PC Based Oscilliscopes

Anyone use these? Any recommendations good or bad? I am looking at some that have Scope, Meter, Spectrum Analysis, etc. Are the "multi-use" type PC scopes any good? I see some that are down around $200-300? which is in my price range.

Thanks!

Jim Douglas

My gut reaction when I see a PC-based O-scope is to cringe.

I would stay away from them. For the same price range that you mention, you could get one heck of a nice Tektronix 7000 series 'scope, or perhaps a 400 or 2400 series portable, all from the used/surplus arena (more specifically, from ham radio swap meets or Greed-Bay).

Example: The Tek 7603 was one of their most popular, and is also one of the most plentiful on the surplus market. It has a mainframe bandwidth of at least 100MHz, and can often be found for around $50-$100 with plug-ins.

If you want some serious bandwidth, you should have a look at the Tek 7904 or 7104. The base frames have bandwidths of 500MHz and 1GHz, respectively, and you should be able to get a good 7904 with plug-ins for a little over $300.

Your test equipment needs are, of course, your choice. However, I would like to say that just because a test instrument CAN be designed to work in a PC environment does NOT always mean that it SHOULD be. Good- quality input stages are hard to do (there's a reason Tek put so much R&D into theirs), and they are one of the main driving factors where cost is concerned.

I have little faith that the Taiwan-import PC-based (alleged) O- scopes can do a proper job in this regard. Good quality test gear is an investment, and it should be treated that way.

Keep the peace(es).

Tektronix DSA602A Digital Signal Analyzer. All kinds of waveform storage and analysis, and a floppy drive as well. Runs about $400-$500 on the used market, uses 11-series plug-ins, mainframe bandwidth of

And how long will it last? If it's made up entirely of custom parts, and cannot be repaired by the end user (at least at the module level), then I would hardly think of it as a good investment.

When I buy test equipment, I expect it to be serviceable for a MINIMUM of ten years. Very few items that I've bought new have measured up to that requirement.

variety

bucks

Good post you Canuck!! Your all right tech wise :)

I'd rather have a stand alone scope myself. I don't know how good a scope you need, but you can find them real cheap if you look around. IE: hamfests, etc..I have 3 scopes, but the one I use mostly now is a Kikusui COS 5060. I bought it for $50...It's a 60 mhz scope..It's no top line scope, but it's quite usable for most of my needs. I also have an old heathkit scope, which still works, and also an ancient 60's tube hickock, which was built by tektronics...Has the plug in tektronics preamps, etc... But the old tek scope blew a gasket the last time I plugged it in. I consider it tit's up...The kikusui is pretty modern compared to the other two... MK

This one is free. It's only 20khz, though.

Scope and logic analyzer..

mike

There's one major advantage to the PC based scopes. It's STORAGE of waveform. When I was younger we had to put a hood over the front of the scope and use a Polaroid to get shots of easy to miss signals.

A real storage oscilloscope costs a fortune, but if you can get a PC variety that fills your frequency needs, I'd go for it. Three or four hundred bucks is a bargain when accompanied by a good warranty..

mike

Ahh, apparently some 12-yr old has just been introduced to g***se (and/or slashdot) and wants to spread the pleasure.

No pun intended.

Seen Tub Girl yet?

Some of them aren't too bad, although in the $200-300 range you'll not get any record setters. For one data point, though, some of the higher end scopes do use Windows as their user interface. Check out Tek's TDS6000B at

For one possiblity closer to your price range, take a look at

I love damnation by faint praise. It's a good thing you haven't heard me trying to practice this bass. You'd retract that

EADG EADG I mean. sheesh..how hard can it be? I'm starting to suspect they shipped the wrong instructions with it, not that it matters, I can't speak Chinese anyway.

mike eadg eadg

They are too limited to be worth the money. Get a used Tek in good working order in that price range, as another poster mentioned.

Ed

You make some valid points, but I still have concerns. Tektronix, among many others, has been known to use proprietary chips/components in their scopes. These may be getting hard to get. That would tend to even out the decision making process, all other things being equal.

Having said that, Tektronix stuff is very nice, quality made merchandise. I'm admiring a 7B92A dual time base module even as we speak. I just don't want to wind up like Hamlet...

Alas, poor 7904, I knew it Horatio...

mike

Thanks for all the input, I am going to pass on the PC stuff and shop EBay and ?? for a good used scope. Any recommendations other than EBay?

that

Try looking for used equipment from leasing companies.

Also look for plant closings that may result in equipment sales or auctions.

craigm

Sure. Check

If you've never been to such an event in your life, I would (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT) take a look at an article I wrote on my own page at this link:

This is a guide to scrounging at both surplus places and swap meets. I hope you find it helpful.

Happy hunting.

My personal preference is a conventional benchtop scope for high frequencies, and a sound-card-based PC scope for audio work. I use my own Daqarta shareware for the PC scope (shameless plug). It only runs in real-mode DOS on old ISA-bus systems with Sound Blaster cards (or lab-type boards, which are pricey). I run an old cast-off 16 MHz 386 system that works just fine for this purpose.

The PC gives me real-time spectral analysis, which is great for distortion measurement and especially for distortion adjustments. Another big advantage is that the PC can generate complex test signals and keep them exactly in sync with the input signal that is responding to those signals, so you can use signal averaging to measure noise *way* below the noise floor.

Windows-based version is under construction, but won't be released for several months yet.

Hope this helps!

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

There are several places around the internet that sell reconditioned test equipment. You might end up spending a bit more than at ebay but you (should be) getting something that has been cleaned, op tested, and has all of its parts. Possibly also a better warranty.

There are a jillion out there, but a couple that I get periodic catalogs from are:

SNIP

No, he didn't. He was describing the Tek 7000 series mainframes and plug-ins, NOT any of the TDS series scopes. There are many years, and a world of difference, between the two.

Ed wb6wsn