Electronics > Beginners
Oscilloscope bandwidth - is jump from 100MHz to 200 MHz significant?
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: IDEngineer on February 12, 2020, 06:10:01 pm ---Hey, this isn't a pissing match.
--- End quote ---
Good.
--- Quote ---Obviously I wasn't born with a scope in my bassinette. {grin} I was simply pointing out that not everyone has a bench full of gear. True for you at one time, true for me as well, true for everyone. We all start somewhere.
We each have our opinions. We're sharing them here. That's the benefit of a forum like this. Hopefully the OP reads everything, considers his own situation, and makes a (more) informed choice for himself.
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After 1 year and 11 months, he has probably saved up enough money to buy a cheap LA.
IDEngineer:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on February 12, 2020, 06:59:52 pm ---After 1 year and 11 months, he has probably saved up enough money to buy a cheap LA.
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Good point. But such things at such prices were not available when I started out, and depending upon your age perhaps not for you either. {grin}
BTW, I wasn't thinking of a four channel scope as a logic analyzer. I was simply thinking of "signals" in the generic sense, whether analog or digital. A scope can certainly display four digital signals, but a LA cannot display analog signals. So in this sense more channels on a scope are more flexible. If you KNOW you're focusing on digital, maybe you don't need a true scope at all and can save a bunch of money.
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: IDEngineer on February 12, 2020, 07:27:33 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on February 12, 2020, 06:59:52 pm ---After 1 year and 11 months, he has probably saved up enough money to buy a cheap LA.
--- End quote ---
Good point. But such things at such prices were not available when I started out, and depending upon your age perhaps not for you either. {grin}
BTW, I wasn't thinking of a four channel scope as a logic analyzer. I was simply thinking of "signals" in the generic sense, whether analog or digital. A scope can certainly display four digital signals, but a LA cannot display analog signals. So in this sense more channels on a scope are more flexible. If you KNOW you're focusing on digital, maybe you don't need a true scope at all and can save a bunch of money.
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With the exception of photon counting and femtoamp circuits, everything is analogue.
However, those values can be interpreted as digital signals. That's what LAs and logic inputs do; scopes show you how close the interpretations are to being incorrect. Once you can be sure the interpretation is correct, much simpler and cheaper circuits can process the digital signals.
sixtimesseven:
I would not break the bank to go from 100-200MHz.
Most experiments and insights for an beginner into analog could be gained with a 1MHz scope... Just pick your values and frequencies accordingly. E.g. doing the AoE coursebook, did you find something for which you actually need a digital 100MHz scope?
I started with a 30MHz analog Hameg scope which I got for 20 bucks, lasted me 2 years. After that I knew what I would need and bought me a digital scope... That was about seven years ago.... Now I have a 2GHz and a 5GHz scope on my bench, but thats more of a TEA issue :palm:
Anyway, you seem to be kind of in between. You did some stuff with simple entry level solution but you did not yet figure out whats really important to you. Otherwise you would not ask. So if I were you I would wait or buy something used which you can sell again. Those chinese scopes are great bang for the buck but their resale value is terrible...
For digital stuff on the other hand I would recommend a decent USB logic analyzer. I never used digital channels on my scope even when I did have them. If you do Arduino stuff and you do not yet have one, invest here first.
IDEngineer:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on February 12, 2020, 08:25:00 pm ---With the exception of photon counting and femtoamp circuits, everything is analogue.
--- End quote ---
I thought about mentioning that earlier, but decided to not be pedantic. My OCD thanks you for the friendly scratch between the ears!
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