PMT circuits: Tek 2465A oscilloscope

[Dominic-Luc Webb]

Thanks John and others for earlier advice.

Application is homemade photomultiplier and related circuits for
amateur astronomers... transistor driven 30-200 kHz oscillators
to drive (12-1500 V) step-up transformers for pulse counting mode,
etc. I want to analyze the oscillators, which really need to work
optimally to get the high voltage, and also the roughly 10 ns PMT
pulse waveform, etc.

I followed advice and am going to start bidding on 350 Mhz Tek
2465A oscilloscopes on Ebay. This model looks to be quite good,
but not excessive, for this application. I am curious about all
these "options" fittings that influence price greatly....

1) GPIB
2) Option 5 (TV trigger)
3) Option 6 (CCT)

Any immediately obvious reason I might want to favor a scope
with one of these options versus another?

Dominic

 

[John Popelish]

Thanks John and others for earlier advice.

Application is homemade photomultiplier and related circuits for
amateur astronomers... transistor driven 30-200 kHz oscillators
to drive (12-1500 V) step-up transformers for pulse counting mode,
etc. I want to analyze the oscillators, which really need to work
optimally to get the high voltage, and also the roughly 10 ns PMT
pulse waveform, etc.

I followed advice and am going to start bidding on 350 Mhz Tek
2465A oscilloscopes on Ebay. This model looks to be quite good,
but not excessive, for this application. I am curious about all
these "options" fittings that influence price greatly....

1) GPIB

This is a computer bus for the scope to operate it by remote control.

2) Option 5 (TV trigger)

A video signal filter to extract the frame sync (or maybe it is the
vertical sync) from the waveform, so you can lock in on a line of
video.

3) Option 6 (CCT)
???

Any immediately obvious reason I might want to favor a scope
with one of these options versus another?

I can't think of any.

 

[Dominic-Luc Webb]

???

Thanks John and please excuse this rare form of dyslexia...
Option 6 is CTT.... counter timer trigger....

Dominic

 

[John Popelish]

Thanks John and please excuse this rare form of dyslexia...
Option 6 is CTT.... counter timer trigger....

Dominic

I never used one of those.

 

[TekMan]

opt.6:
CTT is an add-on for the scope with a lot improveved timing,
frequency-counting and trigger features. Very nice to have, add a lot
more precision to your measurements and saves you an extra
frequency/multi-function conter.

Bad CTT is limited to 150 MHz. So, a 39 USD FC would do the
same.

Option 5 is nice when you are doing service/measurement for video
equiment. Eases Measurements a lot, but option is rare. so price
ususally gets higher.



GPIB, a.k.a. ieee-488,is nice when doing semi-automated measurements.
You can control the scope setting via remote , you can download the
measured vaues of the CTT. But you can NOT download the measured
displays - the 2465A is an analogue scope, non-digitizing.

so, Dominic, it depends on what you are willing to do with your scope
to decide if you specifically need these options or if the basic model
2465A is the one to go for.

I never used one of those.

If you have one time the chance, try it. You'll like it ;-)

hth,
Andreas

 

[TekMan]

Thanks John and others for earlier advice.

Application is homemade photomultiplier and related circuits for
amateur astronomers... transistor driven 30-200 kHz oscillators
to drive (12-1500 V) step-up transformers for pulse counting mode,
etc. I want to analyze the oscillators, which really need to work
optimally to get the high voltage, and also the roughly 10 ns PMT
pulse waveform, etc.

Don't only focus on the 2465A. There are more nice units:
1.The Tektronix 7904 (a) with appropriate plugins is a nexecellent
choice too. a littel bit more space consuming, but with 500MHZ/2nanos.
very well suited for your application and often cheaper to get on
ebay.
2. The Philips PM3295 (400 MHZ). Nice Portable, well constructed .

hth,
Andreas