Hi all, I have finally decided to break down and buy a oscilloscope. But I found I don't know what to get. As this will be by first oscilloscope I don't need any thing fancy. I don't have a lot of money so a used one would be fine, if it had a manual or I could get one. I would be willing to spend maybe 60.00 usd for the oscilloscope. I did find
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but I don't know what I should be looking for. So if you have any ideas that would be great. Thanks
That is 60$? Do you know thats just for the case. The scope itself is probably over 1k$(if they still made them).
You'll be lucky if you find a decent scope for under $100 that actually works. If your serious about the scope and can afford it then your best bet is to spend more money. You can get a pc based scope that is much cheaper than the overpriced full scopes.
I don't know about that. I've found the older 5 meg scopes for like $5. I've found 20 Megs for $40. I've bought and still have - in great condition - two - 60 Meg or higer - dual trace scopes for $100 (together). If you look around, you can find something to fit your needs. If there are any hamfests in the area, check them out.
WTF? It's a "single channel" model, yet has a second input to display in x-y mode? How hard/costly would it be to make the already existing y-channel into a 2nd time-based input?
Have to admit, for 100 Aus$ (80 $US) that's better than I'd expect. But if it were me, I'd go ahead and pay $400 for their dual-trace 20 MHz model:
I apologies if I sound ignorant, because I am. I did not relies that was just the case. But I don't know what to be looking for. I was looking on ebay and found this
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but as I don't know what to look for in an oscilloscope I don't know if it a good one. Thanks for the help
Could be OK but I generally avoid HP, Tektronix and the like as IMO you need to know what you are buying. If you can find someone who knows this model you would be well advised to heed their comments.
And if you want to go *really* cheap, you can use your PC sound card and some software. Shameless plug: Daqarta for Windows is only US$29. (The older DOS-based version is now free, but only works with ISA-bus Sound Blasters.) Besides triggered dual-trace scope operation, it also offers spectrum analysis, color spectrograms, signal averaging, and stereo signal generation. *
The downside is that sound cards are only good for audio frequencies, typically 5 Hz to 20 kHz or so. That's nowhere near enough to serve as your sole "general purpose" scope, but it's fine for most audio work. You might miss some high frequency instabilities or oscillations, for example. But if you do a lot of audio work, it's really handy to have it generate a low-distortion test signal and show your circuit's distortion spectrum at a glance... such as for bias adjustments. That's something you probably won't find in a used scope in your price range.
Nevertheless, I have a 100 MHz "real" scope on my bench as well as the monitor for Daqarta. If you are only going to have one scope, it should be 20 MHz or more for general-purpose work.
PS: The Daqarta for Windows signal generator continues to work even after the free trial period expires. It's yours to keep, free of charge. Not available in any store! ;-)
Best regards,
Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
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Scope, Spectrum, Spectrogram, Signal Generator Science with your sound card!
I don't know. I can barely hear myself think for the constant racket of you screaming out: "I'M A FUCKING IDIOT!!! REALLY I AM" over and over again. Perhaps you should get the doctors to up your medication?
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