3 rather old oscilloscopes, are any worth buying for a few dollars? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2013, 09:51:58 pm
content: Someone in a nearby village sent me some photos of some old oscilloscopes (and a few other things) inherited from his father.It's even older than I was expecting but it might be fun if it works.I've never owned an oscilloscope before and I only want one for audio work (oscillators, filters, synth related stuff)EICO 460 - (quite ancient, not useful for me other than that it looks nice and I love salvaging old knobs and rotary switches along with old pots) It looks like it has tubes in itAdvance OS1000A (pre-Gould I think) - decently modern compared to the EICOI don't know, if it works it could be useful.B+K Precision BK1472c - looks like the best of the three. This one could be perfectly useable.What do you people think?The EICO is a historical curiosity (along with his EICO Model 324 signal generator which would be nice just for the case and retro knobs)The Advance and the B+K might be useful if they work well?I don't think they're each worth more than $45-ish Canadian though???Here's some dark photos I think he took with an iPad (definitely not Nokia Lumia quality)https://app.box.com/s/v71fzgex61g0j1emjm6g

author: Thor-Arne
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 28, 2013, 10:40:39 pm
content: I'd go for all three.In my case it could be for learning and poking around in scopes.Perhaps trying to restore.Scopes is rather rare to get cheap here, so I'd happily drive to the next town to pick up a couple.They might be useful for audio work, just go for it, can't have to much gear.

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 12:36:53 am
content: Quote from: Thor-Arne on July 28, 2013, 10:40:39 pmI know, the EICO has this great look but I can't justify getting more stuff just because it looks good(I'd take if for free just to salvage any rotary switches or pots it might have though)The B+K, on the other hand looks like it could be perfectly useable if it's not broken.That reminds me, I have to go check how big these things are and the date of manufacturing. The Advance OS1000A might take up less space than the B+K Precision BK1472c though.

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 04:36:49 am
content: The Advance is definitely the best scope. It's only 20MHz though, so $45 is pushing it. The Eico would make a good scope clock if you could get it for say $10-15.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 04:54:02 am
content: Don't "salvage" the Signal Generator bits if it works---RF Sig Gens,no matter how basic,are extremely useful,especially if teamed with a cheap frequency counter.The EICO may have tubes,but it doesn't really look that antique.-----if it works ,give it to some impoverished EE/Tech/Ham.The other beasties look nice,but try to bargain him down,--say $100 for the lot!

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 12:15:14 pm
content: They're for sale as "make me an offer" so that's why I'm trying to figure out what they're worth.I'd buy the Advance and the B+K (with 4 probes) together for $80-ishjust because of the convenience of not having to pay for shipping. His father must have had a decent soldering station mixed in with all that equipment so maybe I can buy one of those too.Yup, it looks like you could build that EICO yourself back in the 60's as a kit so it's not exactly antique, but almost. For me it's still not worth the space it would take up even tough it looks good.Oh, and don't worry, I don't need that frequency generator so I won't dismantle itIf something doesn't oscillate in the audio frequency range I really don't have any use for it.Quote from: vk6zgo on July 29, 2013, 04:54:02 am

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 05:09:25 pm
content: OK. I think I might end up deciding to get both the Advance and the B+K Precision if he's willing to get rid of them cheap.What, in your opinion, makes the Advance better the the B+K other than the 20MHz versus the 15MHz?I've been having a hard time finding an exact date of design on these things. The Advance looks like it's from the 70's from what I've found on other forums and the manual for the B+K says 1985, but that could just be when that particular revision was printed. They also seem to be selling for a few more dollars on auction sites but those prices are sometimes way off the actual value.Quote from: edavid on July 29, 2013, 04:36:49 am

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 05:44:57 pm
content: Quote from: dentaku on July 29, 2013, 05:09:25 pmIt seems to have a proper rectangular CRT, instead of the crappy round one in the B+K. It also has 10X magnifier instead of 5X.The OS1000A manual is dated 1974, the 1472C manual is dated 1978.

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2013, 09:07:21 pm
content: Nice, I didn't notice that the BK only did 5X and even though the Advance might be older it does look more modern. Looking at the manual I can see that he filter that goes over the CRT is round.Thanks for the infoQuote from: edavid on July 29, 2013, 05:44:57 pm