Jeff wrote in message ...
I am a hobbiest and have wanted a scope to for a long time. I ran across a
used Tektronix 2236 with probes today locally for $200.00 so I picked it
up. I have 7 days to take it back if I need to.
I have done the initial setup and probe calibration and so far it seems to
be working as the manual says it should. The CRT looks good, it's crisp
and bright.
I don't know how to use a scope yet and I can tell it will take some time
to learn. I mainly dabble with older vcr's and some other consumer A/V
equipment.
Did I do alright with this one? Are there any checks I can make to ensure
it's alright while I have time to return it if I need to? From what I read
on the internet this model could be 20 years old, how concerned should I be
about that? I really haven't wanted to buy one from eBay and I don't see
used ones come up locally very often especially at that price.
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Jeff
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Jeff,
You did GREAT. Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a
Tektronix oscilloscope.
The 2236 is a very nice portable 100 MHz scope, with a well-made and
rugged feel to it. It's a joy to use and I think you'll love owning
it.
I sold one a few years back that got snapped up pretty quickly for
$399, without a manual or probes. They're less than that, now. But you
still got a good deal.
About the only common failure-point that I can recall hearing about in
the 2236 is the cable that connects the LCD, in the hinged cover, to
the scope. So you might want to be a little careful with that. I don't
know how difficult it would be to try to replace or repair it. But, as
Jim Yanik said, that scope *IS* user-repairable. So if anything ever
goes wrong with it, just open it up and take a look. And you'd
probably be able to get lots of help, in this newsgroup and in the
TekScopes group at
http://www.yahoogroups.com .
There's also a pretty good tutorial for general scope usage, called
"The XYZs of Oscilloscopes", on the Tektronix website, at
http://www.tek.com
Or, you might be able to find it more easily from my links page, at
http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/links.htm ,
which also has lots of other interesting Tektronix-related links.
You might also want to try doing a general search of the newsgroups
*archive*, at
http://groups.google.com ,
for something like "tek OR tektronix 2236" (without the quotes), just
to see what all has been asked about and answered, regarding your
model. You could also add " -FS -FA -sale" to that search syntax, to
filter out the "for sale" ads. (And note that the "OR", above, must be
in caps.)
Enjoy your scope!
Regards,
Tom Gootee
http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg (Lots of good used Tek and other test
equipment)
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