Vince Libercci of Techni-Tool was there to sponsor a demonstration of the Tektronix line of portable oscilloscopes. Before going into the Tektronix demo, we were brought up to date with an overview of the line of products provided by Techni-Tool. They include tool kits and tool cases, ATA cases of various shapes for shipping or long term portable use, hand tools, test sets, soldering tools, and test equipment.

The digital line of oscilloscopes has in the past used various forms of displays, which have had varying degrees of acceptance, but there has been a continuing demand from the users in regard to digital oscilloscopes in general, for a display that behaves like the old analog scopes. Tektronix believes that they have come up with a solution.

The TDS3000 Series Digital Phosphor Oscilloscope has an "analog feel". Video waveforms look great just like they are supposed to, eliminating artifacts that were present in previous lines. Because the new scopes are digital, setups or waveforms can be stored on a built-in floppy. A serial port can be connected to a printer, and there is a substantial menu of printer choices to select from.

Optional ports include VGA outputs for an external monitor, a GPIB/IEEE-488.2 port, and FFT with linear or db scales. Just about any probe that can be connected to an oscilloscope may be connected to the TDS3000, including powered probes such as the FET probe. For the demo, they used the VGA output to drive a video projector. The result was impressive.

A soft carrying case is available, and recommended. The battery compartment has a tray which allows it to be used for probe storage. But when batteries are installed, there is no room for the tray. The carrying case has room for just about everything you might need to go on the road with the scope.

For a hands-on demo, contact Vince Libercci of Techni-Tool. He can be reached at 800 295 8665 x2463.