I bought a new oscilloscope off of eBay the other day. I’ve always had good luck with eBay and this purchase was no different. I ended up with a Tektronix 2246A; It’s a 100MHz analog scope from the late 80s.
My last scope was an old 2 channel 20MHz scope made by Brunnel Instruments. Not sure when it was made, but it’s old. It works just fine though. Actually, It works really well. So why do I need a new scope? Well, need doesn’t wander into my vocab very often, it’s more about want 
The 2246A has 4 channels, it’s 100MHz, and just look at all those buttons! Had to have it But the added complexity of this machine means that I have no idea how to use it. Well, the ‘standard’ ops I can figure out… a scope is a scope when it comes to basics. But this one has menus, and soft keys, and all sorts of things that require a manual.
Since this scope was only in production for 1 year, and was end-of-life in 1999, Tektronix does not support it, repair it, or have any manuals for it. But the very helpful lady at the Tektronix help center recommended a number of places to find/buy manuals for it. EBay topped the list, but they were selling for $50… She also recommended the Boat Anchor Manual Archive (BAMA)… apparently it’s a place for people to dump scans of old docs and it’s all free… Cool, but no luck finding my scope’s manual. My scope didn’t get a lot of sales apparenlty and was not one of the most popular products. So not a lot of people out there who have a manual for it.
In the end, I found a site called qservice… it’s a very sketchy and old skool site. Actually they own a number of domains and one of them plays an awesome techo dance beat as when you hit the front page. lol. So my ‘run away’ spidey senses are in full alert, but I _need_ (yes need) the manual and they have it. They have an instant download for pdf feature and had the operation, service, and quick reference manual for about $12… sweet. Unfortunately, their unencrypted order page requires my full address, phone, and credit card info.. NOT going to happen… so I use my thow away email, and obviously fake home address, and select they PayPal payment option. Gotta love Paypal.
So I hit purchase, and paypal the guy $12, and wait for my download instructions. Turns out someone actually uploads the files to a server, and sets a unique username/password to a directory on the server. Wow… but, it works and I get my files. I also get a reply thru paypal from the site owner chiding me for giving a fake email/personal info. (How can he email me the download info if the email is fake he says, props to him for sending the info via paypal though, as he would have known I would have to have a real email address for that.)
I email him back, and we ended up having a bit of a discussion about how unsecured his site is, and that the email I gave him was real, and that it wasn’t him I didn’t trust, just his web site is very hackable… and I’m not about to put it all out there for someone to get. I also told him I got the files, and they looked awesome (and they are really good scans), and that if I needed any others I would buy from him again.
If you are looking for old manuals, it’s the place to go… just don’t use a credit card, and don’t give out any personal information. (I’d even suggest getting a throw away email) … the site is not to be trusted.
So, now I’ve got some great pdf manuals for my scope. It’s just going to take some time to read and learn all the advanced features and functions.
