Heathkit OM-3 Oscilloscope

[Erik]

I was out driving today and noticed a pile of stuff sitting under a “Free” sign. One of the items caught my eye because of the dials, knobs and round screen on the front.

It turned out to be a Heathkit OM-3 Oscilloscope (1958 vintage according to my limited Googling – which DID turn up relevant results.)

It’s missing a couple of the plastic caps to the banana jacks on the front, but is otherwise complete. I powered it up and it seems to work (An adjustable horizontal line appears on the CRT, anyway.)

Not bad for a street corner find.

So, does anyone have any info; docs or otherwise?

[Terry Yager]

So, does anyone have any info; docs or otherwise?

No, but it doesn't even have to work to be way kewl...it'll look good just sitting around on your workbench (very retro-geek).

--T

[Skyfrog]

I'll second that, an oscilloscope from March of 1958 is definately going to look very cool sitting on your workbench. I realize you obviously know what it looks like but here's a pic for everyone else. :)

http://www.electronixandmore.com/misc/2teq18.jpg

As far as general information this page may be helpful:

http://www.tone-lizard.com/Oscilloscopes.htm

This site has manuals for it, but they charge for them:

http://www.surplussales.com/Manuals/man_heath.html

[machine]

Oscilloscopes never seem to die. They get constantly used by technicians and others.

I have bought and sold loads of them. Usually I get them at auctions here in Sydney.

There's a few oscilloscope collecters here in Sydney. There's probably loads of them in the USA, UK etc.

Does anyone know of oscilloscope museums?

Here's a nice site I found with some good pics:
http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/instruments/test/oscilloscopes.htm

[rhblake]

There are Tektronix museums online and many Heathkit sites as well - most of the Heathkit zealots would go to the door of the person that set it out and rag them on why they thought the item was junk but still thank them for making it available rather than tossing it. Heathkit itself in Benton Harbor MI does not make kits anymore but I think you can get manuals (reprints) from one of their support divisions. They make training courses now, no equipment that I am aware of.

It does add a bit of "coolness" to a bench area to have a scope even if unused. I run a repair shop out of my garage (converted to office/shop) and I used to repair monitors, TVs and terminals - still have and occasionally use my analog and digital scopes but just sitting on the shelf people have a different feeling for my skills compared to shops with boxes of salvage boards instead. When I was in the AF at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas and into my tour in Iceland we still did our own test equipment maint and calibrations - and used the gear for actual testing. I missed that part when I went to air launched cruise missiles where 99% of our work was board changes and a different shop (VACE) did all the test equipment work.

Like a multimeter, if you know how to use it, the scope can be very helpful in many ways. I know teachers that get old analog ones to hook up the line out from a mic and show the waveform of someone talking to show essentially a graphic representation of the sound.

[Terry Yager]

How about this one from ComputerHell? Not sure of the age or even the make/model, but it sure looks kewl. Btw, it's for sale [/shameless plug].

http://webpages.charter.net/shent449/comphell/PDRM0092.JPG

--T

UPDATE: I checked today, and this is a Tektronix 565A, with Dual-Trace Plug-In Module.

--T

[Terry Yager]

This one is a Tektronix Dual-Trace. See how much it classes up the (well-used) work area?

http://webpages.charter.net/shent449/comphell/PDRM0156.JPG

--T

UPDATE: This one is a Model 585A, with Dual-Trace Plug-In.

Additional info is available here:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/scopes/tek.html#Oscilloscopes

...and here:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/scopes/vancleef.txt

--T

[machine]

My goodness Mr Yager - that workbench is a bit untidy - tsk tsk tsk. And where's your dust cover for your CRO ?

But seriously that's a nice oscilloscope. Tektronix made good equipment, and they were built like tanks too.

I have a Tektronix 2335GF which is a ruggedized 130 MHz analog oscilloscope.

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[Terry Yager]

Well, it ain't exactly my workbench, I just "inherited" it in pretty much that condition.

--T