The Tektronix Type 544 is a 50 MHz scope introduced in 1964.

Tektronix 544
50 MHz oscilloscope
Tektronix 544, front view (with 1A1 plug-in)

Produced from 1964 to 1973

Manuals

It has one timebase with several horizontal magnifier modes (×2, ×5, ×10, ×20, ×50, and ×100). To make horizontal magnification usable, the 544 has a vernier horizontal position control in addition to the regular horizontal position control. The fastest calibrated sweep is 10 ns/div.

Some magnification modes provide sweeps faster than 10 ns/div, but in those modes the horizontal scale is not calibrated, and a lamp on the front panel lights up to remind the operator of that.

The project lead for the development of the Tektronix 544, 546, and 547 was Bob Rullman. The team also included Keith Taylor, John Gates, Gene Kauffman, and George Smith.

There is also a rackmount version, the RM544.

Key Specifications

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The standard 544 and standard RM544 has a total CRT accelerating voltage of 10 kV. A factory modification, MOD 108G, was available that increased the accelerating voltage to 24 kV.

The 1968 catalog lists an RM544 Mod 720A which comes a package with a direct-access plug-in and selectable 12 kV/24 kV acceleration voltage, to achieve 1 ns risetime (equiv. 350 MHz) at 12.5 V/div sensitivity and 2000 cm/μs photographic recording speed.

Links

Documents Referencing 544

Document Class Title Authors Year Links
Martzloff High-speed Recording System.pdf Article High-Speed Transient Recording System François Martzloff 1968

Internals

The vertical amplifier and low voltage power supply of the 544 are the same as those of the 546 and 547. The 544 uses the 154-0478-00 CRT which is also used by the 543B, 545B, 546, and 547.

The 544 (at least the early ones) uses the same tunnel diode triggering circuit as is used in early 547 (tunnel diode in the collector load of a PNP differential amplifier).

Pictures

RM544

Components

Some Parts Used in the 544

Part Part Number(s) Class Description Used in
120-0308-00 120-0308-00 Discrete component high voltage transformer 543B 544 545B 546 547
12AT7 154-0039-00 Vacuum Tube (Dual Triode) dual high-gain triode 161 180 310 310A 315 316 360 502 502A 511A 512 513 513D 514 514AD 514D 516 524 529 RM529 544 546 547 556 565 570 3A2 75 3A75 1M1 A B C G H K L ML M N K R S Z Keithley 610B
1N3717 152-0381-00 152-0125-00 Discrete component 4.7 mA, 25 pF tunnel diode 1L40 1S1 1S2 11B1 11B2 11B2A 147A 1470 148 21A 22A 3B4 3B5 408 432 434 453 453A 454 466 491 5T3 544 RM544 546 RM546 547 RM547 556 RM556 7B70 7B71 7D11
6DJ8 154-0187-00 154-0305-00 Vacuum Tube (Dual Triode) dual triode 067-506 111 132 161 310A 316 317 502 502A 503 504 506 515 516 519 526 529 RM529 533 535 536 543 544 545 545A 545B 546 547 549 555 556 561A 561S 564 565 567 581 581A 585 585A 661 1A4 1S1 60 2A60 63 2A63 67 2B67 3A1 3A1S 3A2 3A3 3A6 3A7 72 3A72 75 3A75 4S2 51 3B1 3B1S 3B2 3B3 3B4 3M1 3S76 3T77 3T77A 9A1 9A2 1121 80 81 82 86 B O W Z Telequipment D56 Telequipment S32A Telequipment D52 S-311 Telequipment TD51 Telequipment S52 Telequipment S51 Telequipment Type A TU-4
SMTD995 152-0140-01 Discrete component 10 mA, 8 pF tunnel diode 1S1 1S2 1502 21A 22A 3T5 3T6 475 475A 475M 544 R544 546 RM546 547 RM547 556 R556 581A 585A RM585 7B52 7B53N 7B70 7B71 7D10 7D11 7T11 7T11A R7912 S-51 S-52 TU-5 067-0572-00 067-0572-01 067-0681-00
STD704 152-0125-00 Discrete component 4.7 mA tunnel diode 1L40 1S1 11B1 11B2 11B2A 147 R147 147A R147A 1470 148 R148 148-M 149 R149 149A R149A 21A 22A 3B4 3B5 408 432 434 453 453A 454 464 465 466 491 5T3 544 RM544 546 RM546 547 RM547 556 RM556 7B70 7B71 7D11
T5470 154-0429-00 154-0450-00 154-0451-00 154-0452-00 154-0457-00 154-0458-00 154-0459-00 154-0478-00 154-0478-01 154-0478-02 154-0478-03 154-0568-00 154-0568-01 154-0568-02 154-0568-03 CRT 5" electrostatic deflection CRT 543B 544 545B 546 547