[sdiy] oscilloscope considerations

[KHeck73 at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/4/2002 1:10:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
media at mail1.nai.net writes:

> I know many people on this list frequently suggest buying a used
> oscilloscope from Ebay, Nuts & Volts, and a Ham flea-markets.  The Ham flea
> market might not be a bad idea for me since Newington is less than two
> hours from here.  

I found a pretty good scope at a Hamfest a few months ago. It is a Kikusui 
Electronics Corp. model COS6100M 100Mhz, 5-channel oscilloscope. I know... 
who's Kikusui? I found the Kikusui website, it looks like they produce 
non-consumer industrial electronic devices in Japan.

I thought this was a Tektronix scope at first, because it looks like one. I 
asked the seller to turn it on for me before I bought it. The tube had a 
straight, bright, focused trace, and it picked up AC well on all channels 
(sticking a wire in each input and touching with my finger). Turning the 
knobs changed scaling, so it looked basically OK. It also had two unbroken 
pieces of white tape across the back and sides labelled "calibration void if 
seal is broken", so I was pretty sure it was kept serviced at least for some 
time. The guy wanted $125, but since we had to mess with the fuse holder to 
keep it powered on, he knocked off $25. When I got it home, I found it only 
needed a new fuse cap (you know, the plastic piece with metal insert that 
says "fuse" on it). 

This particular model scope is US government surplus (I found a US Coast 
Guard sticker on mine). I figure that Kikusui must have had a contract to 
make a Tektronix-like clone for some US government dual sourcing requirement. 
It's built to military specs and can run on 90-126V, or 194-253V in 4 voltage 
ranges by switching a connector plug around on the back of the chassis. It's 
got the X-Y feature on the first two channels, delay triggering, etc. I need 
to find an instruction manual to understand all of the features. Anyway, it 
seems to work really well, and I'm happy with it, especially for the money. I 
guess everyone falls in love with their own scope once it starts to share 
intimacies with them.

I wanted to post this because the guy I bought this from said that many were 
recently put on the surplus market by government auction. So, if you go to a 
Hamfest, you might find one. Caveat emptor, of course. I suggest asking to 
plug things in and check them out before you buy (seller shouldn't mind at 
all). Also, take cash, because some hamfest folks will not take a credit card 
or personal check.

Good luck,  -Karl.
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