oscilloscope

[GRollins]

Don't knock having a lot of top end on a scope. Kinda takes the guesswork out of wondering if a circuit is oscillating or not. They never do anything mundane like 10kHz--it's always more along the lines of calling Alpha Centauri...full power and high frequencies.

Grey

[paulb]

DieterD,
If it actually works, it's a great deal. There's lots of info on the web about Tektronix scopes.
Here's a site, now closed, that at least gives links.
http://margo.student.utwente.nl/~wel/tek.htm

[dice45]

Hello kilowatt,

Originally posted by Kilowatt




I don't own or have access to an oscilloscope, but I will desperately need one, especially when it comes time to make my big amp. I don't have the money for a new one. There are several ADCs that can be used with a computer and software to form a DSO.

if you are new to oscilloscopes, you should stay away from DSO for a start. Yeah, I know, I sound grandpa-like, but a DSO is just the right thing to observe waveforms you already know the shape of.




But if you do not know the waveform's shape, you do not know whether the DSO shows you the reality or an artifact i.e. a waveform not having much to do with the signal. Such signals could be HF-oscillations or glitches ot oscillator jitter or random signals or causal/single events.









For causal events a DSO seems to be the right thing, but as the event is singular, not repeated, who knows its real shape? The DSO is perfect in telling you such a signal has taken place.




I have an HP 1741A analog storage scope and a Fluke 123 scope meter. For most occasions I prefer the enormously convenenient scopemeter/DSO. But artifacts on tricky signals are usual.




I compared my HP 1741A (which has a single shot option among its storage options) to the LeCroy at the company on a single event spike signal with disturbed rising and falling slope. They looked different on the analog and digital scope. So I know.









Modern super-expensive DSOs like Tek and LeCroy and HP/Agilent have advanced circuitry for avoid artifacts or make them less probable to happen. However I would not count on that cheapo soundblaster-based software-DSOs or lil'boxes containing ADCs and connected to the parallel port have such. And they are not chaep for what they are delivering.






If I would be you, I would buy an ordinary analog scope with atleast 20MHz, better 100MHz of bandwidth. Provided you can trigger the signal, the analog scope tells you the truth. Add a DSO later when you have become acquainted with scopes and never give away your analog scope.

Does anyone know of such a thing for less than $300? Maybe even less than $200? By the way, I'm looking for one that can read signals up to almost 200V because I will be dealing with peak signal voltages up to almost 170V. Many such peices of hardware don't go that high. I don't want something with a crappy bandwidth either, and I want at least two channels. I'm sure many of you know what else to look for in a good scope better than I.

Look for used Tektronics or HP scopes. Tek 465 ,466, 468 is a good choice.

Why not ebay or your local surplus store? My HP comes from our surplus store.

Before I forget it: buy probes with atleast 3 times the bandwidth of your scope.

Another option would be to build my own scope.

Do you want to build scopes or amplifiers?




Do you want to hone your tools or get progress in your projects?




Bernhard, you hear me??









Greets,