Philips 3340 2ghz scope (UK) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2012, 06:19:53 pm
content: Spotted this on fleabay if anyone is interested.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110871453278?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2012, 07:56:48 pm
content: Yes, spotted that - nice although no probes and I suspect that anything which will do it justice will be many £££'s. Manual here->http://128.238.9.201/~kurt/manuals/manuals/Other/PHILIPS%20PM%203340%20Operating.pdf.

author: Mint.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2012, 08:47:33 pm
content: Quote from: grumpydoc on April 30, 2012, 07:56:48 pmDoes it matter if the probes are included or not?

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 30, 2012, 09:28:40 pm
content: Note that the auction still runs for almost nine days, expect the price to go up towards the end of the auction.Note that this scope uses repetitive sampling to achieve the 2 GHz bandwidth. No mention of the real-time sampling rate, as far as I see, this suggests to me that it's probably quite low, i.e. only usable for repetitive signals (datasheetmentions it's optimized for HF). Horizontal resolution is quite low (512 points, interpolated to 4096). Memory is essentially nonexistent, what you see is all the information you have.This scope only has 50 ohm inputs, so you can't even hook up a cheap hi-Z probe for LF work. This leaves three options: direct connection to a 50 ohm source, passive probe or actives probes. Direct connection is great if you have a 50 ohm output to dedicate to the scope, but does not work as well for in-circuit measurements.Passive probes are were shipped as standard accessories with these scopes (eg. the PM8911 500 ohm 10x probe) and will easily achieve the 2 GHz bandwidth, but have a high DC loading. You can usually mix brands without problems (unlike with passive hi-Z or active probes), since they're 50 ohms and don't require any power, and they can sometimes be bought cheaply because many people don't understand their applications. Cheap in this context means about half of the current £150 starting bid. You may need adapters from N to BNC or SMA, however. You can also build your own, Howard Johnson and Doug Smith have written fairly extensively on this topic. It's essentially a resistor on the end of a coax cable.Active probes have less DC loading, but tend to be more expensive and fragile, and have proprietary power connectors. I believe Philips used external power supplies for at least some of their active probes, but many other probes (eg. HP) use proprietary connectors on the scope for power. I would expect to pay at least $400 (which probably converts to about £400 in the UK) for a 2 GHz active probe. Note that there are two channels.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2012, 10:18:42 pm
content: A scope like this could be interesting for RF work where 50 Ohms is standard. But then again, a spectrum analyser may be more appropriate.

author: tnt
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2012, 06:40:05 am
content: I think the main use of this kind of scope is for high speed transmissions lines, checking signal integrity / eye pattern.

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2012, 07:47:59 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on April 30, 2012, 10:18:42 pmyes i agree with you for rf work a sa would be better .i want one real bad.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2012, 08:36:14 am
content: A SA is probably notches better then a 2GHz scope , but yeah a scope has it's places .

author: wkb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2012, 07:51:41 pm
content: Quote from: Mint. on April 30, 2012, 08:47:33 pmYes, because good probes are serious money and not easy to obtain (unless you are prepared to pay an arm and 2 legs).

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2012, 08:23:33 pm
content: Making a passive probe which costs only a few dollars / euros which works up to 1 GHz is very easy:http://emcesd.com/1ghzprob.htm

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 02, 2012, 09:55:12 pm
content: Just checked and 7 days to go with one bid. Suspect it will go for a lot more than this but may still be a snip! found this on Youtube

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 02:51:03 pm
content: I think that this is re-listed I was looking at it or its twin about ten days ago.

author: mpfleger
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 24, 2012, 10:07:07 pm
content: Hi all.I"m new to this forum and found it as I am now the new owner of such a PM3340, and am also hunting for said manualThat link has since gone dead, and dig/nslookup can't even give me info on it.Does anyone have any good leads on such a thing? I've found quite a number of sites that *claim* to have those for sale, but I am leary of the quality of scanned pdf manuals if I can't preview at least a few pages.Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.TIA,M

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2012, 08:19:47 am
content: Yes, the 128.238.9.201 link stopped working a while ago - Ithinkit might be the same Kurt that runs the tekwiki at w140.com, you could try emailing him (email address is on the tekwiki site).

author: amiq
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2012, 03:28:51 pm
content: Quote from: mpfleger on October 24, 2012, 10:07:07 pmhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/gdm6yarhg10hpmj/PHILIPS%20PM%203340%20Operating.pdf

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 26, 2012, 04:41:54 pm
content: If the free thing doesn't work out, two sites you can safely buy scanned manuals from isArtekManuals(formerly ArtekMedia) andQservice. Both will provide samples, either on their website or by e-mail, and sell very high quality scans. I haven't checked if they have this manual, though.

author: mpfleger
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 04:43:33 pm
content: Hey all.amiq: Thanks for posting that link! I just saw your post at work this morning, but apparently the link is already dead. SorryAny chance you could please put that file back into dropbox? I'll check periodically over the next 24 hours...alm: I had a look at both of those (who look familiar -- I think I'd already checked with them) and neither of them have the manual.TIA,M

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 04:49:39 pm
content: Fortunately I downloaded it just in case - you can get it from my serverhere

author: mpfleger
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 06:25:08 pm
content: Hi!You, sir, utterly rockThanks a bunch!Cheers,M