Introduction to the 7000-Series Oscilloscopes
In August of 1969 Tektronix issued a supplement catalog featuring a new series of instruments: 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 $28 million were spent in two years to develop the initial components and products of the 7000 series. While the original mainframes 7504 and 7704 introduced in 1969 were short-lived, some of the original 13 plug-ins as the 7A22 or the 7S11 were produced until the early 1990s.
Common features of 7000-series scopes
- 2 vertical plug-in bays
- 1 (7XX3) or 2 (7XX4) horizontal plug-in bays (except digitizers)
- Horizontal and vertical plug-ins can be used in non-native slots
- On screen readout controlled from plug-ins
- Differential, calibrated 50 Ohm signal and trigger connections from plug-in to backplane
7000 series functional color code
Mode Selection Trigger Source or Control Uncalibrated Variable Denotes functional relation