Re: Advice oscilloscope for hobbyist

Richard W. Solomon, W1KSZ wrote:
The best advise I can give is to go with a Tektronix 7603
Oscilloscope. You can find a large assortment of Plug-Ins
that will give you great flexibility.
And, being made up of discrete components it is easily
repaired should it fail. But, Tektronix scopes are built not
to fail.

Regards, ***, W1KSZ


Yep, and there are lots more in the 7000 series. For example, I am using a 7704A. Joao: That's basically an empty mainframe with display and all. A 2ch analog input module and a time-base module is usually included and for (slow) digital stuff the 7D20 module is useful and cheap. But this stuff is large, heavy and the only way to document measurements is to snap a CRT screen picture with a digital camera.

Farnell over in Europe has digital scopes and I bought an Instek from there. But if you are a beginner I suggest to get an analog scope first, or at least one that can switch to true analog mode such as the Hameg CombiScopes that Jean-Yves suggested. Hamegs are very sturdy, my old Hameg from 35 years ago still works. With digital scopes you can usually transfer images over to a PC. That can become very practical if you get stuck and want to show a strange spike or something like that to newsgroup folks, to see if anyone knows what could cause it.


On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:53:26 -0000, "silva" <news_js@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Hello!

I wish to buy my first oscilloscope (for hobbyist). I have search some information in the Internet, but I still have some doubts:

-I live away of the large towns and I have to buy it from an internet store, from inside the European Union (to avoid import taxes). I have this one in mind:

From german store www.conrad.com, a VoltCraft 30 MHz oscilloscope 630
"Professional two-channel oscilloscope for service, laboratory, training and DIY use. Outstanding in its class due to its reliability, technical equipment and price. Clear, conveniently laid out operating elements. Even the smallest signals can easily be read off on the 8 x 10 cm rectangular screen. The max. vertical deflection of 1mV/cm means that even small signals can be measured. The highly sensitive alternating triggering guarantees a static screen image for both channels, even at different frequencies. The TV-V and TV-H operating modes allow triggering of video signals. The XY mode is useful for the 4 quadrant characteristic curve. A 50 W output (channel I) is available for the connection of frequency meters."

- 30Mhz are ok for a hobbyist?

-Does the scope include any probes or I have to buy it apart. Cheap chinese probes from Ebay are ok?

-Any additional avise?

Thanks
João Silva
Portugal



--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
.