to Bodgetown. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

Paul9/ very confident that it’s a blanking issue with the plug-in - tried it with another horizontal plug-in just to make sure it wasn’t the mainframe. A few other interesting features of the 3B5: The delayed magnification feature. Instead of a separate timebase & intensification zone, it has a selectable 10x & 100x magnification, and the delay control changes the point at which the sweep goes into the magnified rate, so you can still accurately zoom into a specific portion of the waveform. I think this is how some of the later 400 series scopes did it. I like it. The sweep speed goes up to 10nS / division which is the fastest of any of the 560 series plug-ins. Note while it’s labeled 10nS on the silkscreen, the illuminated indicator uses ‘mili micro seconds (m u S)’ to avoid adding a 3rd prefix. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/vintageTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#vintageTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/testEquipment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#testEquipment</a>

Paul8/ video showing what may have been the worlds first auto-ranging oscilloscope in action. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/vintageTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#vintageTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a>

Paul7/ It was the nuvistor. It’s always the f$&king nuvistor. Both autoranging plug-ins are somewhat working. Vertical plug-in still has some ranging issues, and the horizontal plug-in is slow to un-blank, which becomes a problem at higher sweep speeds. I’ll tackle that next. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/vintageTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#vintageTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/testEquipment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#testEquipment</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a>

Paul5/ I use brass polish to clean a lot of faceplates, mostly because I once lived in an apartment with all brass door hardware, still have the polish, and one day decided to give it a go. I’m sure there’s a better thing to use, and someone may tell me why using it is a terrible terrible thing, but it’s doing a heck of a job getting decades of cigarette smoke off the face of this thing, even on translucent plastic. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/vintageTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#vintageTech</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

Paul2/ One of the curiosities on the prototype of this <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> plug-in is the elapsed time meter on the bottom. It is not present on the production unit. There is a note that I cannot decipher with a date or February 16 1966. This type of indicator is a Mercury Coulometer, and shows time elapsed using a chemical reaction which moves a drop of mercury in a capillary tube slowly and linearly as chemical reaction is caused by the passage of a small, fixed current. This unit has a large number of reed relays, which have a finite lifespan, and I wonder if this meter was there to measure usage during testing.

PaulLoving these asset tags. Check out the ‘9’ on the stamped one. <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/1960s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#1960s</a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/retroTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#retroTech</a>

IT NewsRecreating the Analog Beauty of a Vintage Tektronix Oscillator - Tektronix must have been quite a place to work back in the 1980s. The company offe... - <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/03/29/recreating-the-analog-beauty-of-a-vintage-tektronix-oscillator/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://hackaday.com/2025/03/29/recreating-the-analog-beauty-of-a-vintage-tektronix-oscillator/</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/totalharmonicdistortion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#totalharmonicdistortion</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/classichacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#classichacks</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/oscillator" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscillator</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/sinewave" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#sinewave</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/analog" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#analog</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/parts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#parts</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/fft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fft</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/tek" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tek</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/thd" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#thd</a>

Davide BucciI currently have the 5440 and the 5113 scopes both on my bench, they are my main scopes. I tend to use the 5440 more frequently, but the low noise nature of the 5113 differential plugins makes possible to achieve something like 50µV/div. It's a sensitivity that is well in the range of ECG signals. <a href="https://mastodon.sdf.org/tags/tektronix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tektronix</a> <a href="https://mastodon.sdf.org/tags/scope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#scope</a> <a href="https://mastodon.sdf.org/tags/oscilloscope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#oscilloscope</a>. <a href="https://mastodon.sdf.org/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#electronics</a>

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