Episode 50
#tektronix
#1ghz
#hack
Lately I have run out of bandwidth, trying to measure signals from pulsed Lasers. My fastest oscilloscope was a hacked DS1054z at 100MHz, nowhere near fast enough to measure nanosecond pulses.
I picked up a Tektronix TDS754C from eBay. This scope has a beautiful CRT display, and is already a decent scope, but bought it with the sole purpose of hacking it to 1GHz, and whilst I am at it, increasing the memory ;-)
These hacks are pretty straightforward and effectively turn a TDS754C into a TDS784C, though there is a trap with rise-time measurement...
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1GHz upgrade hack presented here based on information from the EEVBlog:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/conversion-of-500mhz-tds744a-to-1ghz-tds784a/
Fast risetime generator
http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=295
Tektronix CONSOLE PORT TDS 5/6/7xx Oscilloscope Debug Card RS-232 for Opt. 013
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325522798085
https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/maurit00
Tek Forums console port debug commands:
https://forum.tek.com/viewtopic.php?t=138100
EEVBlog Forums console port debug commands:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hackingupgrading-old-scope-(tds754d)/
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0:00 Intro
0:12 Overview
3:20 Risetime measurement with Aliexpress fast pulse generator
4:57 Processor board
6:33 Acquisition board
8:09 1GHz Hack
8:40 Risetime measurement FAIL!
9:59 Risetime measurement PASS!
11:48 Extending record length hack
15:47 Reboot!
17:53 Summary
18:50 Outro
18:58 Credits!