Vintage Tek Restoration pictures by Martin

[Martin.M]

Type 549, Storage Oscilloscope 

This picture shows a stored single sweep from the spectrum analyzer plugin.


A great Classic Tek, single Beam, 2 Time Bases, 1 Slot for 500 series Vertical Plugins.
Bandwith at minimum 30MHz cal. Buttons for Store and Erase.















greetings
Martin

[22swg]

Text book stuff . Thanks for sharing.

[Martin.M]

Tek 533A

single Beam, 15MHz cal., 1 slot for pluging.
There are 50 tubes glowing inside. So valvedoctor knows what he can pickup there in Florida 



greetings
Martin

[Martin.M]

Tek 535A, is a 533A but with Dual Time Base.



Tek 545A is a faster Tek, up to 33MHz. A very glowing classic with distributed amplifier line.
looks like a 535A, but the vertical area is only +- 2 div. I am not shure, 79 tubes inside, ~700W



Tek 515A  this is a lower cost 15MHz single Beam, no slot for plugin. Have a switch Input a or Input B.
1 Time Base, also the large 5 inches screen like the big brothers. 33 tubes are glowing 



greetings
Martin

[Martin.M]

Tek 585A

up to 100MHz with tubes 
It have a very special CRT what use a group of 16 vertical deflection plates including the coils for delay to forward the 100MHz...
585A have own plugings and can use the plugins of the other 500 series Tek only with a special Adaptor, you see this here.
He have 2 Time Bases, the vertical working is +- 2 div.



Some words about High Frequencys...
This old machines was working in ultra high frequency ranges by using special plugins, Sampling systems.
So do not wonder when you see a Tek 533 or like that displaying a 1 GHz sine wave by using a Plugin Type "N" 
Also the spectrum analyzer plugings was shameless for the time, the fastest systems , 1L40 and so on, can read up to 40GHz in the tube Tek.

The very long time of use was a follower of the fact that a lot of companys have buyed a hughe of this expensive plugins, ant they can only work in a Classic Tek. (( Except ! you can get a Case with internal PSU and one slot to use one Plugin with any scope, this is the Tek tYPE 132))

greetings
Martin

[Martin.M]

End of the 60`s was the time of the first full transistor Mini Tek Scopes 

Fast was still a tube Tek, but something up to 5mc was possible.

SONY Tek Type 323, build 1967.
A single Beam portable with recharchable Batteries and a little transformer to load that. 3kg
The little Tek was in the catalog listed to 925 us$ , too much for a radio servive shop. So they are still rare in the market.
Highest quality inside, all is golden, all transistors are in sockets. A 323 use 1,6 Watts from the Battery, so it can work a very long time.



ten years later Tek made the 200 series, very expensive Mini-Tek portables.
221 is a single channel  5MHz
212 is a 2 channels 0,5MHz
The little 213 is a single channel 1MHz and includes a very exactly RMS onscreen multimeter what can read voltage directly from the probe.

Tek 221, 212, 213


There are also: Tek 214, is a 2 channel 0,5 MHz Storage Tek,
and 211, what is a half 212. I do not own the both, still searching to get them 

size relations 

221 on a 565


greetings
Martin

[Martin.M]

Tek 575, a glowing Transistor and Diode  Curve Tracer...



The old Tek can load the test transistor with up to 200 Watts, the maximum output voltage is 400 Volts.
Any mistake in the adjustement and the test is fried 
For curve comparements, matching, there are 2 identical socket and a switch between them.

For much more power is a seperate box to use, Tek 175. This is hard enough to destroy also the biggest transistors.

greetings
Martin

[Rupunzell]

Such a wonderful and carefully restored collection of classic Tek 

This is a collection that would put a smile on Jim Williams with great delight as he was also a fan of classic tek. Jim used a Tek 547 for a great deal of his analog work up to his passing in 2011.
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/anablog/4311553/Jim-Williams-loved-Tektronix

"But you do have to love the “IN TEK WE TRUST ” on the obverse of the bill. That was Jim’s ultimate attitude about test equipment. They were like good friends, people you could trust, people that would not steer you wrong."

That quote from Paul Rayko would be one of the prime reasons why there are long time analog folks who still use classic Tek to this day.


http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/an-analog-life-remembering-jim-williams/


Bernice

[Martin.M]

I am a graet Fan of Jim Williams !

The pictures he have hanging there upside from the table are made with a Polaroid Camera for Tek Scopes 



but its hard now to get filmss for the apparatus !

greetings
Martin

[coppice]

I am a graet Fan of Jim Williams !

The pictures he have hanging there upside from the table are made with a Polaroid Camera for Tek Scopes 

but its hard now to get filmss for the apparatus !

greetings
Martin

Anyone who thinks analogue scope are better that digital should be forced to spend a week with one of these cameras trying to analyse a rare event. 

[Rupunzell]

Been there done this with that Tek C12 camera. Not FUN at ALL...

This is where a modern LeCroy or similar will get it did.
There are very good reasons why the particle Physics folks get interested in digitizers which were the origins of LeCroy.

Really a matter of choosing and using the proper instrument for required measurement. This is where knowledge of instrument strengths and limitations really matter.


Bernice

Anyone who thinks analogue scope are better that digital should be forced to spend a week with one of these cameras trying to analyse a rare event. 

[Martin.M]

I dont like discussions "what is better"...

For the money you have to pay for your probe I start a scope. What is better 
I am collecting old test equipment, not modern DSO. My fastest single shot can be from a Tek 7104 with a P11 beam and photo option, on a fast triggered C71 camera. What you think I have payed for the set?  The tantals and elkos are all changed by low esr long life parts, I remove the dust from the fan all 3 months. so I hope the old 7104 is still ready to make a photo when the DSO ist fallen in the junk box.
btw. I have also an old DSO, it needs a repair 

greetings
Martin

[-jeffB]

Very, very nice!

My very first scope was a 502. I needed more bandwidth from the very beginning -- wasn't it about 1MHz vertical? -- but I loved the 200uV/cm sensitivity. And the differential mode, although I barely knew enough to take advantage of it.

I eventually put it into storage for a few years, and when I hauled it out and powered it up, I watched the trace drift across and then snap off the top of the screen, never to return. I imagine it was just a failing capacitor, but I had newer scopes to occupy my time, and didn't really have space for the 502. I donated it to a high school; I hope someone there was able to return it to service. (I think the guy I originally bought it from had gotten it from our high school, so it seemed fitting.)

[Martin.M]

hello Jeff,

the 500 series Oldies know a diff plugin 1A7 or 1A7A where the maximum sensitivity is 10µV/cm or the much older "E" with the XLR-Plug at the front.
In the 5000 series* (cold scopes) ist this a 5A22N, in the 7k series a 7A22.

greetings
Martin

*

[Martin.M]

Unknown L or C = Tek 130 
Tek produced them over a time of 21 years. Good calibratet it holds < 3% accuracy. Also very small C like 4.7pF will bee tested true.











greetings
Martin

[Yago]

This thread gets better and better!

[guido]

I have the same addiction, just no tubes. 7603 with 7A22/7A13, 7623A with 7L5+TG, 7704A on a chart with more regular plugins. Three more three-bay mainframes as spare/parts units (7603/7623 and a Navy ~7403/7603) and another R7603 parts unit.
The 7603 and 7623A will get new supply caps soon.

Currently working on a 5115, had to replace the supply caps. Two were dead as a dodo.
When it's ready, i can see if the plugins have some life in them. One is a 5L4N SA 

[Howardlong]

Thank you , thank you, thank you!!!

These are so great, I think the pictures have made me gay.
I coming out as a Tekosexual! O0

The inside of Matins scopes are cleaner than the average surgical theatre in UK!

Brilliant work and collection Martin, greatest of respect and gratitude from me.

Thank you again! 

Going to need bromide in me tea tonight that's for sure.

[_Wim_]

Wow, thanks for posting this! Super nice work.

[TerraHertz]

This thread gets more and more awesome! Great stuff Martin.

I second the view that arguing about whether analog or digital is 'better' is pointless. If one has some target use that requires digital storage, then the argument is moot. If you are collecting and using older scopes because of their aesthetic and historic qualities, then the argument is also moot. If you're using old gear because it's cheap or free and all you can afford, then even more moot.
The only people who want to argue on this topic are those who don't really know what they need, apart from wanting to argue.

And yay the 5103! I said I don't have room and $ to collect, but I can't resist when something turns up for free, and would likely have been destroyed if I didn't save it. Like the 5103Ns below.
The adjustable bandpass filter on the 5A22N plugins is cute. That was the first time I'd had something like that to try. I didn't get a 7A22 until quite recently.

OK, so how much *did* your 7104 cost? Mine is a shameful story - reasonably cheap (apart from the horrific shipping cost), working on arrival, then when starting disassembly and cleaning I badly broke it. Failed in attempts to repair - partly gave up in disgust with myself for the careless goof. Someday will try again. Ha ha, when the pain has faded enough.

Martin, one serious question - in your Tek researches, have you ever come across a detailed technical description of Tek's process for making their anodized aluminium front panels, with the coloured lettering and shading dyes embedded into the anodized layer?

I wish I could duplicate that, but so far have been unable to find anything on how Tek did it. Today there's 'photo-anodizing', but the process is expensive. I'm thinking that Tek must have had a reasonably simple technique, since they began using it so early and stuck with it for so long.
Also, it's beautiful.

[Richard Crowley]

I suspect you could email the Tek museum guys and ask them about how they made those beautiful panels.
There is almost certainly somebody there who knows who worked on them.

Martin's beautiful resorations (and photographs) make me ashamed of that big old 500-series hulk out in the back yard.
I suppose if I ever need a space-heater for the shop, I could restore the old thing.
And I have a couple of newer model things down in the basement.

But my Rigol DS1104Z does most everything I need and then some.
At lower cost lighter weight, and almost smaller footprint than just one 500 series plug-in.
Although I feel a slight twinge of guilt since I live here in the heart of the Tek territories (Silicon Forest).

And I've got one of those beautiful Polaroid cameras around here somewhere (new in the box from the Tek "Country Store" surplus sales)
Dunno what good it will ever be to anybody except as a museum relic.

[joeqsmith]

What is the system on the far left center?

Looks like a Rhode & Schwarz Polyscope III
http://abload.de/img/010h8kvk.jpg
www.classicbroadcast.de/downloads/rohde_SWOB3.pdf

Has a frequency sweep generator inside and plots frequency vs amplitude of DUT (amplifier, filter etc)
But what is that strange connector on the bottom??

Thanks for the links.   Looks like the same system.   I like it.   

[-jeffB]

the 500 series Oldies know a diff plugin 1A7 or 1A7A where the maximum sensitivity is 10µV/cm or the much older "E" with the XLR-Plug at the front.
In the 5000 series* (cold scopes) ist this a 5A22N, in the 7k series a 7A22.

In the good old days (15 years ago), Duke University and NC State had surplus stores that frequently had old Tek equipment. I bought a number of scopes there, cleaned them up (nothing like your overhauls, though), and sold them on eBay. I think I may have gotten one or two of the 500 series with plugins. I know there were some 454/465/475 units; I frequently saw 5000-series stuff, but none of it was working, and I don't think I ever bought any of it. I almost never saw 7000-series stuff; I guess it wasn't obsolete enough.

I bought a 7834 mainframe and a bunch of plug-ins on eBay. I don't have a 7A22, just a 7A13. If I ever start using it heavily again, I might try to pick up a 7A22.

[mazurov]

And I've got one of those beautiful Polaroid cameras around here somewhere (new in the box from the Tek "Country Store" surplus sales)
Dunno what good it will ever be to anybody except as a museum relic.

I used one to fit a digital cam to 7K. Still using it to take pics of single shots, sampled signals and other stuff that can't be easily presented to a digital scope via sig out.

[JacquesBBB]

Martin,  this is fantastic work !

Could you give more details on your cleaning technics. You are achieving such perfect results
that this could be of use for many in some more modest projects.

Thanks

Jacques