A good digital oscilloscope?
in [Design]
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From: Joerg on 9 Dec 2009 10:38 krw wrote: > On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:59:11 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > wrote: > >> krw wrote: >>> On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:36:53 -0500, Spehro Pefhany >>> <speffSNIP(a)interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote: >>> >>>> On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:28:27 -0800, John Larkin >>>> <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 22:21:43 -0600, "Tim Williams" >>>>> <tmoranwms(a)charter.net> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> "Jamie" <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_(a)charter.net> wrote in message >>>>>> news:oFhTm.36236$kY2.31856(a)newsfe01.iad... >>>>>>> My Tek 485 serves me well. I do have a small assortment of digital scopes >>>>>>> for portable use to gather basic data and road trip testing how ever, I >>>>>>> find that my 485 still gives me nice results at the bench as long as I >>>>>>> don't need live digital storage. >>>>>>> It's the only scope I have that I can take full advantage of my active >>>>>>> Fet probes when I need them. >>>>>> 486 is on my Wish List. And 2465. Yessss, my preciousss.... >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Tim >>>>> I love our TPS2024. 200 MHz, and all four channels and the trigger >>>>> input are fully floating. Wanna clip the probe ground lead onto the >>>>> source of a fet that's flailing 400 volts off ground? No problem. >>>>> >>>>> John >>>> Shame about that antediluvian CF card slot that can't write to even a >>>> 2G card. 8-( >>> Beats waiting 3 minutes to write to floppy. >>> >> But wouldn't you think a scope of this day and age would come with a USB >> stick slot? I mean, it's been years now ... >> >> Mine did :-) > > You'd think. AIUI, USB sticks are a PITA to write but the work only > has to be done once. My scope writes a screen shot onto a stick in less than a second. The nice thing is that they are ubiquitous, you can plug them into just about any PC unless it's really, really old. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Joerg on 9 Dec 2009 10:40 Jan Panteltje wrote: > On a sunny day (Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:02:32 -0800) it happened Joerg > <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in <7o8b9cF3oveo8U2(a)mid.individual.net>: > >>>> A friend of mine used to take off the aluminum front panels of similar >>>> equipment and, <gasp>, put it in the dishwasher. He's divorced so I >>>> guess no issues from that department :-) >>>> >>>> Afterwards it really looked like new. I was surprised that he never had >>>> a case where the lettering came off, that's what I'd be conerned about. >>> I use alcohol, 'spiritus' in Dutch. >> >> Out here we use that for much more fun stuff :-)) >> >> -- >> Regards, Joerg > > 'Spiritus' is 85% Ethanol, and 3% Methanol, plus a horribe smell and taste added... > Vodka is expensive, and only 40%, heavely taxed here. > Yeah, I remember from when I lived in NL. Booze was bought in D, smokes in NL, study textbooks were imported from the US. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Joerg on 9 Dec 2009 10:43 Fred Bartoli wrote: > Joerg a �crit : >> qrk wrote: >>> On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 06:11:02 -0800 (PST), George Herold >>> <ggherold(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> On Dec 7, 2:56 pm, qrk <SpamT...(a)spam.net> wrote: >>>>> On Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:29:24 -0800, John Larkin >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> <jjlar...(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >>>>>> On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 22:18:04 -0600, "Tim Williams" >>>>>> <tmoran...(a)charter.net> wrote: >>>>>>> I never was too impressed with digital scopes. None of them have >>>>>>> nearly >>>>>>> enough buttons, so you spend all your time wading through menus. >>>>>>> The Rigol >>>>>>> I've used (don't remember the number) has awful menus, they are >>>>>>> not always >>>>>>> quite what they say they are, and they take forever to go away. >>>>>>> Some digital scopes have better refresh than others. The HP >>>>>>> (Agilent??) >>>>>>> 54622D's in all the labs at school here work fairly well, though >>>>>>> at least >>>>>>> two button presses are required to reach any given menu option. >>>>>>> Refresh is >>>>>>> okay, though still chunky on slower sweeps (>1ms/div). >>>>>>> My impression of the cheapass Tek TDS's (the thin rectangular >>>>>>> ones) is >>>>>>> similar to the Rigol. >>>>>>> I'm most familiar with my Tek 475, but it would be nice to have >>>>>>> storage, >>>>>>> single sweep* and averaging. One of those intermediate scopes, >>>>>>> the ones >>>>>>> with analog AND digital, they're perfect for everything. >>>>>>> *Just because it's an analog scope doesn't mean you don't get >>>>>>> storage or >>>>>>> single sweep type readings, it just means it takes more setup. This >>>>>>> photograph was taken with a 10 second exposure, capturing three >>>>>>> photoflash >>>>>>> discharges: >>>>>>> http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/Images/Photoflash_Discharge2_sm.jpg >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Tim >>>>>> I like my TDS2012. I rarely use an analog scope any more. >>>>>> John >>>>> I find that I use an analog scope (Tek 465) for analog stuff. Can't >>>>> get a feeling for noise issues with a digital scope. For pulse >>>>> amplifier stuff and when you need arithmetic, digital is the way to >>>>> go. >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Mark- Hide quoted text - >>>>> >>>>> - Show quoted text - >>>> Not sure what sort of noise you are looking at, but I love my digital >>>> �scope for looking at noise. The trick I use is to trigger right up >>>> at the top of the noise. Then I put the scope in average mode and you >>>> get an image that looks like the auto correlation function. My >>>> colleague has dubbed this the Quasi � auto- correlation function, >>>> �Quacf� for short and of course pronounced quaff. (Ahh, nothing like >>>> a good beer.) If you ask for the FFT of this �trace� you get a much >>>> better picture. But I�ve become very good at reading quacf�s. >>>> >>>> George H. >>>> >>> >>> I deal with high gain amplifiers (80 dB gain, around 256 channels per >>> system) sitting in a sea of noise. Trying to pick out switching power >>> supply noise, digital noise, AM & FM radio transmitters, and ground >>> loop noise from other equipment is difficult with digital scopes since >>> the structure of the noise is lost. I'll revert to frequency domain >>> (usually a swept analyzer) to pick out the offending frequency if it's >>> from a switcher, clock or radio station, but logic noise doesn't show >>> up well in the frequency domain. ... >> >> >> Ever tried a receiver? After a while you just listen to the >> rat-tat-tat and chase it with a near field probe, without even looking >> at any display. Occasionally when I do this with headphones on at a >> client the guys look at me as if I was doing voodoo or some sort of >> exorcism. Until the source is found and they are puzzled why their >> $30k analyzer didn't pick it up. >> >> [...] >> > > Hmmm, better not having tinnitus :-))) > That's one of the difficulties I have to deal with. The left ear has that, courtesy of a mishap while in the army ... phssst ... ouieeeeee .... *KABLAM* :-( -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Jim Thompson on 9 Dec 2009 11:05 On Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:43:10 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Fred Bartoli wrote: [auto-snip] >> >> Hmmm, better not having tinnitus :-))) >> > >That's one of the difficulties I have to deal with. The left ear has >that, courtesy of a mishap while in the army ... phssst ... ouieeeeee >... *KABLAM* :-( Mine is left ear also... courtesy of hearing aid design, and overpowering my ear while testing a compressor scheme by whacking the bench with a hammer ;-) ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | In wine there is wisdom, In beer there is freedom, In water there is bacteria - Benjamin Franklin
From: Joerg on 9 Dec 2009 11:21
oopere wrote: > Nico Coesel wrote: >> info_at_cabling-design_dot_com(a)foo.com (DA) wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> I think I'm going to try and treat myself to an oscilloscope this >>> Christmas. I've managed to go without one for the last 15 years or so >>> and, >>> frankly, did not have a burning need or even much space for it. I do >>> some >>> digital design (PIC based mostly) - LED, motor controls and such and >>> every once in a while I wish I has something to look at the signal with. >>> Are there people here using this brand? Are they any good for use in >>> digital designs and, most importantly for me at this point, easy to >>> learn? >>> >>> I guess, Rigol may not be the only ones making digital oscilloscopes >>> these >>> days. What other brands/models should I also look at? >> >> Also look at Owon (low end Tektronix) >> > > You may also have a look at the 4 channel GW-Instek scopes. Till now, > they have been working ok. Nice look and feel also. > I'll second that, have one myself. Except for the ugly bonbon-purple of channel 3 :-) -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM. |