Author Topic: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...  (Read 10761 times)

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Offline w2aewTopic starter

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Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« on: May 03, 2012, 01:05:13 pm »
Here's a fun little circuit to turn your old analog oscilloscope into a video monitor using XY mode and Z-axis modulation.  Try THAT with your digital scope!  How many digital scopes have a Z-axis input?
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/w2aew
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Offline MikeK

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2012, 02:29:59 pm »
Love it!
 

HLA-27b

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2012, 02:42:08 pm »
 :) Good work! We want more!
 

Offline Rufus

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2012, 02:56:16 pm »
How many digital scopes have a Z-axis input?

The Agilent X 3000 does, only on/off though.
 

Offline free_electron

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2012, 03:17:58 pm »
[joke mode]
Using a scope to display video is not spectacular. the first tv sets had 3 tubes ( besides the picture tube) and could do it... here you have an analog scope full of electronics , and you still need to provide external trigger circuitry.

Come back when you can feed it an HDMI signal and show the image in 3d, full color at 1920x1080 ...  ;D Now THAT would be impressive...
[/joke mode]

Professional Electron Wrangler.
Any comments, or points of view expressed, are my own and not endorsed , induced or compensated by my employer(s).
 

Offline w2aewTopic starter

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2012, 03:36:59 pm »
[joke mode]
Using a scope to display video is not spectacular. the first tv sets had 3 tubes ( besides the picture tube) and could do it... here you have an analog scope full of electronics , and you still need to provide external trigger circuitry.

Come back when you can feed it an HDMI signal and show the image in 3d, full color at 1920x1080 ...  ;D Now THAT would be impressive...
[/joke mode]

LOL!  That would certainly be impressive, and take a lot more time than my 60min hack!
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/w2aew
FAE for Tektronix
Technical Coordinator for the ARRL Northern NJ Section
 

Offline w2aewTopic starter

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2012, 08:19:00 pm »
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/w2aew
FAE for Tektronix
Technical Coordinator for the ARRL Northern NJ Section
 

HLA-27b

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Offline Tube_Dude

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2012, 10:39:48 pm »
Hi, w2aew

Awesome! You really are an analog oscilloscope Guru!  8)

Cheers...
Jorge
 

Offline w2aewTopic starter

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2012, 03:37:49 am »
I tinkered with the circuit some more, and dramatically improved the linearity and contrast/focus of the video on the scope.  I think this circuit is going to have to be more permanently built onto a breadboard rather than the proto-board it's on now.  I think I'll want to continue playing with this one in the future!
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/w2aew
FAE for Tektronix
Technical Coordinator for the ARRL Northern NJ Section
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2012, 04:42:39 am »
We used to do this with a 545B back in the day,when afternoon shift at the TV site got a bit boring!
We could cheat,as we had a horizontal & vertical  drive generator in the rack,which we could lock to the incoming video.
The image was negative,though,because we were too lazy to make up an inverter,& the 545B didn't give us access to the output of one of the vertical channels.
It was always fun to show visitors!
 

Offline amyk

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2012, 07:25:08 am »
For about as long as scopes and TVs have existed, people have also been doing the opposite...
 

Offline T4P

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #12 on: May 04, 2012, 01:14:39 pm »

You would be hard pressed to guess where this came from.
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2012, 07:03:36 pm »
I will take a flyer and say mains neutral.
 

Offline T4P

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2012, 07:25:25 pm »
I will take a flyer and say mains neutral.

Not even close  :P It's a full reso 2MP picture so it's not exactly from a scope
 

Offline robrenz

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2012, 07:29:16 pm »
Looks like trend plot on a 8846A but without the graticule

Offline w2aewTopic starter

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #16 on: August 01, 2012, 02:12:23 pm »
Many folks have asked me via PM for a copy of the schematic for this little hack.  Here is a scan of the final schematic - including several enhancements above/beyond the schematic shown in the video.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/w2aew
FAE for Tektronix
Technical Coordinator for the ARRL Northern NJ Section
 

Offline Short Circuit

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #17 on: August 01, 2012, 03:25:10 pm »
For about as long as scopes and TVs have existed, people have also been doing the opposite...

That reminds me of my first 'scope' about 20 years ago, except I used an old Hercules PC monitor.
No triggering, fixed timebase, unknown Y scale, but at least it allowed to get some insight in the signal.  :D

Luckily I could afford to spend the HFL500 for a 1-channel 5MHz russian scope quite soon thereafter
(roughly equivalent money to a 2-channel entry level Rigol these days).
 

Offline nctnico

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Re: Fun analog oscilloscope hack...
« Reply #18 on: August 01, 2012, 08:57:57 pm »
My first stab at scope was a hacked VU meter and a LED matrix readout. I created a 16x8 LED matrix which I connected to the VU meter kit. By multiplexing the columns I got a voltage/time graph. Fortunately my parents gave me a real scope when I was 14.
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 


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