Remember those cartoons where a person has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each telling him what do do? That's how I feel right now.
I'm a retired IT guy and a long-time ham radio operator. I'm not an EE. I'm thinking seriously about buying an oscilloscope. I don't know if I truly need one, but am sure that I want one. I already have a TEK DVM (DMM850) an analog VOM, a NanoVNA, a RigExpert 54 MHz antenna analyzer, and an RSP1A SDR receiver.
The scope would be used for typical ham radio stuff. Checking signal quality, troubleshooting, adjusting and aligning equipment, plus general messing around and learning things. I operate from 3.5 to 144 and 440 MHz, with an emphasis on 3.5 to 28 MHz. I am focusing on digital storage scopes for "hobbyists." I will probably buy new. I've ruled out old analog scopes because I don't have the space, and I don't want to inherit somebody else's problems. I want reliability. I've already read more reviews and watched more YouTube videos than I can process. Models I'm considering are:
Siglent SDS1202X-E
Rigol DS1054Z
Hantek DS05102P
I'm leaning towards the Siglent because it is has 200 MHz bandwidth, and seems to hit the "sweet" spot for price vs. capabilities. The Rigol is the most expensive and probably overkill, as I don't see needing 4 channels. I'm also concerned about possibly needing to "hack" the Rigol to get full capabilities. People here seem to think that Hantek is a cut below the others. But honestly, any of the three could probably do the job.
Then I consider the Owon VDS1022i USB scope and I think, "That's a lot less money, and it would probably be adequate for HF." And then I think "Don't cheap out, get what you really want, and you won't have to buy twice."
I read "Oscilloscopes for Radio Amateurs," by Paul Danzer. He seems to like USB scopes. In one section titled "Don't Overbuy," he mentions that one can get useful qualitative information for frequencies considerably above a scope's official bandwidth, just not precise quantitative information. He also advises not paying for features you can't use while the scope is being used a scope (such as a signal or function generator capability).
Any thoughts? Thanks!
--Peter