11000 Series plug-in interface
Mechanical
The Tektronix 11000 Series plug-in interface is mechanically almost identical to the 7000 Series plug-in interface. The only mechanical difference is at the top of the connector. The 11000 Series has a protruding narrow horn where the 7000 Series plug-ins have a wider horn at the top of the connector with four holes for extra electrical contacts (only known use is the 7A21N direct deflection plate access plug-in).
Electrical Similarity to 7000-Series Plug-in Interface
The Tektronix 11000 Series plug-in interface is electrically partially the same as the 7000 Series interface. The power pins are the same, and the signal out pins are the same. 7000-series vertical plug-ins provide a single trigger feed to the mainframe on pins A13/B13 (differential). 11000-series vertical plug-ins also provide a trigger feed on pins A13/B13, and also provide trigger signals on B37/B38 and B35/B36.
The RIGHT Slot on 11300 Scopes
In the 11300, the right plug-in slot is special. It is, in some sense, a horizontal plug-in slot. A small caveat regarding 11300 nomenclature: In most places, the slots are referred to as "LEFT", "CENTER", and "RIGHT". However, in some internal documents, the slots are referred to as "LEFT", "RIGHT", and "AUX". One example of this potential confusion can be seen in the 11301 SDI signal wiring schematic, where names of the wires on the left side of the schematic (i.e., pin names on the SDI chip) don't agree with the names of the wires on the right side of the schematic (i.e., the interface board pin names). This could cause confusion since "RIGHT" sometimes refers to the middle slot and sometimes refers to the rightmost slot. But the public documentation (and user interface) are consistent: the slots are called "LEFT", "CENTER", and "RIGHT".
The RIGHT plug-in slot in 11300 scopes is funtionally a horizontal slot in the following ways:
- The main signal output (pins 11A/11B) from the plug-in in the right plug-in slot cannot be routed to the vertical deflection plates of the CRT.
- The main signal output (pins 11A/11B) from the plug-in in the right plug-in slot can be routed to the horizontal deflection plates.
- The trigger output signals from the LEFT and CENTER plug-ins are routed to the RIGHT plug-in. This can be seen in the 11301 Interface Board schematic, an excerpt of which is here: Trigger signal feeds from LEFT and CENTER 11301 plug-ins to RIGHT plug-in.
So in some sense, the right plug-in slot of 11300 mainframes is a horizontal slot. But Tektronix did not sell any general-purpose timebase plug-ins for the 11000 Series, so it's not clear what they expected people to do with the rightmost plug-in slot.
As a matter of trivia, if one were to call the 11300's RIGHT slot a "horizontal" slot, then the 11300-series scopes might be the only Tek scopes that offer a timebase as a built-in part of the mainframe and also an easily swappable module (i.e., a plug-in).
Digital Communication Between the 11000-Series Plug-in and the 11000-Series Mainframe
11000-series plug-ins do not implement the 7000-series readout interface. The pins that are used for readout in the 7000-series are not used in the 11000 Series.
In the 11000 Series architecture, the mainframe communicates with the plug-in over a serial digital link called SDI. SDI uses pins A20, A21, and B21 on the plug-in connector. Those pins were not used on vertical plugins in the 7000-series interface (and the 11000-series does not support horizontal plugins).
Calibration Voltage
11000-series scopes introduced a much more extensive self-checking and self-calibration than the 7000 Series. Part of the self-calibration routine involves the 11000-series mainframe sending a calibration voltage to plug-in via pins B35/B36. Those pins were not used in the 7000-series interface.
11k Detector
The 11000-series interface uses pin B20 as an "11k Detector". 11000-series plug-ins have a pull-up resistor on pin B20. 7000-series (vertical) plug-ins left pin B20 unconnected.
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11000 Series connector
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11000 Series pinout
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7000 Series connector, for comparison
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Pinout
| A side | B side | |
|---|---|---|
| Pin | Function | Function |
| 1 | Sweep Gate | n.c. |
| 2 | Gate common | n.c. |
| 3 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 4 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 5 | Sequence clock | n.c. |
| 6 | Ground | Sequence Sync |
| 7 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 8 | +5 V | n.c. |
| 9 | +5.1 V | n.c. |
| 10 | +5.1 V | Ground |
| 11 | +Vertical | −Vertical |
| 12 | Signal Ground | Signal Ground |
| 13 | +Trigger | −Trigger |
| 14 | Ground | +5.1 V |
| 15 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 16 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 17 | n.c. | Ground |
| 18 | +15 V | -15 V |
| 19 | +50 V | -50 V |
| 20 | SDI data MF→PI | 11k detector |
| 21 | SDI clock | SDI data PI→MF |
| 22 | Shield | Ground |
| 23 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 24 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 25 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 26 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 27 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 28 | n.c. | n.c. |
| 29 | -5 V | n.c. |
| 30 | -5 V | n.c. |
| 31 | n.c. | Ground |
| 32 | n.c. | Ground |
| 33 | Ground | n.c. |
| 34 | Ground | n.c. |
| 35 | −CH2 Trig out | Cal GND sense |
| 36 | +CH2 Trig out | Cal voltage |
| 37 | Ground | −CH1 Trig out |
| 38 | Ground | +CH1 Trig out |
Pin group function legend
Plugin power HF signals Plugin control interface