Oscilloscope choice help needed!

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I am new to electronic diagnosis but very willing to learn. I want to buy an Oscilloscope but I know nothing about them. I wan to be able to set my amplifier gain settings, and also help aid in amplifier repair. I was peaking on E-bay and there are thousands of choices, literally! What should I look for and what does it mean like 4 channel, 60hz, 200hz, etc on the listings?http://cgi.ebay.com/Tektronix-2465-O...QQcmdZViewItem

Also would a handheld work? Like this one?http://cgi.ebay.com/Velleman-10-Mhz-...ayphotohosting

Thanls for any help, Polo..

[eapavant]

Well I am sure others will respond, but to help you narrow your search on ebay look for scopes that are analog. With at least 100 Mhz bandwith. Something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tektronix-465-2-...QQcmdZViewItem
or this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tektronix-2336-Y...QQcmdZViewItem

Stay away from digital scopes or storage scopes and I would stick With Tektronix.

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THANKYOU! Polo..

[mastertech]

well my professor Barry once told me any osciloscope is better
than no osciloscope if you are newbie dont invest big just yet
ask a friend service tech for affordable but good ones

cheers

[lineup]

Originally posted by mastertech
well my professor Barry once told me any osciloscope is better
than no osciloscope if you are newbie dont invest big just yet
ask a friend service tech for affordable but good ones

cheers

That is right, mastertech

Most any old oscilloscope with 2 channels will do for audio.
If they can show good below 1 MHz.
It is not at all as those expensive HF scopes.

Myself have an old and very heavy english all tubes scope
I got for free by a nice engineer working in an electronics repair

[jacco vermeulen]

Polo,
you live in the States, plenty of really cheap Tektronix's to buy.
Don't buy a handheld if you are new to this.
I would look for something like a 2465 once you've done some time on an average scope. Spending $200 on something you have no idea on knowing if it is sound may be blowing cash away.
The $50 you spend on a starters scope you will probably receive again when you sell your scope later.
Lots of information on scopes has been posted in a couple of threads, Mark Gulbrandsen and Jackinnj are knowledgeable on Teks, to name two.

[eapavant]

It might be best to determine your needs a little better. A fast sample rate and high bandwidth can really help trying to solve problems. 10 Mhz is no good if your amp is oscillating much higher.

[Dryseals]

I've used scopes for a 30 years, believe me they have come along way in this time period. For a beginner and for what you are doing, I would recommend an older model analog scope and not worry about the MHZ too much at this point. I just picked up a Tektronix 2 channel 15MHZ analog for $61 to the door on Ebay. The sysc is off a tad but thats repairable (I worked in a cal lab repairing these things many years ago), service manual was $4.

Anyway, bigger is better, digital storage various outputs, nice options, but expensive. Some folks tend to pick up well with scopes more than others, before I would dive off into an expensive model, I would get an el cheapo and learn from there. The thing you'll need to know about the scope is if it works correctly or not. If you are just getting into trouble shooting, the first thing you do not want to trouble shoot is a scope, because you have to use a scope to fix a scope.

So my reccomendation to you is to look for a two channel analog in the less than 25MHZ range that works. Plenty of Tektronix T921s and 22s on Ebay and many other brands.

[jackinnj]

the 2465 is the mercedes of the last edition of analog scopes from Tektronix -- and they can be fixed -- buy one from a seller with a lot of positives

the older lab type scopes from Tek take up a lot of space but have myriad plug-ins -- the 7700, 7100 and 7900 series.

it isn't that you should just consider TEK -- HP, B&K, LeCroy, etc. all made excellent analog scopes as well

here's one suggestion for a complete test set up -- tek made a great modular power supply -- the TM500 series -- there is a scope plug (SC502, 503, 504) in for this as well as digital multimeters, signal generators, pulse generators -- if you see a Tek SG505 signal generator snatch it up

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Thanks again for all your help! Polo..