help with oscilloscope

[noah_fakelastnamelike_bob]

i cant "Save up" 500 $ for an oscilloscope all i have is 50$and its been the same for a year now and i have not spent a cent (of my own) what company could i contact to ask for some "trash"
i am 13 and does not have a job obviously

[Tac Eht Xilef]

i cant "Save up" 500 $ for an oscilloscope all i have is 50$and its been the same for a year now and i have not spent a cent (of my own) what company could i contact to ask for some "trash"
i am 13 and does not have a job obviously

1) Do you need an oscilloscope? Sure, they're a nice to have and display pretty pictures, but they're hardly a 'must-have' for beginners - I'd put a good soldering iron, multimeter, PSU (and, depending on your particular interests, maybe a frequency counter or cheap logic analyser/buss sniffer) first.

(I admit I'm puzzled by the number of beginners here and elsewhere who jump straight to buying an oscilloscope, then wonder what to do with it...)

2) eBay. You don't have your location set in your profile, but assuming you're in the US you should be spoilt for choice. I just looked and found 4 currently under $50 here in Aus, including a quite useable 60MHz Kikusui and a "Powers Up, No Test done, Sold as is" 100MHz Tek 2235A that I'd bid on if I had more room for stuff.

[PedroDaGr8]

i cant "Save up" 500 $ for an oscilloscope all i have is 50$and its been the same for a year now and i have not spent a cent (of my own) what company could i contact to ask for some "trash"
i am 13 and does not have a job obviously

1) Do you need an oscilloscope? Sure, they're a nice to have and display pretty pictures, but they're hardly a 'must-have' for beginners - I'd put a good soldering iron, multimeter, PSU (and, depending on your particular interests, maybe a frequency counter or cheap logic analyser/buss sniffer) first.

(I admit I'm puzzled by the number of beginners here and elsewhere who jump straight to buying an oscilloscope, then wonder what to do with it...)

2) eBay. You don't have your location set in your profile, but assuming you're in the US you should be spoilt for choice. I just looked and found 4 currently under $50 here in Aus, including a quite useable 60MHz Kikusui and a "Powers Up, No Test done, Sold as is" 100MHz Tek 2235A that I'd bid on if I had more room for stuff.

Tac nailed it. For your first oscilloscope, you don't need anything powerful. 20MHz is enough for your first scope. It's very easy to find some old BK Precision, Tenma, Goldstar (now known as LG, which stands for Lucky Goldstar), etc for under $50. Providing you live in the USA.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

[electronics man]

you dont realy need an osilloscope, I have been doing electronics for 10 years and have only just got one its the ds10074z, you can get away whith just a multimeter for testing your circuits.

[Psi]

A crappy WW2 style 5mhz scope is still quite useful for playing with 555 times and audio stuff. You can usually get them really cheap.

[electronics man]

something like this http://proto-pic.co.uk/xmega-xprotolab/

[Psi]

something like this http://proto-pic.co.uk/xmega-xprotolab/

lol, ok i know that's useless for doing any real testing but i totally want one.

Mike, you should review it. lol
At least being open source its possible to fix problems and add some proper external controls.

[electronics man]

a bad osilloscope is better than no osilloscope

[lapm]

Reminds me when i got samples from Maxim of 12 bit ad converters.. had to hook that up to computer and make poor mans barely audio level computer scope Was bit suprised i got that much speed out of qbasic program bit-banging parallel port (It was spi connected ad-converter..)

And of course i had massive mains pickup... several lsb worth... but was fun...

[SoundTech-LG]

For signal tracing, a scope is pretty handy. When you use a multimeter, how can you be sure the signal you are tracing is really the right one, or the correct waveform? Seeing is believing.

[noah_fakelastnamelike_bob]

(I admit I'm puzzled by the number of beginners here and elsewhere who jump straight to buying an oscilloscope, then wonder what to do with it...)

 i am just doing what Dave said to have a decent lab you need  an oscilloscope guess i am just getting over my head.

[electronics man]

just have a look on ebay for one

[noah_fakelastnamelike_bob]

alrighty i guess i will have to.

[electronics man]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leader-LBO-514A-Analog-Oscilloscope-/261401222771?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item3cdcba1e73 dont know what sort of condition its in

[noah_fakelastnamelike_bob]

damn even if it is broken great tear down i will totally "try" to buy it

[vk6zgo]

A crappy WW2 style 5mhz scope is still quite useful for playing with 555 times and audio stuff. You can usually get them really cheap.

Sorry to be a "know-all" Old Fart,but typical WW2 Oscilloscopes were battling to reach 250kHz!
They made a lot of them,so they weren't state of the art.

Tektronix & the like in the early '50s could do 5MHz,& more,but they are seriously huge!

The reasonably affordable 'scopes in the late 1950s/early '60s,like the Telequipment Serviscope went to abour 3-5MHz,& by that time WW2 "style" untriggered timebases were long gone!

[ethhanners]

ebay usually has them the shipping can be expensive I have a hitachi v 152b I got from ebay oit is a good beginner scope

[Psi]

yeah, when i said "style" i was more referring to scopes that look like they came from the war rather than scopes that were actually in it.


Another thing to look for is scopes with a dead channel.

A 1 channel scope is still very useful for a beginner

[Tac Eht Xilef]

(I admit I'm puzzled by the number of beginners here and elsewhere who jump straight to buying an oscilloscope, then wonder what to do with it...)

 i am just doing what Dave said to have a decent lab you need  an oscilloscope guess i am just getting over my head.

Sorry, that wasn't aimed at you or anyone in particular - I just get puzzled as to why people would drop that sort of money on something when they don't even know what they'll use it for...

(On the other hand, I expect in a few years you'll be able to pick up a used Chinese DSO nice and cheap as people either drift way from the hobby or upgrade to the next 'latest & greatest, must have' scope )

And I think you'd be surprised just how many people here and in industry have labs that aren't 'decent' by Dave's criteria there...

My overall point was that you should have some idea of where your interests lie, what you want to do, and whether a particular bit of kit is necessary / desirable / handy / pointless for those things before you spend all your money on it.

To get an idea of where your interests lie & what sort of test gear you might need and use (rather than want), I skimmed over your previous posts/comments. There's not much to go on; I get that you don't yet really know what sort of things you want to build (apart from "Everything! Anything cool!") or even what's practical at your experience level. That'll change; that's what experience is. But there's basics that'll get you started, and you can take it from there without having to jump straight to things you can't afford anyway:

PSU (preferably with regulated fixed +5v & adjustable ±30v rails); temperature controlled soldering iron (with 2-3 tips of different sizes), multimeter (CAT-II/III rating is optional - just don't go sticking it anywhere near high voltages or currents - but accuracy/stability/repeatability is a must), and breadboard (cheap is OK, but more expensive is generally better). Vero/matrix/perfboard for more permanent projects. Handfuls of basic components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, etc) - you soon figure out what you tend to use. Learn at least the basics of using a linear circuit simulator (e.g. LTspice or similar) - you'd be surprised at how far you can get without breadboarding/prototyping, and your designs will be the better for it. Some sort of uC dev board e.g. Arduino, even if it's just for dicking around. If you go the uC route and graduate beyond reading buttons and flashing LEDs, then a cheap $10 logic analyser. If you don't go the uC route, then a simple PC-based sound card audio frequency 'scope can go a long way for a beginner (and even further, into the 20kHz-1MHz range, if you get clever enough & can accept some limitations...).

If I was a beginner again, I'd grab/do all of those things - and maybe more - before a scope (unless I could grab one really cheap! A lot of people suffer from upgrade-itis - you can either suffer too, or profit from it )

Oh, and another tip: sign up to vendor and manufacturer's websites, forums, & mailing lists. You'll get a lot of junk mail, see a lot of stuff that grabs your interest but you can't afford - and, very occasionally, deals and freebies. For example, TI had a $25 coupon late last year - not enough for test gear, but enough to get some stuff to make test gear.

[vk6zgo]

yeah, when i said "style" i was more referring to scopes that look like they came from the war rather than scopes that were actually in it.


Another thing to look for is scopes with a dead channel.

A 1 channel scope is still very useful for a beginner

Sorry,I took it too literally.
I second your comment about scopes with a dead channel.
I've used ones like that at work many times,& been glad to have them!

Even the cruddy little single channel 10MHz "One Hung Low" 'scopes Jaycar used to sell are quite useful.
I've got one just sitting around,but the OP is too far away.

To the OP:

Because of your youth,involve a Parent in any negotiations about getting a "scope,either as a gift or a purchase.
People tend to "back away" a bit when they deal with a young person,for various reasons--unfair,but it is what it is!

[electronics man]

Yeah that is a good point I got my parents to by me an arbitrary waveform gen for my birthday

[electronics man]

But it's not worth getting if it damages your finances

[Luciano2572]

[edy]

Wanted to chime in on the priority gear list.... And to let you know I have the Xprotolab and also bought myself 2 used but awesome oscillocopes off ebay for $50 (20 Mhz) and $85 (100 Mhz) in USA. Of course I have a bunch of soldering irons, Digital multimeter, an arduino, raspberry pi, and a pile of beginner electronics kits containing breadboards, components, some ICs like timers, shift registers, plenty of LEDs and transistors. All of which were fairly cheap (unlike other hobbies, so my wife can't complain too much except for the time spent on it).

The Xprotolab is a fun tool but mostly for wave generation, some protocol sniffing and audio range oscilloscope sampling. You can hook it up to your pc and show waves up there not just on the tiny display. But it wouldn't be the first place I drop down cash. Arduino and Raspberry Pi are much more bang for the learning buck, but you'll need a computer to run them or at least screen, keyboard, mouse. Also they are more about learning programming with some I/O... Still very fun.

Another cheap way to start off learning would be with some components kits and project books, a DMM to read values and breadboard it all initially. The soldering comes in handy for kits to learn to assemble or scavenge parts. You could buy PCB boards and assemble your project kits. An old CR oscilloscope will come in handy if you are doing any frequency stuff but likely not going to help much with logic, as the cheapest ebay CROs are not going to store or have any more sophisticated functions.

So I suggest to look for the opportunity on ebay for a CRO that is cheap, and when it comes around to grab it. But do not be tempted by the bidding to go over that initial low price. You can search craigslist or kijiji in your area too. Be patient and wait... The CROs come and go all the time and eventually you will get a great deal, but don't be too disappointed if you lose a bid.

At this age and stage in your electronics learning, you have many options to sink $50 into and so consider whether arduino, raspberry pi or many other learning kits will offer along with a soldering iron and some example tutorials. There are books for example on 100 things to do that start with simple circuits and code for arduino and go up in complexity. None of which need an oscilloscope. In fact you can make a crude oscilloscope using your arduino.

Have fun, no matter what gear you buy, and stay safe!

[Robertmaks]

I am also 13 and i have my own oscilloscope but you really have to think about what you are building/fixing, and if it needs to be measured with an oscilloscope to figure out whats happening or the problem. I have one because i do high frequency projects with 555 timers, op amps/audio stuff and pulse/pwm charging technology and tons of other things in my lab. If you really need one find a used one on eBay, but make sure you have all the other basic things first like a soldering iron, power supply, multimeters and other tools.