Vintagetek Museum

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Vintagetek Museum

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VintageTEK Museum is a charitable, educational, and scientific museum founded to commemorate the early history of Tektronix, Inc.

10/20/2026

"VintageTEK Museum Booth at NEDME"
The vintageTEK Museum recently hosted an exhibition booth at the 2026 NW Electronics Design & Manufacturing EXPO in Hillsboro, Oregon. Volunteers Gary Johnson, Dave Brown, and Pat Green (shown in photo), and Dan Murphy and Chris Curtin staffed the booth.
The booth consisted of the Speed of Light demo, Table Tennis, 4052 Vector Graphics, LCD/Microscope, various CRT components, a 310 oscilloscope, and a working 581 oscilloscope with a clear cover, allowing patrons to see the inner workings of an operating oscilloscope.
You can see another photo, and additional photos from past years at NEDME, at the page in the comments.

10/18/2026

"Tektronix Calculators"
Tektronix found itself behind HP which introduced its 9100 series of calculators in the late 1960s. Tektronix acquired Cintra and its Model 909 Scientist and Model 911 Statistician calculators in 1971.
This photo shows vintageTEK Museum's restored and operational 911 Scientist with the 941 Printer.
More to this story at the link in the comments.

10/16/2026

"Tektronix Hybrid Components"
Tektronix began designing and fabricating thick and thin film hybrids to meet the size and performance requirements of their products. A hybrid circuit consists of discrete components, such as transistors, diodes or integrated circuits and passive components, such as resistors, inductors, and capacitors. Each of these are bonded to a ceramic substrate.
This photo is of a sweep circuit hybrid from a Tektronix 2465. The sample in the photo was encapsulated in plastic for demonstration at the Tektronix 1983 Technology Fair.
You can see more photos and learn more about Tektronix's hybrid history at the link in the comments.

10/11/2026

"Tektronix Curve Tracers"
The first curve tracer that Tektronix introduced was the Type 570 in 1955. It was intended to display the characteristic curves for vacuum tubes, the technology of the time. These curve tracers are highly sought out by audiophiles for matching tubes and command high prices. All subsequent Tektronix curve tracers were to display the characteristic curves for transistors.
Transistor curve tracers are marvelous instruments. They feature two sockets for devices and a switch to select between them. This can be used to match devices. They display voltage-current curves so can be used to show the characteristic waveforms for bipolar and unijunction transistors and FETs, diodes, tunnel diodes and zeners, SCRs, resistors, and other devices. They can be used to check capacitor leakage, restore and charge rechargeable batteries, bring up and help locate shorts in PCBs, and to perform a variety of other troubleshooting tasks.
vintageTEK Museum has four Tektronix curve tracers on display and one in use. This photo shows the characteristics for a 6C4 triode with the exponential-characteristic curves.
At the link in the comments you can learn more about the history of the curve tracer product line, including more photos and brochures.

10/07/2026

"Vintage Russian Copy of Tektronix DVST CRT"
vintageTEK Museum acquired a non-working Russian 31LN4 copy of the 11" Direct-View Storage Tube ("DVST") Cathode-Ray Tube ("CRT"). Although shipped complete, it arrived with the neck broken off. Although inoperative, it does allow a good inspection of the interior of the funnel.
A loose translation of a Russian webpage indicates that the CRT was manufactured by the Fryazinsky plant "Platan" in December 1988.
This photo shows the Tektronix blue DVST on the left and the Russian 31LN4 DVST on the right.
The full story including photos and the museum's acquisition of a 2nd CRT and attempt to install it and get it working can be found at the link in the comments:

10/06/2026

"Take a Tour of the vintageTEK Museum YouTube Video"
Enjoy a guided virtual walk-through of the vintageTek museum and hear from the museum director about how Tek alumni, fans, and volunteers are passing along a lifelong love of engineering and technology through the hands-on exhibits found there.
Dave Brown shows us the original 511 Oscilloscope and demos waveforms using an instrument called a theremin. See the link to the video, in the first comment of this post.

10/03/2026

"Tektronix Vintage Advertisement of the Month"
The October 2026 Ad of the Month is titled “Engineering Expression at Tektronix.” It was published on February 18, 1962 in The Oregonian in honor of Engineer’s Week. The photos feature Tektronix engineers demonstrating several oscilloscopes: the Type 567 sampling scope at the upper left, the Type 545 in the upper right, a Type 533 at the lower right and a Type 535 in center right. On the lower left there is a Type 315 (upside down) being calibrated using what appears to be a Type 533. At the center left, an unidentified transistorized scope is shown. In addition, the iconic east-facing entrance to Building 81 at the Sunset Plant is found at the bottom. During the 1950s a sketch of the entrance was on the letterhead of Tektronix stationery.
A link to more Tektronix vintage advertising is in the comments of this post.

10/01/2026

"Tektronix Vintage Photo of the Month"
Our October 2026 Photo of the Month is a proposed model for the Beaverton campus. After Tektronix purchased the 300-acre Beaverton site, it commissioned the architectural firm of Wolff and Zimmer to map out a master plan for the campus. In July of 1959 they presented a scale model of their vision for the company’s eventual headquarters. At the time, Buildings 19 and 70, the Metals facility and Receiving, respectively, had been built and the Ceramics building (Building 13) was under construction. Their plan envisioned almost twenty buildings including six Assembly facilities and five Cafeterias. Dedicated buildings were planned for Graphics, Components and for both Engineering and Advanced Engineering. Interestingly, there were no plans for the additional buildings that were eventually placed on Millikan Way, at the top of the model.
If this model looks odd to those of you who worked at the Beaverton Campus, it’s because it never happened, at least beyond Buildings 13, 19 and 70. We speculate that when senior management decided to create Building 50, the technical center, a few years later, the plan was abandoned. You can view a high resolution PDF at this link:
https://vintagetek.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/1959BvtnCampusLayout_Bldgs_ID.pdf
We added the names in addition to the building number for legibility.
The second image here, an aerial photograph, is a later representation of the plan that was published in Tekweek in May of 1961.

09/27/2026

"Tektronix Knobless 2445 Oscilloscope Prototype"
The 2400-series was Tektronix' most advanced line of analog oscilloscopes. They were "analog" in the sense that the signal path from input to CRT was analog, but they were digitally assisted. A microprocessor generated on-screen readout and cursors, and performed auxiliary functions such as auto setup and auto measurements. The front panel was "fly by wire", in that the controls did not connect directly to the circuits they operated on. Rather, the controls were read by analog-to-digital converters and translated to the actual circuit controls by digital-to-analog converters under the supervision of the microprocessor.
As a way to further reduce cost, the 2245/6/7 team experimented with inexpensive front-panel switch technology with the goal of creating an oscilloscope that could be sold for less than $500. They used a membrane switch with 4 layers: a front bubble-shaped layer to create the snap when the switch was pressed, a back layer with metal contacts which were made when the switch was pressed hard, a spacer layer just in front of the back layer, and a middle later with metal contacts on the front for the initial press and on the back for the hard press. The result was a "knobless" (or nearly so) oscilloscope. The k***s below the CRT screen were left as is since they were part of the analog display circuitry.
This prototype oscilloscope was built by a group in Building 50 by retrofitting a production unit with a new front panel and modified firmware.
This is one of our most unique exhibits. Come into the Museum and try it out for yourself. The page at the link in the comments provides more photos and details of this story.

09/26/2026

"Tektronix J15 Photometer"
The J15 photometer was designed to measure luminance levels in coal mines to meet new MESA (Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration) regulations. It had to be rugged for that environment. Tektronix made them for Mine Safety Appliances (MSA) who cataloged them and resold them to mining companies. They were not sold directly by Tektronix and there were probably less than 1000 sold.
More photometer photos at the link in the comments.

Address

13489 SW Karl Braun Drive
Beaverton, OR
97077

Opening Hours

10am - 4pm

Telephone

+15036440161

Website

http://vintageTEK.org/

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