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Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: buck converter on April 04, 2017, 01:14:00 am

Title: TAS series Oscilloscopes by Tektronix
Post by: buck converter on April 04, 2017, 01:14:00 am

What do people have against the TAS series scopes? I nabbed one for 80 bucks shipped in the US, fully working with probes and power cord,2ch 60 MHz. It is my first scope. It may have menus, but don't all modern scopes?eBay auction: #http://www.ebay.com/itm/122326623500?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
No storage, but it does have the  auto-set button that works well.
Why were these scopes frowned on?
In 2017 are they a better choice for beginners?

Title: Re: TAS series Oscilloscopes by Tektronix
Post by: edavid on April 04, 2017, 02:57:46 am

That link should be http://www.ebay.com/itm/122326623500 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/122326623500)

Anyway, I think it's mostly the UI that people hate, but did the schematics ever turn up?

Title: Re: TAS series Oscilloscopes by Tektronix
Post by: scopeman on April 10, 2017, 01:37:36 am

Hi Buck Converter,

These are fully analog scopes and none of the ones in the line had storage of any kind.

I have a TAS485. 200MHz IIRC. The nice thing about these scopes is the 4 channel models have full range vertical attenuators on all channels, which the 24XX series did not. However the performance of the 24XX series in terms of display quality and other performance factors are better. They were touted as low cost scopes at the time. I am sure that the TAS series will serve you well as it is still better than any new analog scopes that are on the market today.

Here is what I can find on this series:

http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/TAS465 (http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/TAS465)

One of the manuals has schematics. I would imagine that all of the models in this series are similar.

Another manual link:

http://exodus.poly.edu/~kurt/manuals/manuals/Tektronix/TEK%20TAS%20475,%20485%20Instruction.pdf (http://exodus.poly.edu/~kurt/manuals/manuals/Tektronix/TEK%20TAS%20475,%20485%20Instruction.pdf)

Sam

Title: Re: TAS series Oscilloscopes by Tektronix
Post by: ebclr on April 10, 2017, 02:37:38 am

You can use this device to be tested using the TAS series oscilscoper

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-VINTAGE-NIFTY-NIRONA-GERMAN-TOY-WIND-UP-PHONOGRAPH-GRAMOPHONE-RECORD-PLAYER-/182524106417?hash=item2a7f48d6b1:g:ocIAAOSwuxFY3GNV (http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-VINTAGE-NIFTY-NIRONA-GERMAN-TOY-WIND-UP-PHONOGRAPH-GRAMOPHONE-RECORD-PLAYER-/182524106417?hash=item2a7f48d6b1:g:ocIAAOSwuxFY3GNV)

Title: Re: TAS series Oscilloscopes by Tektronix
Post by: David Hess on April 10, 2017, 03:23:01 am

My only real complaint about the TAS series of oscilloscopes is their lack of complete documentation.

Title: Re: TAS series Oscilloscopes by Tektronix
Post by: james_s on April 10, 2017, 05:13:24 am

I don't think they're very well known, they don't seem to be common. Analog scopes in general are not in vogue, they're becoming more of a niche item all the time. Even the CRT based DSOs are pretty cheap these days, I've bought several TDS 300 and 400 series scopes, most with minor issues, one ended up working perfectly, it was just dirty, anyway I think only one of them cost me over $100. People pay a lot more for stuff like the TDS220 which is less capable, the only advantage it has is smaller physical size.