Tektronix 160 Series

[AlanBeckett]

Thanks Ref, I'll have to study.
Odd innit that simply adding Leak to the Title seems to multiply the Price by about 10. I should coco.

Alan

[Brianc]

"Leak" is one of the smaller multipliers - Try Quad, Vintage Dynatron and the like .

[Yorkie]

A few months ago I bought eight octal valve bases like these to make valve-base adaptors to extend the range of my Taylor 45D valve tester, for just over £1.00 each post free from China.

Only took a few days to arrive. Excellent quality - gold plated pins (allegedly!):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8pc-GOLD-8pin-...257d1b2cf5

[ppppenguin]

Yes, Jeffrey, at least for the 6U8. The 'A' version has a different Heater warm-up Characteristic apparently. I'd have gone for an ECF82 if 6U8A had been a ludicrous Price as they're all in Parallel, but it was reasonable so I got the real thing.

Alan

I was trying to work out the difference between 6U8 and 6U8A. Thanks for resolving the nystery.

[Brianc]

Presumably, the warm-up time for the 6U8A is critical in the design of the PSU in order to hold off the high voltages during equipment warm-up.

[ppppenguin]

Perhaps, perhaps not. I rather doubt that Tek designers would make that kind of design decision. I base this comment on the HT delay relays found in many of their scopes. HT isn't applied to the bulk of the circuitry until the valves are warmed up.

My best guess is that the 6U8A was a standard item in the Tek stores while the 6U8 was not. As a designer of fairly low volume kit I was always urged not to proliferate different parts unless it was genuinely necessary. This sort of rule doesn't apply to high volume production, where if you can shave 0.5p off the cost of a unit by using a slightly different part then that's good value engineering.

[AlanBeckett]

I suspect you're right Jeffrey. According to the Data Sheets there's little point using the 'A' Version unless the rest have similar Characteristics.

Alan

[Brianc]

I suspect you're right Jeffrey. According to the Data Sheets there's little point using the 'A' Version unless the rest have similar Characteristics.

Alan

Not necessarily Alan. Depending on the actual design of the PSU, one valve which doesn't conduct until well after the others could hold a rail down until the others had stabilised. This is used in several pre-war TVs where the EHT rectifier has a very high thermal inertia heater so that the scans are up before EHT is applied to the CRT. Looking at your PSU, the main +225V rail is a straight forward series regulated jobbie so I thinks you're right in this case. However, the circuit does state 6U8, not 6U8A so possibly the valve that was in the equipment was one that was to hand last time the kit was repaired!

[AlanBeckett]

However, the circuit does state 6U8, not 6U8A so possibly the valve that was in the equipment was one that was to hand last time the kit was repaired!

So it does. Well, I took an 'A' out and put one back in and it seems entirely happy

Alan

[AlanBeckett]

So, back on the Job after the 'Valve Jig' Diversion.

To recap, the PSU is now working properly and the new Cable allows a more sensible working environment.

When first tried the 162 Waveform Generator was a shambles - Waveforms horrible and the Controls not doing what they were supposed to do, at least as far as I could tell from the Manual.

I decided I'd better get back to basics first; Lubricated all the Switches (Servisol) and gave them a good twiddle, cleaned all the Valve bases and Valve Pins, checked the Resistors - the High value ones are all up even in Circuit but not out of tolerance - and switch on.
And .......
It does just what it says on the Tin

           

Much more Tektronix.

OK, the Frequency calibration is slightly off according to the 7704A but it's no big deal at this stage. Also, I haven't tried the Gated and Triggered Modes but at the moment this Unit is the source of all Wisdom, so free running is ideal.

Next the Indicator (Display Unit) - Type 360.

Alan