Oscilloscope Recommendation

[jim stephens]

On 4/29/2017 10:59 AM, Jon Elson via cctech wrote:
> On 04/29/2017 12:28 PM, Michael Thompson via cctech wrote:
>> The RICM just received $1,000 to buy a new oscilloscope. I would like a
>> four channel. and color would also be nice. The bandwidth doesn't 
>> need to
>> be high because we usually work on ancient equipment.
>>
>> What would you suggest?
>>
> Really NEW, or just new for your museum?  I got a Tek 2465 on eBay 
> that I am quite happy with, for quite a bit less money.  There are 
> some decent import digital scopes (such as Rigol) that many people 
> seem to find good.
> If you are not familiar with digital scopes, there are some gotchas 
> there.  You can't tell the trigger rate from looking at the screen, 
> but then they can see what happened BEFORE the trigger event, and can 
> freeze a single-shot event for you to look at.  The good Tek DPO 
> scopes have not come down enough to meet your price range (yet).
>
> Jon
Right now is prime time to evaluate and snag a HP Agilent 16700 with 
digital scope channels and logic analyzer channels to boot.  You might 
be able to snag one along with a new unit.  WRT to old equipment the HP 
Aglient 16xxx logic analyzers are pretty much the best for every device 
I've ever worked on.  I don't know that the glut of really nice hardware 
will last a long time.

Another thing to consider is the Saleae line of digital probes. There is 
a 16 channel unit with analog capture feature now.  That unit if you can 
capture at a rate that your hardware can handle will capture trace till 
you run out of space on the attached pc support device.

If you attach it to a signal that is serial, every channel on the logic 
analyzer becomes a serial protocol analyzer, and will export ascii 
serial to a file if you are doing that task, as a side benefit.

I'd budget at most 1/4 of your $1000 for that purchase if the donation 
allows that.

i've got the 8 channel unit.

Beware the saleae type units may be 3 v input, be sure to check that, as 
my suggestion won't be much use for that case.  I've not shopped them 
lately, but my older 8 channel unit is 3.3 max only, though I've used it 
on 0 - 5 v
thanks
jim