At any rate, I was noticing that he was talking about the new Digital Pico Scope's. Here is a link to see what I'm talking about http://www.picotech.com/entry-level-oscilloscopes.html . After looking up what the hell a pico scope is on the internet, I decided to find out how much they cost. Lo and behold I could buy one for under $300.00 american. Like wow, I couldn't buy an analog oscilloscope in kit form for less then $300.00 over 25 years ago. In fact, I paid almost $400.00 for a Heathkit Oscilloscope over 30 years ago.
Side note; way back 50 years ago while I was married to my first wife, I had my own TV/Radio Repair business, which I worked evenings and weekends. Yes! I made money doing so. I was working for the Defense Department at the Sacramento Army Depot doing Crypto Repair work, as well as undercover spy work, but I usually worked only 40 hours a week, as the depot was locked up by 4:00pm.So this explains why I had an oscilloscope, multimeter, vacuum tube tester, Gauss meter, homemade degaussing coil, homemade electrolytic capacitance tester, and several other electronic hand tools.
What I find really fascinating is that Pico Scope's are available as portable hand held devices and as such they are mated up with a computer via a USB connection, so that you don't need a monitor or a disk drive, keyboard, etc. An analysis of an electronic device can be done using the Pico Scope and a Laptop Computer(or desktop computer). I have plucked this information off of a website that sells these devices and as you can see, if you are interested, there isn't much they can't do.
WOW, the miracle of modern electronics.
What I really want to point out, is the fact that if you separate yourself from the field of electronics, you will become obsolete in a very short time. This is one of the reasons that I subscribed to all the magazines, bulletins, and Technical Literature I could get my hands on, while I was still working. That was how I was able to keep up with the pace of electronics, even though I did not have a formal degree in Electronics Engineering.
With
the PicoScope 2200 range of entry–level USB oscilloscopes you get an
oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer and arbitrary waveform generator all in
one powerful and affordable device.
These
compact, inexpensive oscilloscopes have all the power you need for your
application, whether it’s design, research, test, education, service or
repair. They are available with bandwidths from 10 MHz to 200 MHz and
offer the features and performance of scopes that are several times
their size — and their price.Unparalleled performance
The PicoScope 2200 range includes the first USB–powered oscilloscopes capable of sampling at one gigasample per second. Previously such high sampling rates were only available on mains–powered scopes, and never available on entry–level devices. For repetitive signals the sampling rate can be increased to as much as ten gigasamples per second using equivalent–time sampling. These high sampling rates combined with the ability to store up to 40,000 samples in the scope’s buffer memory and analogue bandwidths of up to 200 MHz make the PicoScope 2200 range suitable for use in a wide variety of applications.- Up to 1 GS/s real–time sample rate
- Up to 10 GS/s repetitive signal sample rate
- Up to 200 MHz bandwidth
- Up to 40,000 sample buffer memory
- Small footprint — ideal for field work
- Built–in Arbitrary waveform generator (AWG)
- Free software updates
- 5–year warranty
A complete test and measurement lab
Your PicoScope 2200 is not only a powerful dual–channel oscilloscope: using the same PicoScope software for Windows that comes with our high–end scopes, you can also use your PicoScope 2200 as a multimeter, spectrum analyzer, function generator and arbitrary waveform generator (AWG).I hope folks will find this article enlightening.
yours from the gahillbilly.
"(C) Copyright by Victor Winebrenner"
Although the pico scope may have its advantages, there are also disadvantages. With an old analog scope using a CRT screen, when you touch the probe on the circuit you are going to measure, you get an almost instantaneous indication on the scope screen. With a pico scope or other digital device of this type, there is a delay between when you touch the probe on the circuit and when its displayed on the screen as it takes time to convert the signal from analog to digital. I still prefer the analog scopes with CRT.
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