Scopetrex

The Scopetrex is a Vectrex clone on a single board, meant to be played on an analog oscilloscope in XY mode. It’s a super fun advanced-beginner project with great documentation and a relatively cheap build cost.

The Build

I ordered boards from JLCPCB and got the parts I needed from Mouser, and took my time with the build.

I got some sheets of 5x7" acrylic from Amazon and drilled matching holes so I could mount it to the top of the board using standoffs. It looks nice and protects the components from cats.

I didn’t really have any issues. Hooked it up to my Tektronix 2213 and it worked great!

Cool and all, but I wanted it to be cooler.

Vectorscopes

Enter the formidable Tektronix 1720/1721 vectorscopes. These are broadcast television insruments meant for monitoring video signal quality, but they can also operate as X/Y displays. They usually come in a pair, as mine did, for the low-low price of $60 at Doug Deals.

The only problem is, the blanking signal is not passed directly through; IIRC it is mediated by a processor that needs to be put into a special mode in order to work. Lacking the patience for this kind of thing, I just bodged the signal across to where I wanted it.

And with this change we get two channels of Scopetrex! (Bad reflection; they’re identical in person.)

The only remaining issue is that the Scopetrex itself isn’t rack-mounted.

Rack Mounting

Kind of excessive but I was very intent on owning the world’s only rack-mounted Scopetrex. A little drilling, a little gluing, a lot of coffee later and … victory!