Re: First oscilloscope

On Mar 23, 1:47 am, garethrichardad...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi all,

I do pic programming, Ir circuits, analogue circuits and use 433MHz AM
TX/RX.

I want to get an oscilloscope to analyse the circuits I build and,
currently, to analyse the output from IR remote controls. However, I
know nothing about them!!

Can someone tell me what I need to look for in an oscilloscope and
make recommendations on what would be suitable?

Thanks

Gareth

How much money do you have to spend?

Ideally you want two of them. A good traditional analog oscilloscope,
and a digital storage oscilloscope.
To analyse the output from IR remote controls requires you to capture
and display the signal, this requires a digital storage oscilloscope.
However the requirements of this are very simple and could be covered
with a cheap USB PC oscilloscope.

With both types you pay more for more *analog* bandwidth.
60-100MHz is a good starting point these days.
With digital oscilloscopes you pay more for *sample memory* and sample
rate. The more sample memory the better. Ensure that the sample rate
is at least 10 times the analog bandwidth. e.g. a 100MHz bandwidth
digital scope should have a 1GS/s sample rate. A good size sample
memory starts at say 8K and goes upwards.
You get much better value-for-money with a second hand oscilloscope
from Ebay or a surplus dealer, especially for analog types. e.g. you'd
be a bit foolish to buy a brand new 100MHz analog oscilloscope, they
are expensive.
But brand new 20MHz dual channel analog scopes are fairly cheap these
days, that is a decent starting point.
With eBay you take your chances somewhat, but buying from a reputable
dealer who has extensively tested (and possible calibrated) the unit
can be a good way to go.
Digital scopes are fairly expensive, and the second hand market is not
big, but if you have the money then get a good one over a USB based PC
oscilloscope. You need to buy a very expensive digital scope to get
good "analog like" performance, that's why I recommend getting a good
analog scopes too.

Dave.
.

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