454

The 454 can be seen as an improved 453. The bandwidth is 150MHz, compared to 50MHz for a 453. The 454 uses a CRT with distributed deflection plates. Without distributed deflection plates, a CRT designer is forced to trade off deflection sensitivity for deflection speed. A CRT with low sensitivity requires a vertical amplifier with a large output swing. It is difficult to find transistors that have both large voltage swing and high speed. Most RF devices have quite low collector breakdown voltages. So the only practical way to go is to use distributed deflection plates, and that is what Tektronix did.