Products > Test Equipment
o scope for someone starting out 200-400$
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tautech:

--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2023, 02:01:01 am ---Even having a DSO, things like measuring frequency, decoding serial and viewing spectrum are better done with dedicated instruments.

--- End quote ---
Sure, but at how much additional cost ?

As you have already said the feature set of the modern DSO is outstanding and because of that we often don't need additional equipment.
Many hobbyists are severely space constrained which adds further to the attractiveness of the modern DSO.
Fungus:

--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2023, 02:01:01 am ---And if calculators were still hundreds of dollars and slide rules were cheap, it would make sense for people on a budget to pick up slide rules.

--- End quote ---

No it wouldn't because:
a) Using a slide rule is much slower and more error-prone, and
b) The number of hours needed to become good at using one also costs you money.
c) Slide rules only give you 2-3 digits of precision no matter how good you are with one.
james_s:

--- Quote from: Fungus on March 22, 2023, 02:19:19 am ---No it wouldn't because:
a) Using a slide rule is much slower and more error-prone, and
b) The number of hours needed to become good at using one also costs you money.
c) Slide rules only give you 2-3 digits of precision no matter how good you are with one.

--- End quote ---

That depends on budget and needs, in the real world you get what you can afford that meets your needs.

I still don't think you've ever used a CRO beyond just playing around. They're far more capable than you give them credit.
pdenisowski:

--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2023, 02:01:01 am ---And if calculators were still hundreds of dollars and slide rules were cheap, it would make sense for people on a budget to pick up slide rules.

--- End quote ---

When I was a (starving) grad school student I spent the equivalent of two months of food money to buy an HP48G calculator. 

Sure I could have kept inverting matrices by hand :), but sometimes new technology offers improvements that justify a substantial increase in cost.

When TI first introduced portable calculators that could do things like roots, powers, logs, and trig, the slide rules vanished from my high school almost overnight .....
pdenisowski:

--- Quote from: Fungus on March 22, 2023, 01:46:44 am ---People got by with slide rules for 300 years before the first affordable calculator but slide rules vanished very soon afterwards.

--- End quote ---

Don't forget the "CRC Standard Mathematical Tables" book.  I was still using my copy long after calculators became a thing .... :)
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