Test Equipment: Oscillocopes

[MarkE]

Oh, nothing too extravagant, only a few thousand dollars minimum....... up into the tens of thousands.

Or hundreds of thousands.

A 3000 or 4000 series DSO come in the price ranges you're talking about.  If you want something that can look at 28Gbps signals, choose between a house and the instrument.

[Brian516]

Or hundreds of thousands.

A 3000 or 4000 series DSO come in the price ranges you're talking about.  If you want something that can look at 28Gbps signals, choose between a house and the instrument.

My fault. I only looked at the first page of Ebay.  I doubt they have any of the ones in that high a price range.

[TinselKoala]

Brian, I'd really like to see you measure some higher frequencies on the scope. The GenRad oscillator spec says it will go to 50 MHz. The problem with higher frequencies though is that proper connections and terminations will be needed for really good readings. But if you turn the output of the GenRad right down to minimum and use the 10x probe to connect to the GR RF output connector directly, then gently turn up the output of the oscillator, you should be able to display a signal at least. The period of a 25 MHz waveform is 40 nanoseconds,  so the waveform should display nicely on the .05 microseconds/div setting of the timebase knob. It may take a few minutes for the oscillator to warm up properly and stabilize.

[Brian516]

Brian, I'd really like to see you measure some higher frequencies on the scope. The GenRad oscillator spec says it will go to 50 MHz. The problem with higher frequencies though is that proper connections and terminations will be needed for really good readings. But if you turn the output of the GenRad right down to minimum and use the 10x probe to connect to the GR RF output connector directly, then gently turn up the output of the oscillator, you should be able to display a signal at least. The period of a 25 MHz waveform is 40 nanoseconds,  so the waveform should display nicely on the .05 microseconds/div setting of the timebase knob. It may take a few minutes for the oscillator to warm up properly and stabilize.

I was actually just reading the manual while waiting for the ol' lap PC to dl/install it's updates. To think I have to do it all again when I get an AMD SATA compatible PSU for the better PC.   
Here shortly I will make a power cord for it and get things moving with it and make a vid. 

According to the manual, I'm supposed to have a 500mA slow blow fuse for 115V power input and 250mA slow blow for 230V.. one of the fuses may be the correct value (it only says 250V on it, but looks thin enough to be the 250mA) and the other is marked 8A 32V, so I do not believe it has the correct fuses in it for operation... however, it does not say "115-230V" on the plate under the plug.  It says "105-125V", so I'm not sure exactly what values it's supposed to have for it's two fuses, but I'm pretty sure that an 8A 32V is the WRONG fuse.. 
Do you think I would be safe swapping it out for a 500mA 250V? or better yet, start with a 250mA 250V fuse in that spot just to be safe?   I don't want to run it without having it properly fuse-protected and blow the thing up!!

Ah, I see.... I am correct that it is the wrong fuse, and figured out why the plate only says "105-125V", and the fuse configuration.  On page 10 of the 1330-A PDF, in the parts list, it states that for 115V operation, I am to use TWO .5A type 3AG fuses. If I were operating it at 230V I would be using two .25A 3AG fuses....  glad I checked them before doing anything else!!  Hopefully I have a couple slow-blow 500mA's I can use!

[Brian516]

I ordered the fuses along with some other goodies from Digikey, so hopefully it will get here by Monday or maybe even Sat, and then I can start runnin some tests with the 1330A Oscillator!!!!