Six Weeks of Troubleshooting...I think I found it!

[Chris K]

You are describing the behavior in digital sweep mode. Phase continuous is a smooth linear sweep and recommended for IF work.
Also, the slower you sweep, the more accurate the results are. Is 0.5s really so bad?

I guarantee you I am in phase cont. mode. Maybe I'm missing a solution with the wrong machine. My issue is not with the quality of the sweep but with what is visible, or should I say not visible, on the oscilloscope. I don't have a curve shape on the scope, just a cursor that traces the curve shape once or twice a second as per how fast the HP is sweeping. I'm trying to make adjustments in the TV IF transformers that alter and tweak the symmetry of the curve around 21.25MHz on the scope. With the previous 8600/8601 combo, I had a sweep rate that was so fast, I had a solid line on the scope out of the TV so I could make fine adjustments to the TV IF transformers that got the shape exactly right. Is there something I should be setting the scope for...some mode that will display a line instead of a slow moving cursor?