What's a good beginners Oscilloscope?

[zeno]

Does anyone know these scopes? And are they any good?

Voltcraft 2040 dual trace 20MHz oscilloscoop
-Coupling: DC - AC - GND
-Vertical: 5mV/div -5V/div
-CH1 , CH2, ALT, CHOP, ADD, INV
-Hold Off
-Time/div : 1µs - 2s
-Trigger select: 1, 2, 1/2, EXT
-Triggercoupling: AC, DC, LF, HF
-Triggerlevel adjestment
-Time delay
-Component test
-Beam find

Don't know the age of the thing...

Marc

[EC8010]

It's a strange thing, but oscilloscopes are personal things. The reason that many people like Teks is that the triggering has (traditionally) been better. But its difficult to put a number to good triggering. Similarly, some CRTs give a clearer trace than others.

At the 20MHz level (very basic), there probably isn't much between one oscilloscope and another. I would guess that this Voltcraft oscilloscope is fairly recent because of the inclusion of holdoff and delay, but component testing is a gimmick.

Unless you absolutely need the facilities of a new oscilloscope, second-hand oscilloscopes are much better value.

[zeno]

That Voltcraft is sold for 140€.
A good price. At least I think so.

I think I have seen the brand before, but (if my memory is correct) about fifteen to twenty years ago.

Marc

[EC8010]

140 Euro sounds reasonable to me. How did you insert the Euro symbol?

[zeno]

Windows PC : AltGr + e

Should work if you have one of the famous patches installed...

Marc

PS Do not confuse with the pound sign...

[Bricolo]

I just bought a Tektronix 2232 very cheap

But I don't have the manual, where can I find it?

[EC8010]

Perhaps Ken L (who bought one earlier in this thread) can help? You could try Tek, but they may not support a product more than ten years old. Second-hand equipment dealers are often able to provide photo-copies of manuals.

[BC108man]

Are you looking for a service manual, or an operators manual? This guy sells a scanned service manual for about $24: http://www.aa4df.com. I have never dealt with him, but it's not much of a risk.

I also have some experience with the 2232, and it's predecessor the 2230. Let me know if you have a specific question about using it. I might be able to help. If I haven't fried too many braincells in the meantime.

Cheers, BC

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by BC108man
Are you looking for a service manual, or an operators manual? This guy sells a scanned service manual for about $24: http://www.aa4df.com. I have never dealt with him, but it's not much of a risk.

I also have some experience with the 2232, and it's predecessor the 2230. Let me know if you have a specific question about using it. I might be able to help. If I haven't fried too many braincells in the meantime.

Cheers, BC

I'm looking for the operator's manual.


The questions I have for now are
-what is the "select waveform" button?
-why, when I use both timebases in store mode, don't I see the selected part of the curve in the second timebase? (I see another part of the graph)
-can I connect it to a computer to get data?

[sam9]

I found that for the basics of audio a used B&K from e-bay for about $75 filled the bill. Any oscillation problems that a DMM can't detect show up and I can see any nasties when clipping. There are other things that might be nice but these have been the important on's for me. If I had the cash to be shopping in the $500 range, I would consider a Pico-Tech or Velleman unit that uses the PC monitor for a display but uses an external module so you are not limited to the resolution of a sound card. Both come with FFT soft ware which is a big plus.