EEVblog #502 - $19 Hameg Analog Oscilloscope.

[jancumps]

Book a hotel at the belgian coast and give it to me! I don't know if you already visited Belgium?

i'd be hiding in the dunes and pry it from your hands immediately after handover.

[crispytato]

Well, this is worth a shot at least. Not really a sob story, just garden-variety poverty.

I've been interested in electronics for the majority of my life, as a kid (3, 4, 5 years old) I would take apart anything that I could find around the house that plugged into a wall. My parents eventually realised this wasn't a terrible thing, and started giving me old, broken electronics to tear apart rather than the functional ones around the house. Fast forward a few years, and I started on the old dick smith fun way series (using mainly recycled parts, great when you only partially understand resistor labelling and so on) - so I never had a whole lot of success.

A family friend got me an old dick smith multimeter when I was about 10 or 11 and that was when I really started to successfully create stuff. Ever since, I've retained this interest, but went down a different path after getting out of school (graphics design) since the idea of studying engineering for years scared the crap out of me. About 2 years ago I discovered how amazingly useful sites like RS and Ebay are, and that parts weren't nearly as impossible as I thought to source around here. Since then I've been learning pcb design and generally actually making things that work (well sometimes at least)

Recently I got together enough savings to get myself either a crappy scope, or a decent quality multimeter. I went for the meter as it was necessary for the course I'm studying at tech and I felt it was a better investment than getting something I'd want to replace in a short time.

I've really wanted a scope to add to my tool set for a long time now, but the need for one is increasing every day as I move to more and more complex projects.

I've wanted to get an old CRO off of ebay or trademe but had no success finding one that doesn't cost many times it's value just shipping it here. Trademe is an utter rip off, since people know the market here in nz doesn't have much choice but to pay what they ask.

I realise you did only want to ship to an aussie, but I thought it'd be worth asking anyway, I'd be happy to pay shipping to get it here, as it should be far less ridiculous than getting a scope on ebay sent from the states or uk.
 
If anyone living in nz has an old cheap/free scope they're looking to get rid of, please give me a message, you'd be helping me to build these skills I've been developing for my whole life far more quickly (and hopefully give a better understanding too)

peace all
chris

[JackOfVA]

With both Y axis verniers failed in the same way, makes you wonder whether the shaft set screws were intentionally loosened to prevent inadvertent operation. 

[Dr. Frank]

Dave, thank you for that wonderful video!

Made me ignite my first scope after decades of resting in the basement.

It's a HAMEG HM 412, vintage 1981 or 1982, bought from my first salary.

And it's still working, even stable, after I have rotated and engaged every knob on that thing a few times!

I did not have the heart to throw it away, yet..

Frank

[nicolas]

Nice video, we have some of these at school. The pin-header on the back (17:35 in the video) can be used to connect a thermal printer. And I have some prints here if someone is interested here is a picture.

[edy]

I'd love to win this scope. I bought a Gabotronics Xprotolab a while back but quickly realized it was no substitute for a basic oscilloscope. Still, the xprotolab is a good frequency gen and protocol sniffer. Anyways, I have been looking around for scopes on ebay and can find some cheap ones. However the shipping always seems to drive it over the top. If I only had to pay shipping that would be another story. Good luck to all, hope the scope finds a good home! I'm mainly doing beginner electronics learning and so that would be a gem to own as my first "real" oscilloscope. I didn't watch the video yet, how do you enter the contest and what is the eligibility? I'm in Canada.

[firewalker]

I did not have the heart to throw it away, yet..

Frank

Shhhhhhh! It may hear you!

Alexander.

[JOERGG]

I bought the HM203-7 for 190,-€ on ebay two years ago, it is almost identical except the storage part, which the HM203-7 not has. No it was not to expensive, mine is in an excellent condition and came with two new probes, all the money worth. These models have in x-y mode the horizontal input on channel 2, which you claimed as not correct in a DS2000 video. Here at least marked correct below the input connector. I don´t care as long as i know what is what. By the way, at the first model HM203, which i owned 30 years ago, was it the other way around.
At 5:40 in the video, i do not understand, why the time 5 vertikal amplifier would affect the analog bandwith of the scope, would highly appreciate, if you could go into details.

[Fraser]

I used to sell Hameg scopes and I have a soft spot for them. A no nonsense, well designed and laid out CRO. Hameg used to produce models that were specifically designed for specific roles such as television repair. Fine German Engineering. There are presently 8 Hameg CRO's of various models languishing in my garage. Some are in perfect working order and others are awaiting minor repairs. The last two that I purchased were two 100MHz models to keep up with my Rigol DS1052 DSO. I have worked on many oscilloscopes over the past 30 years and I still prefer the Hameg's for hobby use. My Tektronix CRO's don't see much use at all.

I have three of the HM205-x model plus three printers that sit underneath them. The output to the printer is an standard IDS ribbon connector and cable. Hameg used to sell a printer upgrade kit and all it consisted of was a back panel plate and a ribbon cable to bring the printer port on the main board out to the rear. The printer is a thermal 'bog roll' (4" wide) type. It produces a hardcopy of the stored screen. Before I had my Rigol DSO I used it for documenting waveforms around a circuit under investigation.

Buying a faulty Hameg for pennies (Cents) can make a very worthwhile project as they are easy to work on and the service manual is freely available from Hameg and on line. Sadly you often need an oscilloscope to repair an oscilloscope    But a CRO or DSO may sometimes be borrowed for the purpose. HM-3xx series Hameg's were a little less reliable but I have two that have not given any problems.

The joy of analogue CRO's is that they still show you a time accurate display of a signal that exceeds the stated bandwidth so long as the trigger can cope, and these work well above the  stated 20Mhz top end. Amplitude is no longer accurate but that is not always an issue. Square waves of any great frequency will always challenge a 20MHz CRO and rounded edges will result but 20 MHz is fine for many analogue sine wave applications.

Dave did well getting that scope for $19 but I am not that surprised as the world appears fixated with DSO's these days.

[erick]

Oh no, send it to Brazil! It is just not possible to get a scope like that for under around $350.00 here in Brazil.
How much would the shipping cost?

$266

Gee, that's a lot =/

[M0BSW]

I think you should send it to me in the UK, surely the postage wouldn't be that much would it  which I'd pay, my old D61A is getting tired , like me.

[Wytnucls]

Dave, if you can't find a needy student in Oz, I can pick the scope up in Perth and give it to one of the high schools in Mauritius, which are always short of equipment.

[Valueduser]

Can someone explain to me how the component tester works?  What is it plotting on the screen?  At first I thought it was working like a rudimentary curve tracer but changing resistances shouldn't have changed the slope of the line so drastically.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[c4757p]

Looks like a very sensitive low-current curve tracer to me.

[TerminalJack505]

Can someone explain to me how the component tester works?  What is it plotting on the screen?  At first I thought it was working like a rudimentary curve tracer but changing resistances shouldn't have changed the slope of the line so drastically.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

The tester is probably similar to an Octopus Curve Tracer.  W2AEW did a video about them.  They're easy to make.

[PA0PBZ]

I'm pretty sure that the IC marked ADRCTR is for the address control and not A/D related.

[M0BSW]

I made one of Alans , there really easy to make , sorted my junk box out in an afternoon, I put mine in an old Black*Star case, very useful device

[LoyalServant]

Why do you suppose they socketed the components?
Repairability?

[david77]

Book a hotel at the belgian coast and give it to me! I don't know if you already visited Belgium?

Please! Belgium is in central Europe, is it not? Our Ebays are full of scopes for very little money, there is really no need to ship one of the most common scopes half way round the globe.

[99tito99]

Hi Dave, You have established a new price point for oscilloscopes: $0.95 / MHz.  Cheers, Mark

[Valueduser]

Can someone explain to me how the component tester works?  What is it plotting on the screen?  At first I thought it was working like a rudimentary curve tracer but changing resistances shouldn't have changed the slope of the line so drastically.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

The tester is probably similar to an Octopus Curve Tracer.  W2AEW did a video about them.  They're easy to make.

Awesome, thanks for the video. 

[markce]

Funny video.
At this price, we even want to buy in Australia from EU.
Repair switches is certainly not the way is should be done. All dirt stays inside this way. Could be only a short term solution.
Vernier still does not work.
Ok, there is more work, and that why it's only 19$. Personally, I would try to get a simpler (older) model, even at a bit higher price,
as a reliable dependable starters scope.

[nakchak]

Brings back memories, used to use that model when i was at college , liked the modular base units we had as well, where you could get power supply , function generator, multi meter and frequency counter modules.

It always amazes me how cheap they can be had in the uk, picked up a hameg 406 for under £50 inc. postage last year to replace my currently broken tek 466.

[PA4TIM]

Hi Dave, You have established a new price point for oscilloscopes: $0.95 / MHz.  Cheers, Mark

I do not understand all the exitement (but I have not looked the video, I unserstand from the topic its an old analog low BW  Hameg, if not then forget my rant 

Here in Holland a rather normal price for analog scopes is around 1 euro/MHz upto 3 euro/MHz for a more special one. (but real special scopers can do more) A 10 or 20 MHz can easy be bought under 50 euro.

Scopes I got offered  for free the last 5 years: two 1 GHz Philips sample scopes (dead, fixed one, kept the other for spares), a Tek 547 (prime condition), 2 x 545 (one dead, HV transformer, the other given away in unkown condition), 546 (given away), 2 x 535, 453 (in perfect shape, resqued from scrapping because nobody wanted it after 2 weeks of adbvertising it for free), a dead 465 (fixed and gave away, a Philips 75 MHz (perfect shape, gave away), a Hameg mini scope from the 60' s (in my collection), a Thandar 10 MHz miniscope (use it on hollydays), a Fairchild 777 (dead and no manuals), two old Philips scopes from the 50's (traded to a 1948 multimeter), a tele-equipment (gave it away)  and I probably forget some more.

Bought a HP1740 100 MHz with probes for 100 euro (gave it to a friend), a Tek 7704 and 7603 together 125 euro (still use them), a 2445 for 125 euro (gave it to a student)

The most expensive per MHz was a Tek 212, that was 80 euro/MHz ( 40 euro for a 500kHz scope ;-)

I have enough scopes but still get them offered, sadly had to turn down about 6 scope offered this year. I know two Tek mainframe scopes with 5 plugins that are  trashed by the owner about a week ago, no interest after a week advertising them for free pickup. I know about a 535A, a 545, a 546 that are scrapped because of the same reason.

So there seems to be a strange thing going on, on the one hand people who want to get rid of there sopes for nothing but can not find candidates or ask little money . And on the other hand lots of people who want to spend 50-200 dollar for scopes the other owners can not get rid of for less as 50 dollar or even for free. I think both do not look at the right place (I think most must learn to look at other places as epay with the extreme prices because many buyers are just addicted to gamblin and are dying to " win" everything many other people are interested in, the attract each other like bees  )

By the way, do not mail me, I have no scopes at the moment to give away and I am not planning to make a list or so 

[markce]

BW of a scope is only one simple factor determining scope price. Reliability, serviceability, sensitivity, sync performance,
time base features are also of prime influence.
PA4TIM has made it a personal statement to advertise 1 Eur/MHz , which has no correlation with local marker prices
as I observed over a number of years in NL. If you search for actual sales on ebat.de (compatable market) of the 203 model in the past moths, the average price is l60-70 Eur, which is more than 3 times the stated EUR/Mhz.
If you want believe in fairy tails, enjoy!