Test Equipment Anonymous

So, inspired by mnem and BD, who both hail the MegaZoom technology of the late-hp / early-Agilent scopes, I pounced on one available in-country. 2ch, no digital inputs, 100MHz bandwidth. Also no probes. Looks like it has GPIB which IIRC came with the math package, and thus FFT, right?

I have not seen it running, so it is a pig in a bag right now, and AFAICT seller hasn't shipped yet.

Updates forthcoming.

AVGresponding wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2024 8:02 am Is there an ebay link or similar?

Yup,

https://www.tradera.com/item/1711/64209 ... scilloskop

AVGresponding wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2024 5:19 am The GPIB module is just a GPIB module on these, I think you're thinking of the Tek TDS210. FFT is standard on 546xx series scopes

https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... 4622A.html

Ah, thanks. Also, shipping company has made noises indicating they've been alerted to a package being offered to them for transport.

Scope arrived.

Packaging was abysmal. Scope survived unscathed. Probably due to the rack mount kit which is quite a bit of steel.

Upon power-up, it complains about its battery, and so, but is otherwise working. Self test passes. I need to do an user cal -- the last one was in 2005.

I immediately have taken a likening to it. This is fun.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2024 10:39 pm Scope arrived.

Packaging was abysmal. Scope survived unscathed. Probably due to the rack mount kit which is quite a bit of steel.

Upon power-up, it complains about its battery, and so, but is otherwise working. Self test passes. I need to do an user cal -- the last one was in 2005.

I immediately have taken a likening to it. This is fun.

Welcome to the MegaZoom brotherhood.

User cal will be pointless until after you replace the NVRAM battery; that and storing user setups are what it's for. There may also be a battery in the GPIB module.

You should also have a Vector Graphics image and/or game EasterEgg on that one. Mine has the "ASTEROIDS" clone EasterEgg shown here:

https://blog.sector101.co.uk/2019/06/15 ... aster-egg/



mnem

Confirmed. I have the Asteroids game.

Also, the rotary encoders are a bit jittery. The only Internet search finds on that is a blog post on the older "Digitizing Oscilloscope" series which turned out to be hairline cracks in the encoder PCB. I'd rather not.

Ah yeah been there.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/ ... ms-repair/

That one was hell.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2024 10:39 pm Scope arrived.

Packaging was abysmal. Scope survived unscathed. Probably due to the rack mount kit which is quite a bit of steel.

Upon power-up, it complains about its battery, and so, but is otherwise working. Self test passes. I need to do an user cal -- the last one was in 2005.

I immediately have taken a likening to it. This is fun.

I'm glad the scope arrived in good shape despite the bad job the seller did with packing it for shipping. I don't understand why terrible packing is the norm now even when it's test equipment being shipped by supposedly experienced sellers. The last time I bought used test equipment online, it was a spectrum analyzer which was shipped in its own case that was wrapped in cardboard. Luckily it arrived unscathed but wow, I was having visions of the HP coffee cups when I opened that up. If the scope was shipped similarly to either of those, I'm really glad it worked out for you.