low-end scope

John Larkin
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:34 pm

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

John

IanM
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:54 pm

"John Larkin" <jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in message
news:gl1oo5t1h51a4eev4du7dv6g517ldq38i8_at_4ax.com...

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

John

AFAIR David.L.Jones is a fan of the Rigol scope

http://www.eevblog.com/2009/10/12/eevblog-37-rigol-ds1052e-oscilloscope-teardown/

IanM

Joerg
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:20 pm

John Larkin wrote:

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

For a client we bought an Instek scope, they found a deal for under
$500. I think it's 60MHz (because they didn't have the 40MHz in stock.
Could be the GDS-1062 which they got instead of a 1042, don't remember
but if you want me to I can ask them. This thing has really impressed
them, especially the PC connectivity (they are heavily into LabView,
MatLab and Excel).

Hint: I bought their flagship at Newark because it was the best price.
On the smaller budget models Newark is often not the best deal, they
ended up buying at some other place.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

VWWall
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:27 pm

John Larkin wrote:

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

How about one of those scopes that plug into the USB socket of your

computer?

saelig competes with Rigol, and has PC scopes as well:

http://www.saelig.com/category/PSPCEL.htm

Just a thought. With the price of net-book type PC's as low as it is, a
separate PC just for test equipment use might be economical.

--
Virg Wall, P.E.

George Herold
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:08 pm

On Mar 1, 1:34 pm, John Larkin
<jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

John

I have a simialr desire. Let us know what you think of the Rigol if
you buy one.

George H.

John Larkin
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:32 pm

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:27:08 -0800, VWWall <vwall_at_large.invalid>
wrote:

Quote:

John Larkin wrote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

How about one of those scopes that plug into the USB socket of your
computer?

saelig competes with Rigol, and has PC scopes as well:

http://www.saelig.com/category/PSPCEL.htm

Just a thought. With the price of net-book type PC's as low as it is, a
separate PC just for test equipment use might be economical.

I'd rather not have a scope that runs Windows and that needs two
boxes, drivers, a USB cable, and a mouse to do anything. A real scope
will most likely still be working 20 years from now. I like real
scopes with lots of real knobs.

A USB scope would make sense in some data-centric application where
the waveform needs to be shipped into Matlab or some such in real
time.

John

Nico Coesel
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:17 pm

John Larkin <jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

AFAIK this has 4 ADCs in multi-phase clocking. I wonder what that does
to jitter and resulting sampling noise. Screen resolution is also a
bit low.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico_at_nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

Nico Coesel
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:25 pm

John Larkin <jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Quote:

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:27:08 -0800, VWWall <vwall_at_large.invalid
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

How about one of those scopes that plug into the USB socket of your
computer?

saelig competes with Rigol, and has PC scopes as well:

http://www.saelig.com/category/PSPCEL.htm

Just a thought. With the price of net-book type PC's as low as it is, a
separate PC just for test equipment use might be economical.

I'd rather not have a scope that runs Windows and that needs two
boxes, drivers, a USB cable, and a mouse to do anything. A real scope
will most likely still be working 20 years from now. I like real
scopes with lots of real knobs.

I have a similar problem. I'm mostly using a Tek2230 because it works
so great. I still can't get my mind around a decent replacement.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico_at_nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

Adrian Jansen
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:34 pm

John Larkin wrote:

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

John

I bought a Rigol DS1052E a while ago, does all that my old Philips

PM3350A would do, and more, at less than 1/20 the price I paid back in
the 1980s.

The USB means you can easily transfer waveforms to a PC.

The screen resolution is not great, but since its 8 bit A/D anyway,
its not a screen problem.

Easy to use, and very good triggering and measurement capability.

You do need to do a fair bit of button pushing to change X/T/Trigger setups.

--
Regards,

Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.

Jan Panteltje
Guest

Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:29 pm

On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:34:01 -0800) it happened John Larkin
<jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
<gl1oo5t1h51a4eev4du7dv6g517ldq38i8_at_4ax.com>:

Quote:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

John

Why not get a real old analog from ebaaaay?
I love my old Trio, it is only 10 MHz, but has lasted 30 years without problems,
does not have any noise on low signals, has great sync, external and TV too, 2 ch,
Bit heavy to carry around, so I put it on the ground next to the desk,
no software problems.
Got a nice new probe for it some weeks ago:
ftp://panteltje.com/pub/scope_probe_img_1845.jpg

And you can watch video on it too:
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/scope_tv/index.html

Perhaps, as CRTs go extinct, the value of analog scopes will increase many fold in the future.
So as investment it would not be bad.
There are good half analog / digital Teks too, do not remember the number,
but 1 G/s and 100 MHz bandwidth was one I worked with.

John Larkin
Guest

Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:30 am

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:29:12 GMT, Jan Panteltje
<pNaonStpealmtje_at_yahoo.com> wrote:

Quote:

On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:34:01 -0800) it happened John Larkin
jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
gl1oo5t1h51a4eev4du7dv6g517ldq38i8_at_4ax.com>:

I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house,
occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog
stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that.

I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535.
Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments?

John

Why not get a real old analog from ebaaaay?

I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes that fit into
my backpack. The storage, the cursors, signal averaging, FFTs, all
those things blow away analog scopes. The only analog scope we use any
more is our 7104, the 1 GHz microchannel thing.

Quote:

I love my old Trio, it is only 10 MHz, but has lasted 30 years without problems,
does not have any noise on low signals, has great sync, external and TV too, 2 ch,
Bit heavy to carry around, so I put it on the ground next to the desk,
no software problems.
Got a nice new probe for it some weeks ago:
ftp://panteltje.com/pub/scope_probe_img_1845.jpg

And you can watch video on it too:
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/scope_tv/index.html

Perhaps, as CRTs go extinct, the value of analog scopes will increase many fold in the future.

So far the trend has been monotonic in the opposite direction. There
are a *lot* of old analog scopes out there.

I ordered the Rigol. I'll report anything interesting.

John

Jan Panteltje
Guest

Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:06 am

On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin
<jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
<h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc_at_4ax.com>:

Quote:

I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes

Mine has color too: Green.

Joerg
Guest

Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:49 am

Jan Panteltje wrote:

Quote:

On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin
jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc_at_4ax.com>:

I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes

Mine has color too: Green.

Mine even glows in the dark. Now that's something DSOs can't do :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

John Larkin
Guest

Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:46 am

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:49:54 -0800, Joerg <invalid_at_invalid.invalid>
wrote:

Quote:

Jan Panteltje wrote:
On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin
jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc_at_4ax.com>:

I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes

Mine has color too: Green.

Mine even glows in the dark. Now that's something DSOs can't do Smile

Yeah, but how long can you hold it out at arm's length?

Now whenever I use an analog scope - which is seldom - I get confused
about which trace is which. I don't miss black+white TV sets, or
typewriters and carbon paper, or analog VOMs, or slide rules, or 300
baud acoustic modems either.

John

Joerg
Guest

Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:04 am

John Larkin wrote:

Quote:

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:49:54 -0800, Joerg <invalid_at_invalid.invalid
wrote:

Jan Panteltje wrote:
On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin
jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc_at_4ax.com>:

I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes
Mine has color too: Green.

Mine even glows in the dark. Now that's something DSOs can't do :-)

Yeah, but how long can you hold it out at arm's length?

Now whenever I use an analog scope - which is seldom - I get confused
about which trace is which. I don't miss black+white TV sets, or
typewriters and carbon paper, or analog VOMs, or slide rules, or 300
baud acoustic modems either.

When you do noise debugging as much as I do you'd be glad analog scopes
are still around. Not that it's always fun but someone has got to do the
job. One client instantly bought a Tek 2465 after they saw me working on
their stuff. They had spent weeks with a Tek DSO and not found the
problem, and neither could I until I got a "real" scope out of the trunk.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.