Introduction to the 7000-Series Oscilloscopes

In August of 1969, Tektronix issued a supplement catalog featuring a new series of instruments, called the 7000 Series.

Howard Vollum himself wrote the introduction message on page 1 of this supplement, where he presented the 7000 series as a replacement to the 500 scope series, emphasizing the necessity to switch to a new platform for modular high-end scopes due to the limitations of the original 500 series platform designed in 1953.

According to Vollum, a significant portion of the previous two years' $28 million engineering budget (~250m in 2023 dollars!) were spent to develop the initial components and products of the 7000 series.

The initial family introduction in 1969 consisted of the 90 MHz 7504 and 150 MHz 7704 mainframes, and no less than 13 plug-ins − the 7A11 FET-probe amplifier, 7A12 dual-channel amplifier, 7A13 differential comparator, 7A14 current-probe amplifier, 7A16 singles-channel amplifier, 7A22 differential amplifier, 7B51 and 7B70 delaying timebases, 7B50 and 7B70 delayed timebases, 7S11/7T11 sampling system, and the 7M11 delay line.

While the original 7504 and 7704 mainframes were short-lived, the series lasted until the early 1990s, with some of the original plug-ins like the 7A22 or the 7S11 remaining in production throughout.

Common features of 7000-series scopes

• Designed for plug-ins for flexibility. The last digit of the scope designation refers to the total number of plug-in bays.
• One (7912) or two (all other 7000) vertical plug-in bays
• Zero (7612D), one (7xx3, 7912) or two (7xx4) horizontal plug-in bays
• Horizontal and vertical plug-ins can be used in bays of the other type, e.g. an amplifier in a timebase bay can be used for X-Y display
• On screen readout controlled from plug-ins including probe scaling
• Differential, calibrated 50 Ω signal and trigger connections from plug-in to backplane

Meaning of the type numbers

• first digit − series
  • 7000
• second digit − bandwith
  • 3: 25 MHz
  • 4: 65 MHz
  • 5: 90/100 MHz
  • 6: 100 MHz
  • 7: 150/200 MHz
  • 8: 400 MHz
  • 9: 500 MHz
  • 1: 1000 MHz
• third digit − CRT type / storage
  • 0: no storage
  • 1: single-mode analog storage: variable-persistence or bistable storage
  • 2: multi-mode analog storage
  • 3: fast multi-mode analog storage
  • 4: dual-beam
  • 5: digital storage
• fourth digit − number of bays

Prefix R: Rack-mount version

Suffix A or B: later variant

Suffix N: no readout

7000 series functional color code

Display Mode Selection

Trigger Source or Control

Uncalibrated Variable

Denotes functional relation

Caution

Exclusive funktion

This info was taken from a video shared by the VintageTEK Museum on YouTube

• 

  Diagram grabbed from the video

• 

  Taken from page 9 of the New Products supplement, 1969-08

Overview

7000 series overview

Scope	Bandwith [MHz]	Plug-in Bays	Start of Sales	End of Sales	CRT Type	CRT Raster [cm/Div]	Bistable (reduced scan)	Fast Bistable (reduced scan)	Var-Pers. (reduced scan)	Fast Var-Pers. (reduced scan)	Digital storage	Readout	Power [W]	Cooling fan	Weight [kg]
							writing speed [div/µs]
7313	25	3	1972	1979	split-screen bi-stable storage	1.0	0.5	-	-	-	-	YES	170	-	?
7403N	65	3	1970	1975	standard	1.22	-	-	-	-	-	-	130	-	13.6
R7403N	65	3	1971	1975	standard	1.22	-	-	-	-	-	-	?	-	?
7503	90	3	1970	1972	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	258	-	21.3
7504	90	4	1969	1971	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	285	-	24.6
7514	90	4	1970	1974	split-screen bi-stable storage	1.0	1.0	-	-	-	-	YES	225	-	19.5
7603	100	3	1972	1990	standard	1.22	-	-	-	-	-	YES	170	Some versions	13.6
R7603	100	3	1973	1990	standard	1.22	-	-	-	-	-	YES	170	?	13.6
7613	100	3	1972	1990	variable-persistence storage	0.9	-	-	5	-	-	YES	170	YES	13.6
R7613	100	3	1973	1990	variable-persistence storage	0.9	-	-	5	-	-	YES	180	YES	13.6
7623	100	3	1972	1975	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03	50	0.5	100	-	YES	170	-	13.6
R7623	100	3	1973	1974	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03	50	0.5	100	-	YES	180	-	?
7623A	100	3	1975	1990	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03	50	0.5	150	-	YES	170	-	13.6
R7623A	100	3	1975	1991	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03	50	0.5	150	-	YES	180	-	13.6
7623B	100	3	1991	1992	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03 (Y,?)	50 (Y,?)	0.5 (Y,?)	150 (2200)	-	YES	?	-	?
R7623B	100	3	1991	1992	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03 (Y,?)	50 (Y,?)	0.5 (Y,?)	150 (2200)	-	YES	?	-	?
7633	100	3	1975	1990	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03 (0.2)	50 (400)	0.5 (3)	150 (2222)	-	YES	170	-	13.6
R7633	100	3	1975	1990	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03 (0.2)	50 (400)	0.5 (3)	150 (2222)	-	YES	180	-	13.6
7704	150	4	1969	1972	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	210	-	19.1
R7704	150	4	1970	1985	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	?	-	?
7704A	200	4	1972	1987	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	180	-	13.6
7834	400	4	1977	1986	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03 (0.2)	50 (776)	2.0 (12)	300 (5500)	-	YES	215	YES	17.0
7844	400	4	1974	1988	dual beam	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	235	YES	16.3
R7844	400	4	1975	1992	dual beam	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	235	YES	15.0
7854	400	4	1980	1990	standard / digital	1.0	-	-	-	-	YES	YES	230	YES	19.0
7904	500	4	1971	1983	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	190	-	13.5
7903	500	3	?	?	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	?	-	?
R7903	500	3	1974	1982	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	160	-	13.5
7904A	500	4	1984	1990	standard	1.0	-	-	-	-	-	YES	190	YES	13.5
7934	500	4	1987	1990	multi-mode transfer storage	0.9	0.03 (0.2)	50 (776)	2.0 (12)	300 (8800)	-	YES	230	YES	17.2
7104	1000	4	1978	1990	micro-channel plate	0.85	-	-	-	-	-	YES	215	YES	19.8
R7103	1000	3	1985	1990	micro-channel plate	0.85	-	-	-	-	-	YES	?	YES	?
7D20	70	-	1982	1992	- (digital storage plug-in)	-	-	-	-	-	YES	YES	-	-	3.9
7612D	90	2	1980	1988	- (digitizer)	-	-	-	-	-	YES	?	400	YES	24.95
R7912	500	2	1973	1978	- (digitizer)	-	-	-	-	-	YES	YES	?	YES	?
7912AD	500	2	1978	1987	- (digitizer)	-	-	-	-	-	YES	YES	360	YES	24.7
7912HB	750	2	1987	1989	- (digitizer)	-	-	-	-	-	YES	YES	?	YES	?
P7001	175	-	1973	1981	- (digitizer)	-	-	-	-	-	YES	?	120	YES	21.8

Links

• Scopes
• Plug-ins
• Readout system
• Backplane Interface
• 7000-series remote control connector
• List of 7000 series equipment
• Tektronix 7k Series Assemblies, compiled by Shannon Hill (PDF)
• Introduction to the 7000 Series Switching and Logic Circuits (Ken Parker, 1970) (PDF,OCR,1MB)
• Plug-in packaging
• Back-lit switches
• Soviet Clones
• Gianni Becattini's book dedicated to the 7000-Series
• How the design of the frontend was developed @ YouTube