Newly aquired Tek 465 scope - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Mephitus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 11:02:14 pm
content: Hey everyone. Just snagged this awesome Tektronics 465 for $50 from the local classifieds. There was an asset tag on top for NCR. It needed a good cleaning since a previous owner was obviously a smoker. So a good scrub of the case/face with alcohol cleaned everything up nicely. The knobs have a tiny bit of noise if you rattle them, but only a tiny bit, so a spritz of deoxit wouldnt be a bad idea eventually. I dont have any probes at the moment to to a proper test with, but everything seems to be working fine as far as I can tell at this point.I wont post a complete teardown, as there are already more than a few. I am just posting the 2 things I found wrong with this unit. First, on the under side high voltage board, the retention clip for a fuze had been bent. The fuse wasnt even connecting on one end. The second being a rather ugly bodge fix. Obviously someone had been repairing this thing and broke some traces. Oh well, it works! Now to find some proper probes. As a newb, and please correct me if I am wrong, I understand it would be a good idea to get both a 1x and 10x probe for differing measurements.And for those playing along at home, the serial is: B190790

author: BillW50
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 11:11:43 pm
content: Most scope probes have a switch for x1 and x10. No need to purchase individually.

author: Mephitus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 11:20:14 pm
content: Quote from: BillW50 on July 24, 2015, 11:11:43 pmOh, so there is! I missed it, just below the screen. Appreciate the clarification.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 11:20:33 pm
content: Quote from: Mephitus on July 24, 2015, 11:02:14 pmGet switchables or 10x probes only.Unless you want better quality probes the P6100 (1x & 10x) are perfectly fine for general use.Check eBay or Alliexpess, normally ~$15 delivered.

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 11:40:00 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on July 24, 2015, 11:20:33 pmA search on eBay for Tektronix P6100 turns up a bunch but they seem to mostly come from Hong Kong/China. Are these real Tektronix probes or clones?

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2015, 12:08:44 am
content: Quote from: Electro Fan on July 24, 2015, 11:40:00 pmClones, but they generally work just fine. There's a thread here somewhere with detailed testing of these clones.Ok - yeah -here's that thread- testing by The Electrician farther down the page.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2015, 12:27:39 am
content: Quote from: Electro Fan on July 24, 2015, 11:40:00 pmSo? What isn't made there nowdays?QuoteClones?They're made by YPioneer, and yes that is the spelling.Scope probes of this style are a fairly standard design and IME these are good, seem to be better than the units supplied with 1054's that sleeves fall off and have switch faults.

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2015, 01:16:53 am
content: My bad, I didn't look closely at probes that come up when you key in Tektronix P6100 - I thought they said Tektronix on them but I don't think that is the case.Since they don't say Tektronix on them I'd say they alternatives to Tektronix made probes, not "clones" per se.In fact, it looks like Tektronix never made a model P6100 probe?http://www.barrytech.com/tektronix/probes/tekprobes.html#P61It appears Tektronix had a 6100 series, but perhaps not a 6100 model.Either way, I'm sure it's possible that the eBay 6100 products are good performers (especially if EEVers have had consistently good success with them).

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 25, 2015, 02:16:15 am
content: I have 2 pairs of them and they work fine for hobbyist use.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2015, 04:29:42 am
content: Quote from: Electro Fan on July 25, 2015, 01:16:53 amGood point. I have several Tektronix probes and none of them look like these so clone is not the right word. But clearly they've tried to emulate the Tektronix naming convention and several of the ebay listings use the terms "Tektronix type" or " for Tektronix". I do have one set that I use with one of my scopes and they work fine and appear well made. I've never tried to measure their performance so I was pleasantly surprised to see how good they performed on " The Electrician's" testing. I've been tempted to get a couple more sets to use as everyday probes and save wear on my Tektronix probes.

author: Auburn Boy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 25, 2015, 04:58:19 am
content: The soldering repairs in photo 2 and 3 look like old style "Engineering Changes."I've seen more than a few of those in older scopes. The Tek 450 is older than any I've worked with, I think.(The first scope I ever worked with was a Heathkit 10D-4540 that I built in 1974.