Re: oscilloscope

On Jun 18, 2:25 pm, spamf...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I'm a newbie wanting to muck about with picaxe projects partly to
learn and partly to make some long-wished-for gadgets, eg datalogging
battery charging and meteorological/power generation info, and a
keyless front door lock.

I'm confused about the pros and cons of these two CRO alterrnatives.
The first seems to be a cheap analogue machine.
Costs new about $US 350

The second, a USB computer-based "black box" that doesn't seem to want
to tell me what the bandwidth is. Maybe it's in there somewhere, but I
don't know enough to tell. This is around $US 250

I'd appreciate any advice regarding the usefulness of these in general
electronics, picaxe, and education for me.
Cheers, jack

Hi Jack
Definitely get yourself an analog oscilloscope. New ones are poor
value, you can get a refurbished unit on eBay or test equipment
suppliers for much less.

20MHz dual channel is basic entry level oscilloscope. Although if you
are looking at 2nd hand refurbished units then 50MHz or 100MHz would
be more useful.

Once you have a proper analog oscilloscope *then* think about getting
a digital PC based oscilloscope. Regards of what PC oscilloscope
makers claim, they are not a replacement for a good analog
oscilloscope.

In todays digital world you really need both, esp if you are into data
logging type stuff, digital etc. Digital scopes let you capture single
shot events that analog oscilloscopes can't. And analog scopes give
you the real-time feedback and resolution that digital scopes can't
give you (unless you pay >$$$$).

Digital scopes are tricky when it comes to "bandwidth". They will have
a "sample rate" which has nothing to do with the analog "bandwidth". A
*good* digital scope will operate in "real-time" and have a sample
rate that is at least 10 times greater than the analog bandwidth. e.g.
1GS/s for 100MHz analog bandwidth.

Dave.

.

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