Hi Guys,
First, I am new to using a scope. I don't fully understand how to use one and what they can and cannot do. I have a 100Mhz Owan DS7102V. It only cost around $500 so it is certainly not a high end scope. I does have many functions of more expensive scopes such as FFT. I only repair and build vacuum tube guitar amps so my needs only relate to that sort of equipment.
I had an issue with a amp producing a low frequency noise of less than 100hz. On another occasion I was hearing 120hz noise coming from the power supply. In both cases I could not find a way to see the noise on the scope.
If I can hear a sound coming from a speaker, is there a way to display that sound on a scope in all cases?
Secondly, is there a way to set up a scope to only display signals of a certain frequency range, say 50hz to 150hz for example? Also can all frequencies above some range, say every thing above 20KHz be filtered out? Could I build some sort of RC filter to do that sort of thing?
Thanks,
Billy
If you're used to building and repairing tube amps, then I'll assume you are already aware of the precautions to take around the high plate voltages, etc. that are present in tube gear.
To observe low-level AC signals (audio) that are riding on top of large DC bias voltage (plate voltage, etc.), use the AC Coupling function in your vertical settings. This will remove the DC component from your signal, and allow you to adjust the vertical scale to a more sensitive setting to see the low level signals.
Especially at these voltages, ALWAYS use 10x probes.
Low frequency signals like these are almost always power supply related - especially since you mentioned <100Hz (the signal is likely 60Hz), and 120Hz. 60Hz (in the US) is the live voltage frequency, and 120Hz is typically of the "hum" you'll get after a full wave rectifier. The "hum" is usually the result of bad power supply filter capacitors which are supposed to smooth these out. However, sometimes you can get bad tubes where the heater supply gets into the signal path. Use AC coupling as stated above and probe your supply voltages (provided the probes are rated for the DC voltage that is present), as well as probing signals in the audio path.
For power supply "hum" related issues, it is often very helpful to use the LINE triggering function on the scope. That will synchronize the waveforms to the line frequency, making it easy to view the waveforms without any fiddling with trigger controls.
Scopes usually have a Low Pass Filter function in their vertical settings, but it is most commonly just a 20MHz filter - not really what you were looking for. However, setting the horizontal timebase appropriately for the signals you want to see will be the most helpful to view the signals of interest. For example, if you set the horizontal scale to 5ms/div, then the 60Hz and 120Hz signals will display a few cycles, but higher frequencies will just look like "fuzz" on the signal. If you're triggering on the low frequency signal, then waveform averaging can often reduce the "fuzz".
Here are two videos that might be helpful. The first discusses AC and DC coupling in the scope, and why/when each is useful. The second is a much longer video that discusses scope operation in general - mainly in the context of probing signals inside an old tube AM radio - the probing around the radio occurs towards the end of the video, but you might find the rest of it useful too: