Buying Used Tek 465 Oscilloscope for 1st Time

[Proschuno]

Okay, so I've never used, let alone purchased an oscilloscope. I found a guy who posted a 465 Oscilloscope used for $175. From on the pictures I saw the manual saying it was from the year 1977 and it was a 465M, and it possibly comes with probes (from what i saw in the pictures.. I just sent him and email concerning these things). So what do you guys think?

I'm wanting to experiment and educate myself even deeper into electronics, so I figured this would be a good 1st oscilloscope.

 

[john monks]

I personally use a Tektronix 485 and some Berkeleynucleonics digital scopes.
I have had good luck with Tektronix scopes and certainly believe the 465 is a fine 100MHz analog scope. Excellent delay modes for an analog scope.
Sort of big and bulky but on a test bench and if that's the best price you can get I think you will be pleased with it.

 

[GreenGiant]

Vintage Tektronix are the way to go, if it works correctly then that is a great bargain.

Definitely a good thing to learn on, if you learn to use the analog o-scope proficiently then when/if you get to use digital scopes it will be much MUCH easier, that is my experience anyways

 

[shrtrnd]

Ask him what kind of problems it has.
Tektronix makes great scopes, put parts can be pricey if you have to fix it before you
can use it.
If the seller claims it works, at least you'll have a shot at a good scope.

 

[Proschuno]

Sorry, forgot to say the user did claim it works, and said it was in very good condition. And it also comes with manuals, probes, and the exact model is 465M from what i found out from him.

 

[davenn]

Am not familiar with the M variation, I use a 465B which were very very common
you
ahhh googling tells me its the rugged Military version we live and learn
there is a bit of variation of the knobs on the front panel it has a few less than the B version

it should serve you well

Dave

 

[Alchymist]

IMHO the 465's were iffy - 454 was the cat's meow for many years, and my personal preference in the 400 series was the 485. But then I'm spoiled, my bench scope is a 7104.

 

[Proschuno]

So, I got the scope, and am having lots of fun with it! I'm already able to take basic dc measurements with it, and can even get sine and square waves to appear.

So now i have a question, I've got my scope hooked up to a 7.5V AC-AC wall adapter (which reads 10.80 volts on my multimeter), and with a 1x probe have it set to 5v/div. now its reading 3 divisions above the 0v line, and 3 below, meaning 30V peak to peak; and when i hook it up to a 6.3V AC vintage vacuum tube supply (which reads 7V), it reads two marks above and below (reading 20V).

Yet it's only slightly off when i stick it into the calibrator slot, the top and bottom waves only being a little to close to each other (which the slot is 1v at 1000hz)

Now i don't think my probe originally came with the scope (the probes model # is P6028 which reads 47pF+INSTR C, if that rings a bell for anyone). So am i reading the scope wrong?

OH!!! and fear not, i've read the manual that came with it and found nothing on the subject..... perhaps i didn't read enough lol? And it reads accurately when doing dc measurements... haven't tried current measurements with it yet...

 

[davenn]

So, I got the scope, and am having lots of fun with it! I'm already able to take basic dc measurements with it, and can even get sine and square waves to appear.

awesome thats great

So now i have a question, I've got my scope hooked up to a 7.5V AC-AC wall adapter (which reads 10.80 volts on my multimeter), and with a 1x probe have it set to 5v/div. now its reading 3 divisions above the 0v line, and 3 below, meaning 30V peak to peak; and when i hook it up to a 6.3V AC vintage vacuum tube supply (which reads 7V), it reads two marks above and below (reading 20V).

Thats probably cuz you multimeter is reading RMS voltage where as the scope will be reading peak to peak voltage

Yet it's only slightly off when i stick it into the calibrator slot, the top and bottom waves only being a little to close to each other (which the slot is 1v at 1000hz)
Now i don't think my probe originally came with the scope (the probes model # is P6028 which reads 47pF+INSTR C, if that rings a bell for anyone). So am i reading the scope wrong?
OH!!! and fear not, i've read the manual that came with it and found nothing on the subject..... perhaps i didn't read enough lol? And it reads accurately when doing dc measurements... haven't tried current measurements with it yet...

keep up the good learning

cheers
Dave

 

[Proschuno]

oh duh!! oops I forgot that, thanks.

so anyway the scope reads 30V and 20V... which converting from the original RMS voltages to Peak-Peak gives 15V and 10 V respectively.... so maybe it's somehow set internally to read peak amplitude? because the true voltages are 1/2 the voltages being read?