Cheap Oscilloscope

[Captain Blammo]

I would really rather like to get myself an oscilloscope, mainly for
capturing digital signals (though analogue would be nice too) from
electronics. I am, however, not exactly rolling in money, and so would like
something that is as cheap as possible without being a piece of junk.

I have seen a couple of "PC oscilloscopes" that connect via a USB port to
let the PC do the hard work, and was just wondering what everyone's opinion
on them is. Specifically, I was thinking of the OPTAscope 81M. It can only
sample waves <60kHz, does that seem like enough for most things? I'd like to
pipe TV signals in too, what kind of frequencies are they at?

I'd ideally like something that has flexible software (preferably allowing
you to program your own visualisations with relative ease) if such a thing
exists. Linux or Windows.

Advice is greatly appreciated!

Ewan

 

[John Popelish]

I would really rather like to get myself an oscilloscope, mainly for
capturing digital signals (though analogue would be nice too) from
electronics. I am, however, not exactly rolling in money, and so would like
something that is as cheap as possible without being a piece of junk.

(snip)

Give us a price you might be willing to pay. There is a big
difference between what you can buy for $10 and $100.

 

[Captain Blammo]

Give us a price you might be willing to pay. There is a big

difference between what you can buy for $10 and $100.

If I can get an oscilloscope of any kind for $10, please just tell me where!
However bad it is, for that price I'm sure I'd find *something* to do with
it!

I'm not wanting to pay much more than 300 or 400 Canadian, but I'd really
prefer something that is much lower. As long as I can bung it into most
pieces of consumer technology and record signals passing between components
with enough accuracy to reproduce them, and use it as a volt/ammeter with a
memory, I'm happy.

Thanks!

Ewan

 

[John Popelish]

If I can get an oscilloscope of any kind for $10, please just tell me where!
However bad it is, for that price I'm sure I'd find *something* to do with
it!

I'm not wanting to pay much more than 300 or 400 Canadian, but I'd really
prefer something that is much lower. As long as I can bung it into most
pieces of consumer technology and record signals passing between components
with enough accuracy to reproduce them, and use it as a volt/ammeter with a
memory, I'm happy.

Thanks!

Ewan

http://search.ebay.com/oscilloscope_W0QQfromZR8QQsbrsrtZlQQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ3

Are you saying that you are only interested in a storage scope, not an
analog scope? That reduces your choices.

http://search.ebay.com/oscilloscope-storage_W0QQsbrsrtZlQQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ3
http://search.ebay.com/oscilloscope-digital_W0QQsbrsrtZlQQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ3

 

[Bob Masta]

I would really rather like to get myself an oscilloscope, mainly for
capturing digital signals (though analogue would be nice too) from
electronics. I am, however, not exactly rolling in money, and so would like
something that is as cheap as possible without being a piece of junk.

I have seen a couple of "PC oscilloscopes" that connect via a USB port to
let the PC do the hard work, and was just wondering what everyone's opinion
on them is. Specifically, I was thinking of the OPTAscope 81M. It can only
sample waves <60kHz, does that seem like enough for most things? I'd like to
pipe TV signals in too, what kind of frequencies are they at?

I'd ideally like something that has flexible software (preferably allowing
you to program your own visualisations with relative ease) if such a thing
exists. Linux or Windows.

Advice is greatly appreciated!

Ewan

Ewan, you might want to check out my Daqarta
shareware. Daqarta for DOS will turn an old
junk PC into a real-time scope, spectrum analyzer,
signal generator, etc. If you have or can get
an ISA-bus Sound Blaster card you have everything
you need. If not, you can make an 8-bit data
acquisition "board" for your printer port, often
requiring no more than a handful of resistors,
that will sample at well over 40 kHz. See the
LPTX driver for info on this, including construction details.

Note that Daqarta for DOS requires real-mode DOS,
which rules out Windows systems later than Win9x.
I'm working on Daqarta for Windows, which will be
able to use any Windows sound card.

Having a real-time spectrum analyzer is really useful
if you do any audio work. You can, for example, make
adjustments and watch the effect on distortion and
noise floor. However, it's still a good idea to have a
"real" scope for high-frequency stuff, even if it's a cheapie.

Hope this helps!




Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com

 

[Jouni Kaukonen]

Don't know if this fits your price range, but you can save money by
building part of it yourself
http://www.bitscope.com/

 

[Captain Blammo]

Ewan, you might want to check out my Daqarta

shareware. Daqarta for DOS will turn an old
junk PC into a real-time scope, spectrum analyzer,
signal generator, etc.

Sir, you are a genius and a champion of the people. I shall acquire an old
PC forthwith. This is perfect for a low-cost way to explore all things
oscilloscoppish.

Thanks!

Ewan