Looking for a analog Oscilloscope. Free please

[Ian]

Hi
I am looking for a analog Oscilloscope i am a beginner i need a oscilloscope. Any kind i would like it to be free. I live i Harleysville pa. I will pay for shipping.

[EEVblog]

LOL!
Shipping usually costs more than one purchased on ebay and picked up.
It also pays to say exactly where you are from.

Please and thanks also goes a long way...

Dave.

[thedigitalprincess]

Try asking trade schools  for one. I'm sure they get rid of them once they upgrade (every 20 or so years!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

A friend of mine found two thrown out on the street. HAHA.

[rossmoffett]

Try asking trade schools  for one. I'm sure they get rid of them once they upgrade (every 20 or so years!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Not that easy.  Those are all marked with state property codes and required to go on auction when they're no longer needed.  Then, at the university auction, everything is gathered into pallets so you can only buy 6-12 oscilloscopes at a time.  75% of these will be broken, and it's likely they've been rained on or sitting in the weather for weeks.  Aspiring entrepreneurs hoping to make a buck on eBay bid them up well over 200% of actual value, assuring no one gets a good deal.

Private schools will be different, I'm sure.  This is my experience working in an American university and sorting equipment for auction.

[thedigitalprincess]

Hmmph, my primary school gave away old computers. It was a state school. Guess things are different here in Aus.

[Zero999]

You're too late, if you'd asked me a year ago, you could've had my old Gould 'scope for the cost of shipping but I gave it to someone else who came round and picked it up.

[alm]

Digital is more convenient, especially if you need to document something, plugging an a USB stick or printer is a lot easier than using a dedicated scope camera with polaroid film or even pointing a regular camera at the screen. Even more if you want to do calculations on the traces. (Almost?) all DSO's have automated measurements and cursors, something found only on the high-end analog scopes. Most analog scopes don't have autoset either . The modern low-end LCD ones take up much less bench space. Plus they're new and shiny . Digital makes everything better, right?

Plus modern digital scopes (not necessarily the low-end ones) can do almost anything an analog scope can.

[thedigitalprincess]

But the gorgeous green trace on the phosphor panel 

[saturation]

I think most sold are old, and some far past their service life.  They were superb instruments when new, and can be refurbished easily in some cases, because they use many generic parts.  Even if you buy one that works, you can't be sure how much longer it will still continue to work, and when it breaks, do you have the time to service it, and are there parts for it?

For hobbyists whose goal is to work around electronics for any reason, an excellent past time and educational experience can be had restoring a quality instrument.  If they succeed, they get a quality instrument that they can use on more projects, and trade time and skill, for upfront costs for such a scope.

Today, most electronics can be designed and tested with a DSO.  New analog scopes are still made today, but the leader, Tektronix, no longer makes any.   Nor does Agilent, or Fluke.

The real killer for scopes is who makes the CRTs, increasingly a niche market, and as the niche shrinks the smaller the niche, the higher the prices.  Using tequipment.net prices, you'll find analog scope in the same bandwidth cost cost >= Rigol 1152E.  There are pros and cons to digital vs analog in scopes, but in most cases you can work out these weakness by technique in a digital.

http://electronicdesign.com/article/communications/page/2/does-anyone-still-use-an-analog-oscilloscope-14793.aspx

The same can be said about analog multimeters.  Some still swear by them because the fidgeting needlepoint of analog can tell a technician more in some applications than the flickering digits in a digital, its one reason Fluke's made that quick reacting ladder scale in many of its meters, to meet that function.



The Simpson 260, the cadillac of analog meters, still available new.

i wonder. if the analog one better than the digital, why are you people giving it away?

[EEVblog]

This is my Triplett 630NA:
http://bama.edebris.com/download/triplett/630na/Triplett%20model%20630%20NA%20%20manual.pdf

58 ranges 
Even goes to 6KV AC and DC!

Back in the day the range doubling switch was the ducks gut feature on any good analog meter.

Dave.

[eevfan]

do a search on craiglist!!! I found a like new tektronix 2235 100 mhz with 2 tek probes for 60.00 dollars!!!!

 

[EEVblog]

do a search on craiglist!!! I found a like new tektronix 2235 100 mhz with 2 tek probes for 60.00 dollars!!!!

Score!

Dave.

[saturation]

Amazing, Dave do you still use it?

Do you know what such large analog VOM are used for rather than a DMM?

This is my Triplett 630NA:
http://bama.edebris.com/download/triplett/630na/Triplett%20model%20630%20NA%20%20manual.pdf

58 ranges 
Even goes to 6KV AC and DC!

Back in the day the range doubling switch was the ducks gut feature on any good analog meter.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

Amazing, Dave do you still use it?

Do you know what such large analog VOM are used for rather than a DMM?

No, I don't use it, it's just for nostalgia these days.
Digital meters just wipe the floor with analog.
Some still claim the moving needle is better for fluctuating signals, but in reality fast update digital bar graphs are just as good.
They still sell them, so I'm not sure who their market is.

Of course one major benefit is that they don't need batteries, except for ohms.

Dave.

[saturation]

Thanks Dave.  Yes, I haven't seen any analog's used in years, yet it seems some are still being made new, both by Simpson and others, but not big players like Fluke or Agilent.

Amazing, Dave do you still use it?

Do you know what such large analog VOM are used for rather than a DMM?

No, I don't use it, it's just for nostalgia these days.
Digital meters just wipe the floor with analog.
Some still claim the moving needle is better for fluctuating signals, but in reality fast update digital bar graphs are just as good.
They still sell them, so I'm not sure who their market is.

Of course one major benefit is that they don't need batteries, except for ohms.

Dave.

[Joy at MCS]

Hameg still make Analog scopes but it's very rare you get any one asking for these nowadays. They aren't cheap new so I'd probably recommend going used. I'd probably recommend an old Tek unit as there's still plenty of them available on the market which means parts are typically still available.

If you have  some large companies around you like Tyco you might try giving them a ring to see if they have any used equipment they don't need. Sometimes they just throw away the equipment and might be willing to give it to you for free or next to nothing.