my new scope (Tektronix 326) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Maxlor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 10:48:51 pm
content: Today I received my new scope. Well, actually it's rather old, it came out in 1972. After a bit of fiddling, I managed to get a picture on the screen, something I can't really do with the DSO because its X-Y mode sucks:Back then, it was called an "ultraportable" at a mere 5kg, and as you can see, its front is tiny, smaller than many multimeters. That screen is only 3.5"!. It is however 38cm deep. The diminutive (for an analog scope) size was the reason I got it; I've been lamenting getting an analog scope, but frankly I don't have the space for a big one. This seemed like a good fit. The probe connectors are on the left side btw.It doesn't have a lot of bandwidth (only 10MHz), and there seem to be only very few controls, but all the basics are there, different trigger modes, chopped/alt beam modes, obviously an X-Y mode with blanking (and the X axis is actually on a separate channel, so you could display two separate images using the two Y channels. I don't know if all analog scopes have that.) The controls you don't need all the time like trace rotation are on the inside, in the form of many trimpots, most of them on the bottom of the unit:(higher res pics here:http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/326)And as you can see from the top image, the unit is packed! It seems to me they tried hard to make it as small as possible, so there's next to no free room left inside the case. There are several boards stacked on top of each other, visible through the cracks:So... this unit is probably around 40 years old now. And everything still seems to work perfectly. I had a quick look inside my unit, didn't see any corrosion. At this rate it'll do another 40 years easily! I doubt the other, plasticy scope will last half as longAnyway, just needed to share my joy, I'm done now

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 10:56:56 pm
content: Very nice.

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 11:37:07 pm
content: Even though the bandwidth is only spec'd at 10 MHz, that's just the point where the vertical gain is 3db down. It's usable to see a signal at much higher frequencies. I have a 422 which is spec'd at 15 MHz, but it will trigger and display at 50 MHz although the vertical response is getting pretty bad at that point.That's a nice little basic scope.

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2014, 03:20:50 am
content: Quote from: Maxlor on January 20, 2014, 10:48:51 pmCongrats on the nice little scope, and good job on the XYZ mode graphic. Many people have forgotten at the old classic Tek application note called "XYZs of using a scope" is named this way because a CRT is driven with X, Y and Z-axis inputs.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2014, 03:30:13 am
content: What a cute little guy.Quote from: Maxlor on January 20, 2014, 10:48:51 pmNo. My Tek 2445A was the first one I've had that did that (sort of - Ch 1 was X, but it's a four-channel and you can display as many channels as you like)

author: pomonabill221
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2014, 03:58:03 am
content: Typical Tek stuff... gorgeous! Congrats on the scope!