Author Topic: looking at a waveform on a scope  (Read 933 times)

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Offline m3vuvTopic starter

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looking at a waveform on a scope
« on: September 29, 2019, 01:58:36 am »
Just thought id ask this here,i was trying to look at a 20mhz sine wave on my tek 453 no matter what timebase it was on the waveform is way to squashed on the screen to have any chance to count the divisions between wave peaks,its a 50mhz bw scope,how do others manage it?.
 

Online ataradov

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Re: looking at a waveform on a scope
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2019, 02:17:54 am »
Well, yes, with 0.1 ms/Div you won't see much. You need a better scope to observe signals this fast. That's how others deal with that.
Alex
 

Offline m3vuvTopic starter

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Re: looking at a waveform on a scope
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2019, 02:43:05 am »
my scope timebase goes down to 1 micro second per division.
 

Offline 0culus

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Re: looking at a waveform on a scope
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2019, 02:49:02 am »
Uh yeah, the 453 should not have any problems displaying a 20 MHz sinusoid.

This scope is certainly worth troubleshooting OP. There's lots of folks both here and at the TekScopes list who will be able to help if you run into problems. :-+
 

Online ataradov

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Re: looking at a waveform on a scope
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2019, 02:50:12 am »
TekWiki said  0.1 ms/Div, my bad.

At 0.1 us/Div you should see 2 periods per division. So if you don't see that, something is wrong.

Try with slower signals and see if whatever you observe matches the time base setting.
Alex
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: looking at a waveform on a scope
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2019, 06:01:48 am »
Just thought id ask this here,i was trying to look at a 20mhz sine wave on my tek 453 no matter what timebase it was on the waveform is way to squashed on the screen to have any chance to count the divisions between wave peaks,its a 50mhz bw scope,how do others manage it?.
Do you mean "squashed" from side to side, or "squashed "vertically?

If the former, do you mean too many cycles displayed, so the distance from each peak is too small to discern?
If that is the case, you need to go to a faster time/div setting.
Or, is the whole display squished up in the middle of the screen, with gaps either side?
This can be as simple as an incorrect setting of the horizontal controls, up to a real fault.

If "squashed" vertically, maybe the signal is so small that you can't fill the screen height with it.
 

Online tggzzz

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Re: looking at a waveform on a scope
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2019, 08:09:58 am »
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 


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