General Forum

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

joeyboygolf — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:37:20 GMT

I use a used Farnell DTV20 that I bought on ebay for £40 and a Tenma audio generator that cost less than £10.

I decided that this was more convenient than using the computer, as that is in pretty much permanent use on other tasks.

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

tournedos — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:20:06 GMT

The problem with second hand Old Skool oscilloscopes is that they may fail and be uneconomical to repair. You might not be able to trust the calibration, and the CRTs in well-used units can be quite dim (usually not a problem in audio work, though).

I would suggest a PC scope, they are rather inexpensive nowadays and you usually get all the goodies (like memory) that will be missing from lower end real scopes. For some very rudimentary audio work, just might get by with a software scope that runs through the audio card, I believe there are a number of free applications for that (perhaps not for Mac users, as they all have a lot of money to spend ).

Having said that, I have a Tektronix 2235 myself that I bought used about 15 years ago, and it gives great service!

EDIT: Yes, those PicoScopes are quite nice. Also, sites that sell everything Chinese have standalone mini scopes with LCD displays for less than a hundred bucks (the size of a cell phone). I don't think I'd want to use them for any serious work but they might do the job, and won't hog your desk.

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

Rich — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:56:37 GMT

No experience here, but my friendly local electronics surplus store has many second hand units. Would you like me to take some photos next time I'm there? I've seen scopes on a popular auction site as well, though I've never bid on one.

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

svendsenstefan — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:49:47 GMT

As a field service tech I use a PicoScope USB scope from http://www.picotech.com/, it's nice and compact which is very important for me. Quite cheap too.

/Stefan

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

Evan — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:11:04 GMT

No scope experience Søren. At least not yet.

Sorry.

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

Step1 — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:36:16 GMT

I think you need to spend a decent amount of money to get a half decent PC scope - I might be wrong but IMO you are better off with a decent second hand CRO! They have plumeted in price since LCD units have become cheaper and more powerful!

You can get some scopes with built in waveform generators but you should be able to get a nice little audio waveform generator in kit form for a nice cheap price. Maybe even look for circuits on the net?

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

Søren Mexico — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:59:20 GMT

Evan:
I use my iPod touch as a tone generator."Audio Tool" by performance audio.

Thanks Evan, any experience with Oscill. software ??

Re: Oscilloscope and tone generator

Evan — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:54:13 GMT

I use my iPod touch as a tone generator.

"Audio Tool" by performance audio.

Oscilloscope and tone generator

Søren Mexico — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:32:40 GMT

Does somebody on the forum use their PC as oscilloscope and tone generator, if yes which software do you use ??