Hello and a little buying advice

[Spike]

Hi, All

I'm brand new to the forum and in some sense just as new to electronics.  I'm a long-time software guy who's had more than a passing interest in electronics, but never committed myself to learning much about it.  I was always busy with other things, including learning more about the software side of things.

Anyway, my now eight year old son has shown a bit of interest in electronics and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try to nurture that interest in him and finally learn a bit myself.  Now I know what you're thinking, "oh here we go, he wants a free oscilloscope," but I assure you that's not the case.  Actually, my wife managed to procure for us a nice old Tek 2465A CT.  This is way more scope than we need and will hopefully serve us well for some time to come.

The problem is that whenever I try to connect it to my circuit, I find that I have no probes.  As you can imagine, this leads to some highly inaccurate measurements and generally reduced the usefulness of the scope.  I know I could go out on eBay and find them, but I was wondering if we could pretend for a moment the eBay doesn't exist (as I wish it didn't) and see if folks could steer me to a source for probes that doesn't involve eBay or PayPal.

I'm willing to pay a reasonable price, but have noticed that the genuine Tek probes (P6136) can quickly add up to the price of a used scope by themselves.  I live in the S.F. Bay Area so if anyone knows a local supplier, that would be great.  If not, any reputable internet suppliers where I can just order and pay with credit card like 99% of the not-eBay intertron?  Lastly, if anyone on the forum has some for sale, I'm interested (I know, I should post that request in the buy/sell forum).

In any case, thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to learning a lot from everyone here.  I already have just by lurking.

[Skimask]

http://www.pomonaelectronics.com/index.php?i=prodmain&getDetails=1&parent=OSCPROBE

That's just one of many out there.
The cheap probes on eBay...sure, they'll work for basic stuff, like the stuff you're talking about, or at least I think you're talking about (eg. probing pins on an Arduino, etc).
I've got a few sets laying around my shop...my 'beater' probes...when I just want to see if there is anything to be seen on the 'scope.
If I need/want accuracy, ya, then I'll grab my Tek probes and go to it.

My thinking...get a couple sets of beater probes off ebay for now.  Get a good set later after you've got some time & research under the belt.

[nanofrog]

No need to fear eBay IMHO, and there are plenty of basic probes from good/reliable sellers at excellent prices.

Not sure of what you'll be doing, but it's likely you won't need full bandwidth probes for a lot of projects you and your son will be exploring, which will open up inexpensive but useful possibilities. Just a thought.

[pickle9000]

Always handy to have spares.

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?LH_BIN=1&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=p+6100+oscilloscope&rt=nc&_pppn=r1&LH_FS=1

[Spike]

Thanks, guys.  I'm certainly not against cheaper alternatives to the Tek probes and, as you said, I probably won't need full bandwidth probes.  At the moment the circuits that have my son's attention are some FM transmitters we've founde here: http://circuit-zone.com/index.php?cat=fm_transmitters

My son seems captivated by the idea that we can transmit (preferably coded, he's 8 after all) messages over the air.  Some of these circuits seem simple enough that they'll be within our capabilities in the not too distant future.  After we get past some theory and basics, of course.

To be clear, it isn't fear that makes me want to avoid eBay, it's... Uh... Let's call it strong dislike.

Thanks again for the replies.  I'll take a peek at the Pomona probes for a start.

[edavid]

I'm willing to pay a reasonable price, but have noticed that the genuine Tek probes (P6136) can quickly add up to the price of a used scope by themselves.  I live in the S.F. Bay Area so if anyone knows a local supplier, that would be great.

Jameco, JDR, or maybe Fry's for new probes, HSC or Excess Solutions for used ones.

If not, any reputable internet suppliers where I can just order and pay with credit card like 99% of the not-eBay intertron?

elexp.com, mpja.com, Amazon