Did you know Tektronix developed technology for the Hubble Space Telescope? Tektronix developed a CCD imager as part of the wide-field planetary camera, one of five scientific instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Read about it in this Focus On Tek … Continue reading →
Gale Morris was the first industrial design engineer hired in 1958 at Tektronix. One of his first projects was to redesign the Type 500 Scope-Mobile into something more functional and aesthetically pleasing. The result was the award winning Type 200 Scope-Mobile … Continue reading →
The museum has an extensive microfiche collection of Instruction and Service manuals along with other documents. We estimate the number of pages, including duplicates, at over 3.9 million. Due to the size of the microfiche archive we will not be … Continue reading →
Today the vintageTEK museum announced the official launch of their instrument library. This is an opportunity for students, age 10 and older, to check out instruments on loan for their personal projects and education. Museum volunteers have worked hard to … Continue reading →
The USS Midway at San Diego has a couple of Tektronix products on board ship. This 5441 Mainframe with a 7B40 timebase (right side of photo) was spotted by Yinghang Zhou, a business development manager at Tek China. This 4205 terminal (left … Continue reading →
STEM isn’t just for kids. All ages can learn about technology and engineering with a visit to the vintageTEK museum. This group of seniors from the Edgewood Downs Senior Center did just that with a visit to the museum. So did … Continue reading →
Today we discovered yet another cartoon in a Tektronix schematic. This one is a 7D11 Digital Delay “snail”. … Continue reading →
What do the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, The Hewlett-Packard garage, Signal Hill, the Computer History Museum, and the Alexander Graham Bell laboratory have in common with vintageTEK? They are all sites listed along with vintageTEK on the 10 sites of electrical history to … Continue reading →
The direct view storage tube (DVST) invented by Bob Anderson in the 1960s had significant impact in multiple industries. We have a number of different exhibits, articles, and documents relating to the storage tube and will tie them all together … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK museum often sets up a booth for Tektronix at their worldwide sales meeting to highlight the impressive and fascinating history of the company. We received a request for a similar showing at the Tek Japan Innovation Forum. While … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK fundraiser to purchase a microfiche scanner is progressing well with over 70 contributors donating nearly $4500 towards our $6000 goal as of April 15, 2018. The museum is very hopeful we will reach the goal and be able … Continue reading →
July 3, 2018 Update We are now closing our fundraiser page. Thanks to all that contributed. We were able to acquire the scanner and a good computer for it, but did not raise sufficient funds to purchase a printer and … Continue reading →
If you visit the museum you will see new cards by many of the exhibits. These cards have identify the exhibit and have a QR code which can be read by a smartphone or tablet. The QR code opens up … Continue reading →
Our documentation volunteer Pat Green continues to organize the library and forwards items of interest for hosting on our website. These new pages were added this past month. 155-0022-00 Sweep Circuit IC 2200 Family Marketing Presentation (video) 4100 / 4200 … Continue reading →
A 3 alarm fire broke out in the commercial building formerly occupied by the vintageTEK museum just after 8 AM on Sunday, January 28, 2018, at 4626 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Highway. Although in the same building, the fire was west of … Continue reading →
This month we thought we would look back over 2017. This time last year we had just moved into our new location in Building 13 on the Tektronix campus. The move took place in December and we were hampered by … Continue reading →
We are continuing to catalog new donations of equipment and documentation at the museum. Although the showroom and classroom are nearly full, we recently added a display of some of our analog and digital probes. This month we bring you … Continue reading →
The new location on the Tektronix campus has significantly increased traffic to the museum. If you haven’t been in to our new building then stop by for a visit. Days, hours, address, and a map are on the right sidebar … Continue reading →
October was also a busy month at the museum. The vintageTEK museum has had a booth at the Northwest Electronics Design and Manufacturing Expo for the past 5 years. This is a fun event as we reach and interact with … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK museum had a very busy and productive summer starting with preparing for our grand opening, two grand opening events, hosting an evening SID (Society of Information Display) meeting, several summer youth STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) visits, a … Continue reading →
With the help of a few ex-Tek and ex-Sony/Tektronix employees who have graciously provided information, photos, and scans, we now have a fairly complete page on Sony/Tek history. It is located under “Information and Resources”>”Locations and Subsidiaries”>”Rest Of World”>”Sony/Tektronix”. Under … Continue reading →
Today is the 100th anniversary of Jack Murdock’s birthday. Melvin “Jack” Murdock was born in Portland on August 15, 1917. Jack went by his middle name as did his friend and business partner Charles “Howard” Vollum whom he met in … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK museum just completed two very successful events at our new location. We participated in a Tektronix company-wide event on July 20th with a vintageTEK booth and a Grand Opening and T-Shirt give away for Tektronix employees at the … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK website is proud to host a six-part article written by former Tek engineer Peter Keller. These articles were first published in The Tube Collector and are provided with the permission of the publisher and the author. They describe in detail … Continue reading →
For questions please contact: Bob Haas 503-310-7829 Email: m.r.haas@comcast.net FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE vintageTEK Museum Announces Its Public Grand Opening Delivering on its Mission to Share Engineering Knowledge and History through an Active Museum and STEM Education Facility … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK museum invites you to our Grand Opening at our new location on the Tektronix campus. Saturday, July 22nd 10:00 am to 6:00 pm 13489 SW Karl Braun Dr Beaverton, OR, 97077 Our location is on the southeast side … Continue reading →
Volunteers at the museum have been busy the past 6+ months with the move and reorganization of the museum at our new location on the Tektronix campus. Now that things are settling down, we are getting back into our regular … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK Museum has a new home on the Tektronix Beaverton Campus. Thanks to the many museum volunteers who helped move the equipment to the new location. Below are videos of packing up for the move. The bottom two are … Continue reading →
A Tektronix Field Engineer in Los Angeles Region from 1968 to 1972, Ed was promoted to Army Account Manager in Philadelphia. After earning a Marketing Degree (cum laude) at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Beaverton in … Continue reading →
I recently obtained a copy of A History of The General Radio Company, published in 1965 by Arthur E. Thiessen Board Chairman of General Radio. The management style and policies of GR as Tek employees later referred to it, were strikingly similar to those … Continue reading →
We have opened a vintageTEK web store located at www.vintageTEK.org/zenczrt In addition to the publications we have been selling at the Museum, we are adding several exciting new publications (electronic format only). These include Stan Griffiths Classic Oscilloscopes: Selecting and … Continue reading →
The family of the late Dr. Gertrude Rempfer donated the Tektronix Electron Microscope prototype that the Tek group was working on around 1968 when the project was canceled. Bruce Baur, John Addis, and Ed Sinclair, assisted by Gert’s son Willie Rempfer loaded … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK museum has completed our corporate donation brochure which we will use to solicit donations from cold war era corporations that were instrumental in Tek’s success during the 1945-1985 period of technological advancement. Our staff conceived this project with … Continue reading →
We have added a Volunteers Wanted Menu button to our Home Page to inform vintageTEK Museum Members of our needs for Volunteers. We have a solid group of regular volunteers who repair and refurbish instruments and bench test equipment, organize our … Continue reading →
vintageTEK has recently renewed our lease with our landlord Gary Hoselton for two years, to June 2014. Gary, an ex-Tek, has been a generaous supporter of vintageTEK objectives since our inception. We are putting the finishing touches on two brochures, one developed as … Continue reading →
Donor Wall A Reality (Click photo for full size, and again to magnify) We want to thank Rod Gilbert, an ex-Tek ME, who is also an accomplished woodworker, for the marvelous job he did on building the Donor Wall for our … Continue reading →
Phil Crosby a current vintageTEK volunteer discovered a new Tek Cartoon (A pinup girl in a bathing suit) in the manual of the 524AD he is refurbising for the Museum’s TV Equipment Display. Unfortunately, this manual is on microfische and I cannot scan … Continue reading →
The Museum erected our Donor Wall yesterday to Honor our many wonderful donors who have made the museum a reality. We are awaiting only the brass plaque with our color logo (1) and the brass name plates honoring our donors (2): … Continue reading →
vintageTEK is now set up to accept and process donations on our website www.vintagetek.org . You can find a DONATE NOW button in the LH Column on every page except the Blog Page: Click on the DONATE NOW button; Select … Continue reading →
This month ex-Tek Linda Morrisson donated her extensive coffee cup collection to the vintageTEK Museum. I was surprised to even find one I commissioned for the Mobile Calibration Team, consulting for Ed Vaughan in the Service Division at Merlo Road … Continue reading →
Jim Williams an analog circuit designer, Tek aficionado, and author, passed away from a stroke in June 2011. The San Jose Mercury News just published an article on Jim and his workbench that was world renowned. It has been enshrined … Continue reading →
Saturday we had a visitor accompanied by his son. The father had several Tek friends, owned several Tek scopes, and was a career geologist. His son, Will Gannett, is a Ph D candidate in Physics attending Berkeley. As any proud father might, dad had … Continue reading →
I have created an Adobe Acrobat file of 23 Early CRT Department Photos we would like identified so we can post them on our website. Since we have a very active ex-employee group from CRT that meets regularly, I have … Continue reading →
Marshall Lee, Pacific University History Professor, is interviewed by the Oregonian on a date unknown (approximately 1986) regarding his work with Tektronix. Marshall told me that Earl Wantland hired him to create a Tektronix corporate archive, and only later was … Continue reading →
I have requested permission from Heike Mayer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech, for permission to reprint her article Planting High-Technology Seeds Tektronix’s Role in the Creation of Portland’s Silicon Forest on our website. As … Continue reading →
Howard Vollum agreed to sit down for three videotaped interviews regarding Tektronix History in 1984. They were conducted by Jim Castles, the lawyer who drew up the Tek incorporation papers in 1945 and 1946, and years later became Tektronix General … Continue reading →
vintageTEK is reprinting My Years At Tektronix 1945-1953. Miles was an original Tektronix Founder, along with Howard Vollum, Jack Murdock, and Glenn McDowell. The lawyer drawing up the incorporation papers was Jim Castles, who later joined Tektronix as General Counsel. … Continue reading →
Richard L. Ropiequet died of a stroke on April 25,2011 in Grass Valley, CA with his devoted family surrounding him. Born in St. Louis, Mo., and educated in Illinois, he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1944 and … Continue reading →
The attached 1960 document: IBM Customer Engineering Manual of Instruction – Tektronix Oscilloscopes, was recently discovered by Pete Lancashire and called to our attention. This was produced by IBM in August 1960 and was a step-by-step tutorial on scopes, and … Continue reading →
I have moved this News Article to the Blog post on 10/26/11 because I want it available from the blog page E.S. When we began design of this new website our departed friend and colleague C. Norman Winningstad had recently … Continue reading →
vintagetek Museum is soliciting volunteers for Social Media “savvy” individuals to assist us in positioning our Social Media efforts on facebook, twitter, Google+, etc A few weeks ago, I signed up for facebook, twitter, and Google+ and do not have … Continue reading →
The vintageTEK Museum in Portland, OR would like to open the Nomination process for a Managing Director of a Saturday Academy for what is being referred to internally by various names, from the Geek Academy, EE Academy, to the vintageTEK … Continue reading →
With the recent donation by Chris Curtin of the cutaway 7104 micro-channel-plate CRT, I made a call for 7104/mcp information via ex-Tek gateslist, and John Addis immediately responded with a pointer to the Electronic Design January 18, 1979 article by … Continue reading →
vintageTEK has received a number of Engineering News publications for our Library. The intact ones are dated from 1978 with a front cover title Engineering News and were Company Confidential at the time. We are curious about two things. First the format of Engineering … Continue reading →
vintageTEK has received a number of Technology Reports for our Library The intact ones are dated from 1982 through 1985 with a front cover title TEK Information For Technologists and were Company Confidential at the time. The full issues we … Continue reading →
I spoke with Bob Anderson yesterday, and we will soon be making an announcement of an accolade he will be receiving for his invention of the DVST – Direct View Storage Tube. We are attaching his article which appeared in … Continue reading →
John Kobbe recently jotted down his recollections of Tek’s development of the 500 Series oscilloscopes. Starting with the 310/315 he charts the evolution of many developments, including Howard Vollum’s desire to incorporate plug-in vertical amplifiers, and build our own CRT’s … Continue reading →
Our Grand Opening was very successful following the excellent article appearing on the Front Page of the Business section of the Oregonian Thursday September 15, 2011. We had over 200 visitors, with donations exceeding our highest expectations. Visitors started arriving … Continue reading →
vintageTEK, a Museum for vintage Tektronix equipment and memorabilia from the Tek heyday 1946-1985 will open for Public Viewing Friday September 16, 2011 at 9am. Public Hours will be Fridays and Saturdays only until our Volunteer Cadre is fully determined.Technical … Continue reading →
Pentrix, a manufacturer of Spectrum Analyzer plug-ins for the Tek 530/540 Series was acquired by Tektronix about 1964. They first designed the L10 for NASA. Following the acquisition, they designed the 1L20 and 1L30, and later the 1L5. These successes … Continue reading →
A Story that explains the background and filming of the movie Ask Mr Wizard, The Oscilloscope was published in TekWeek July 21, 1961. Rick LeForge, Field Engineer at Tek’s Long Island office, was present at the show rehearsals in New … Continue reading →
The January 19, 1979 the TekWeek headline reads: Tektronix’ Court of Claims case ‘est finis’.View Here The lawsuit was filed by Tektronix in February 1961. The U.S. Government – Army Signal Corps and US Air Force – awarded contracts for … Continue reading →
Frank Hood became so famous internally for his great movie productions at Tektronix, beginning with The Tek Spirit, that he became known as “Cecil B. DeHood” amongst his colleagues! Jim Cook recalled this nickname in a 2010 discussion over lunch. … Continue reading →
According to Frank Hood in a 1985 Biography he wrote: “The first mention of Tektronix and the oscilloscope was in the April 1948 issue of the magazine ELECTRONICS. It was not called the 511 but only called “The Vollum portable … Continue reading →
In Howard’s 1984 Interview, Jim Castles asks him if Logan Belleville ever worked at MIT and Howard could not recall. In my recent meeting with Logan’s significant other, Holly Black Belleville, she said Logan was Secretary of the local IRE … Continue reading →
I awoke the other morning at 3am worried that so much Tek History is slipping through our fingers as we discuss a piece here and a piece there, I wanted to provide some way to collect and archive this information. … Continue reading →
Stan Griffiths has given vintageTEK permission to reprint his classic book “Selecting and Restoring a Classic” by Stan Griffiths, W7NI 1992. We will publish a Second Edition soon, adding it to our inventory of gifts for vintageTEK Donors. Ed Sinclair … Continue reading →
