On Tuesday 02 October 2007 04:27 pm, jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
> David Gersic <info@zaccaria-pinball.com> wrote:
> > On Monday 01 October 2007 12:40 pm, rws wrote:
> >> Picoscope has a USB PC Scope and the price is getting lower @ ~ $400.00
> >
> > You can pick up a used Tek scope for less than half of that on eBay. I
> > paid something like $50 for my 4-channel Tek. If I remember right, the
> > shipping on it was more than the 'scope itself.
>
> That certainly sounds like a better bang for the buck, I'm guessing
> its 100Mhz or so?
Yep, four channel, 100 MHz. It's one of their "mainframe" scopes, meaning that
it's about 20" deep, 18" high, and 12" wide, and weighs more than I'd want to
lift on a regular basis, and has four plug in modules to provide the
capabilities. It came with two 2-channel volt/div modules, and two time/div
modules. In practice, the second time/div is wasted, but I don't have any
need for anything else to put in that slot either.
> Unfortunately, the brands, capabilities, etc. for
> scopes are really daunting so unless you really know what you're
> doing, an eBay purchase is probably a crap shoot.
The nice thing about Tek scopes is that there's a hobby / collector following
for them. You can get parts, advice, manuals, schematics, and pretty much
anything you might want or need for them. I think HP 'scopes also have a
following, but not nearly what Tektronix does.
For example, this guy:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/scopes/collect.html
seems to have a few. ;-)
Other brands might be quality or junk, but I'd avoid them because I don't know
enough to make an informed judgement on them.
> I'd really like to pick up a scope myself, but I just don't know
> enough about them to make an informed purchase. :-(
http://www.doctronics.co.uk/scope.htm
Before you go shopping for one, it helps to know what you're looking at. It's
a tool. A complicated looking tool, but still just a tool. Once you know
what the controls are for, though, they're a lot less intimidating.
Then there's this guy:
http://www.hanssummers.com/electronics/equipment/tinyscope/index.htm
A homebuilt 'scope you could take almost anywhere.
Anyway, I've never had a need for a 'scope working on cars, but I guess I can
think of ways that one would be useful, depending on the problem you're
hunting for. I don't think I'd run out and buy one for automotive uses, at
least not until I knew what it was that I was trying to use it for.
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