No, your data sheet is wrong. The slowest automatic sweep is 10 secs per
division. The slowest sweep is manual. This specification exists across
the entire 7L line.



That's not what this says:

http://www.tucker.com/images/images_spec/00000453.pdf

I pulled out a 1981 Tek catalog, and I am indeed remembering wrong.
This is yet another reason why I discounted the 7L12 as a credible SA.

Here is what Tek is expecting you to do. There are timebase positions
for 5ms through 0.01us. These are for use when the SA is being used as
a receiver (time domain mode), and you are looking at a received pulse
train.

The "SA" mode is *variable* from 10ms through 5ms/division. You are expected
to manually adjust the sweep rate to get a clear picture.

So, how can you get 300Hz filter resolution? Well, simply by not scanning
the full bandwidth of the SA plugin. Reduce the sweept bandwidth to 10KHz,
and 300Hz is easily achieved with a 5-10ms/division sweep rate. Not a great
way to go, but usually if you are interested in the narrow resolutions, you
are only looking for signals over a narrow bandwidth.

As I said earlier, get a 7L13, or 7L14. The 7L12 wasn't fully incubated
when it was hatched.

When you go looking at the 141T, remember, it is a mid 1960's SA design,
and it feels like it when you use it. The 7L5, 7L13, and up were designed in the
very late 1970s, and take advantage of things like microprocessors to help
with house keeping operations. They are smaller, quite reliable, and just
plain work better than the 141T family. (And, yes I have owned, used and
repaired both.) The 141T storage tube is a nightmare. Very short life.

Another SA line that is usually very inexpensive, and much better than the 141T
family, is the Eaton/Ailtech 727 and up. I was told (in the early '80s) by an
HP FAE (who specialized in HP's SA's and other RF gear) that the Ailtechs were all
over the place in HP's internal R&D labs. They were the SA's that HP used in
designing their own product line.

(flame suit on, helmet latched, as I await the onslot of rebuttles from HP guys..)

-Chuck Harris