Author Topic: Wanted: inexpensive analog oscilloscope (Read 11601 times)

keiby.zhou · « **on:** December 31, 2011, 09:23:16 pm »

I am a starting hobbyist planning on doing some electrical projects at home. I have limited budget and I am planning on getting a used analog oscilloscope(<$50), preferably >15Mhz and dual channel

I live in *TORONTO*. I tried ebay, but its quite expensive(shipping cost quite high)

I am wondering if anyone could point me to the right direction getting a scope in this area?

vk6zgo · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2012, 02:41:02 am »

Google for "Hamfests" in your area,there are often a few 'scopes at these events.
Even if you can't find one at the Hamfest,"Hams" are a friendly lot, many of whom work in the Electronics area,so they may know where a good 'scope is available.

VK6ZGO

EEVblog · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2012, 07:24:40 am »

Here is a digital scope near Toronto
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Yokogawa-DL1520-150MHz-Digital-200MS-s-Oscilloscope-probes-1-M-C1-w-WARRANTY-/290652679942?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item43ac3fef06#ht_1235wt_905
Not analog, but if it goes for $0.99, grab it!

Dave.

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2012, 03:22:54 pm »

Thanks.

Hopefully I can get that ebay Yokogawa oscilloscope under $50

I'll check out Hamfest events as well

alm · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2012, 04:22:20 pm »

9 days left and already at $36, expect it to go up significantly at the end of the auction. I would be surprised if it stays under $100.

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #5 on:** January 01, 2012, 05:57:26 pm »

ye, mine is already out-bidden

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #6 on:** January 03, 2012, 03:22:40 am »

lol, already at $100.. say bye-bye to that..

maybe Rigol DS1052E in the end is the best value/price to go......

don.r · « **Reply #7 on:** January 03, 2012, 04:51:40 am »

You would be lucky to find anything under $100 on eBay in Canada that is decent. I have seen a few ancient scopes go for under $50 however and they did appear to be working (at least somewhat).

Yael · « **Reply #8 on:** January 03, 2012, 05:53:25 am »

You could try calling Toronto Surplus & Scientific they dont have anything that cheap listed on their website but they have a pretty good selection of stuff and may have something kicking around.

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #9 on:** January 04, 2012, 01:17:54 am »

Thanks. I'll give them a call

its hard to find inexpensive stuff here in Toronto...

saturation · « **Reply #10 on:** January 04, 2012, 05:21:47 pm »

Not sure you can find $50 used analog scope in TO beyond a flea market sale but ~< $200 you can find new low ends scopes.

http://www.a1parts.com/scope/scope.html

vk6zgo · « **Reply #11 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:09:01 am »

Quote from: saturation on January 04, 2012, 05:21:47 pm

Not sure you can find $50 used analog scope in TO beyond a flea market sale but ~< $200 you can find new low ends scopes.

http://www.a1parts.com/scope/scope.html

Some of the 'scopes in this link seem quite overpriced.
Even the little Analog GBW-ST16B - 10 MHz job at $186..(assuming near-parity for Oz & Canuck Dollars)
Jaycar have a similar one in Oz for $A149,which I would guess to be identical internally,but with some different switches on the front.
I bought one of the Jaycar ones to help me fix my BWD a few years back.
You guessed it! The BWD never got fixed,& the little Chinese unit did a lot of good work,( in spite of it's limited specs) up until I bought a Tek 7613 .
Problems with these little beasts are:
The knobs are crap,& fall off

The BNC connectors are terrible,plus they don't tighten the retaining nuts properly.

My one lost the EHT supply--easy fix,as it is a switchmode ,one transistor had died.

If you had to buy a limited bandwidth 'scope new,I would definitely recommend one of these instead of the really cheap Digitals,which will be quite disappointing.
I still think you should pursue the Hamfest/Flea Market approach,but if you don't have the time,get the little 10MHz Analog,play around with it for a while,till you discover it's limitations (& possibilities),whilst still keeping an eye out for something better.

If you decide to make the jump to a reasonable Digital,have a bit of a browse through this forum,as many people here have been there before.
I don't have a Digital 'scope,& don't really need one,so I can't comment from personal experience,but Rigol 'scopes seem to have a large number of enthusiasts.

VK6ZGO

vtl · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:20:46 am »

On eBay, <$50 is a big ask for an analog oscilloscope, even for the super old low bandwidth ones. If you're that desperate then I'd suggest looking for broken oscilloscopes for cheap then fixing it up. That also has it pitfalls obviously. Stuffed test gear might already have had repair attempts so you might have a lot of bodges or missing components. Also can require a lot of time and effort.

Yael · « **Reply #13 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:36:39 am »

Even then its hard to find a scope for less than $150CDN on ebay.ca even a busted one.

don.r · « **Reply #14 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:39:41 am »

Take heart and keep trying. I found a working Tek 2225 in excellent condition for less than $200 a few years ago. Recently purchased a 2245A from the US for $150 (nearly $250 with shipping, tax and handling). Its in great shape too.

12AX7 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:52:33 am »

Just got one off eBay from a Toronto seller, description was for a Philips/Fluke 3065 with 2 Fluke probes, what I actually received was a Philips/Fluke 3365A CombiScope in great shape and 2 Fluke PM9010 10:1 probes. I'm not complaining. $248 with free shipping. Maxed out my budget though.

saturation · « **Reply #16 on:** January 05, 2012, 11:46:12 am »

Yes, things in general are not cheap in TO, even in the suburbs. For example, the same exact car, manufactured in Ontario, such as a Toyota or a Ford, before taxes, will cost 20-50% more without options than if bought in the USA, where the same car is exported to from Canada! Likewise, many Chinese brand stuff, as in that link, are far more costly than in the USA. The only thing I've found cheaper in Canada in general, are true made-in-Canada or HQ companies in Canada such as ATI [ now defunct] or Edifier.

Quote from: vk6zgo on January 05, 2012, 02:09:01 am

Quote from: saturation on January 04, 2012, 05:21:47 pm
Not sure you can find $50 used analog scope in TO beyond a flea market sale but ~< $200 you can find new low ends scopes.

http://www.a1parts.com/scope/scope.html
Some of the 'scopes in this link seem quite overpriced.
Even the little Analog GBW-ST16B - 10 MHz job at $186..(assuming near-parity for Oz & Canuck Dollars)
Jaycar have a similar one in Oz for $A149,which I would guess to be identical internally,but with some different switches on the front...
I don't have a Digital 'scope,& don't really need one,so I can't comment from personal experience,but Rigol 'scopes seem to have a large number of enthusiasts.

VK6ZGO

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #17 on:** January 06, 2012, 04:48:50 am »

Thanks for all the advice

I think I'll stick to hamfest and ebay,,, hopefully finding a decent scope around $100

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #18 on:** January 06, 2012, 01:25:10 pm »

I won a Tektronix 453 at $70(with shipping etc combined, it will be around $100) ...

only power on test has been done,,,, have my finger crossed

12AX7 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 06, 2012, 06:26:37 pm »

Tektronix 7854, eBay 230726277881, $200.

tekfan · « **Reply #20 on:** January 06, 2012, 06:43:17 pm »

Quote from: 12AX7 on January 06, 2012, 06:26:37 pm

Tektronix 7854, eBay 230726277881, $200.

Don't buy it unless you have access to another oscilloscope and a logic analyzer. If this thing breaks it is a nightmare to fix.

And also seeing how most of the people here don't even have the space for their Rigol scope, I really don't know where they would put this beast.

But other than that it is a wonderful scope. 400MHz analog bandwidth, digital storage, modular plugins, what more could you ask for.

keiby.zhou · « **Reply #21 on:** January 06, 2012, 08:03:39 pm »

Quote from: tekfan on January 06, 2012, 06:43:17 pm

Quote from: 12AX7 on January 06, 2012, 06:26:37 pm
Tektronix 7854, eBay 230726277881, $200.

Don't buy it unless you have access to another oscilloscope and a logic analyzer. If this thing breaks it is a nightmare to fix.

And also seeing how most of the people here don't even have the space for their Rigol scope, I really don't know where they would put this beast.

But other than that it is a wonderful scope. 400MHz analog bandwidth, digital storage, modular plugins, what more could you ask for.

hi Tekfan, How about the 453 i bought? is it easy to fix if something went bad?

i saw some of your posts on bringing dead scopes back to life,,, very encouraging

Thanks for your sharing

tekfan · « **Reply #22 on:** January 06, 2012, 10:19:50 pm »

This should be one of the easier scopes to fix. Everything is discrete. No integrated circuits. This was the time (late 60's to early 70's) when Tek was coming out of the tube era and going into the transistor era. This scope is mostly transistorised apart from six 8393 nuvistor tubes (one on each channel input, 2 in the A and 2 in the B sweep generator).
There are also two 5642 rectifier tubes in the HV power supply. The tubes last very long so you shouldn't worry about replacing them.

The only thing that might be hard to come by are the four tunnel diodes in the trigger circuits. They are 4.7mA tunnel diodes.
You can probably substitute them with russian tunnel diodes that can be found on ebay. But again they very rarely fail. Whatever you do don't measure them with an ohmmeter or multimeter on diode check function. Check the tekscopes yahoo group for successful substitutions.

All in all this should be a pretty nice scope.

alm · « **Reply #23 on:** January 06, 2012, 10:26:54 pm »

Didn't they change the nuvistors to FETs sometime in the 453's life before the 453A came out?

tekfan · « **Reply #24 on:** January 06, 2012, 10:40:17 pm »

Quote from: alm on January 06, 2012, 10:26:54 pm

Didn't they change the nuvistors to FETs sometime in the 453's life before the 453A came out?

Looks like they did replace them with FETs in the later models. (the two metal can devices in the white socket)


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Author Topic: Wanted: inexpensive analog oscilloscope (Read 11601 times)

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