tek scopes

[J.C. Wren]

    A 100Mhz would easily handle anything for those types of machines.  
I've never used a 2246, but I do have a 2445.  It's the 150Mhz version 
of the 2465.  I'd love to have a B in either it or a 2465.  You *may* be 
able to find a 2445B at a better price.  I haven't priced those in 
sometime.  What I do know is that my 2445 that I paid $800 for about 5 
years has sold as low as $400 on eBay in the last few months (where I 
buy a lot of my test equipment), and it had a semi-recent calibration on 
it. 

    I don't know what your budget is, but you may also want to consider 
something like a Tektronix 3014B or similiar.  These are color LCD 
scopes, 4 channels, all the Smart features, floppies, etc.  The major 
advantage of them is they are more current.  It's damn near impossible 
to find tubes and the vertical amplifiers (and no doubt many other 
parts) for the 24x5 series.  They're old scopes, Tektronix doesn't 
calibrate them any more, and except for one place I've found who will do 
a complete swap out for something like $1200, they're very difficult to 
get repaired.

    Of course, the argument here on the list will be "Well, you can get 
schematics for the old scopes and fix them yourselves."  Except when you 
can't get parts, which seem to be a lot of them (for instance, even 
something as simple as a cover for the scope is hard to come by).  The 
newer LCD scopes are no doubt not-fixable yourself (the old "It's got 
ICs" argument).  However, my take it's a more capable 'scope with a lot 
of useful features (DSOs are great for most types of work), and it's 
less likly to break before the 24x5 will.  We've got two at work that 
have had the crap beat out of them on trips, and they work fine.  They 
are also *much* lighter if you need to tote them anywhere.

    --jc

Jay West wrote:

> JC wrote...
>
>> Probably because the 2246 has the SmartCursors, which isn't available 
>> until the 2465B.  A 2465B goes for a good bit more than a straight 2465.
>
>
> I was sure the 2465's all had smartcursors too.... guess not. That 
> feature explain the difference?
>
> I was planning on going with the 2246 actually. Working on 21MX, PDP8, 
> PDP11, and DG nova/Eclipse... I can't imagine I'd need over 100mhz. Am 
> I wrong?
>
> Jay
>