Tektronix 556 Dual Beam Oscilloscope Testing: Vertical Bandwidth

I have been doing some basic testing of my Tektronix 556 Dual Beam Oscilloscope, and I have documented some parts of this process.  I have also captured images of the traces, which I will share here.

Test Setup: Tektronix 556, 1A2 plug-in, Timebase A, Tektronix SG 503 Generator, and Tektronix TG 501 Time Mark Generator

I found the -3db vertical bandwidth of the 1a2/556 to be 65 Mhz, which is to be expected for the 50 Mhz rated 1A2.

TM 500 Module with Plug ins

TM 500 Module

50 kHz Reference Signal 6v peak to peak

Tek 556 with 1A2 Vertical 50 KHz BW Test

5 MHz Sine Wave 6v peak to peak

Tek 556 with 1A2 Vertical 5 MHz BW Test

20 MHz Sine Wave 6v peak to peak

Tek 556 with 1A2 Vertical 20 … Read More »

Tektronix 556 Dual Beam Oscilloscope

I had recently the unique opportunity to acquire a complete Tektronix 556 Oscilloscope setup.  This comprised the oscilloscope itself, the matching scope cart, original manual, probes and 12 plug-in units.  This in itself is rare enough, but in addition, this particular scope has the optically desirable blue phosphor CRT and Tektronix C-27 Camera Bezel.   This 50 MHz bandwidth oscilloscope was the state of the art when it was introduced in the mid 1960’s: Tekwiki Tek 556

This will be the first of many posts and updates as I work my way through checking and restoring this beautiful scope.

And now some images:

Tektronix 556 Oscilloscope

Tektronix 556 Oscilloscope

Tektronix 556 Oscilloscope

Tektronix 556 Oscilloscope

Tektronix 556 Oscilloscope

Thanks!

Shaun Merrigan