Tektronix TDS 500C User Manual

TDS 500C, TDS 600B, & TDS 700C User Manual

The TDS Oscilloscope can use a variety of Tektronix probes for taking different
kinds of measurements. To help you decide what type of probe you need, this
section introduces the five major types of probes: passive, active, current,
optical, and time-to-voltage probes. See Appendix A: Options and Accessories
for a list of the optional probes available; see your Tektronix Products Catalog
for more information about a given probe.

NOTE. With some TDS models, Tektronix ships the recommended general-pur-
pose probes as standard accessories. (The model probe and number shipped
depends on the model — see Probes in Table A–2 on page A–3.) The TDS 680B,
TDS 684B, and TDS 784C oscilloscopes come without probes, but for general-
purpose measurements and to take advantage of the 1-GHz bandwidth of these
oscilloscopes, the P6245 Active Probe is recommended. This manual lists the
P6245 optional-accessory probe in Appendix A: Options and Accessories.

Passive voltage probes measure voltage. They employ passive circuit compo-
nents such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors. There are three common
classes of passive voltage probes:

 General purpose (high input resistance)

 Low impedance (Z

O

)

 High voltage

High input resistance probes are considered “typical” oscilloscope probes. The
high input resistance of passive probes (typically 10 M

W) provides negligible

DC loading and makes them a good choice for accurate DC amplitude measure-
ments.