buying the best oscilloscope

[jas_bir77]

Hi,
I am totally new to electrical circuits and mechanical setups. i do not have any formal knowledge in  the field of electronics or engineering. However I am desperately interested in making free energy devices. i  am trying to do so by learning from forums like these. Thank you to all of the guys
The problems I am facing are a lot, but I am trying to solve them.
One of the problem is that while I am experimenting with these devices, I am not sure whether what I am doing is write or wrong , so to help me out in checking my devices & improving on them, I was thinking of buying an oscilloscope. But my knowledge of electronics is zero and secondly since I am based in india I cannot buy from the likes of radio shacks or from the internet, but I do have venders over here who are selling the scopes, buy I am unable to figure out what kind of scope would be best for me.
Kindly  help me out  by telling me what features I should be looking in the scope ( while experimenting I came to the conclusion that I need the scope to see the frequency, waveform, no. of pulses per sec.amt of volts the machine is generating …). Kindly tell me if any things are missing.
Also kindly specify the amt of frequency & other parameters that are required in value terms e.g. 20Hz, 20GHz, 1000 â€" 1500 volts, etc.. etc.Thanks a lot in advance.

[Steven Dufresne]

Hi jas_bir77,
I'd recommend getting as high a frequency as you can afford. I bought mine for a mid-range frequency because that's what I needed at the time. But years later, I was working on a different approach and needed a higher frequency. In this field of free energy research, you never know what direction you'll go in.

Also, make sure you get at least a two channel scope. i.e. I've found that one channel is not enough.

I don't know if they make them, but a scope that doesn't need to measure relative to ground would be great. In other words, one that can measure a floating voltage. Measuring voltage relative to ground means you connect one clip from the probe to a positive or negative part of your circuit and the other clip of the probe to earth ground. The voltage you see on the screen is the voltage measured between those two clips. Often in my devices, nothing is grounded. For example, my testatika devices. A handheld scope might do the trick for this. Someone else can comment who has more knowledge in this area.
Hopefully this helps,
Steve
http://rimstar.org   http://wsminfo.org

[jas_bir77]

thanks a lot steve,
any more info regarding volts (1000 - 2000), waveform depth etc will also be highly apreciated.
thanks

[Steven Dufresne]

If by volts you mean how much voltage it can handle from the inputs/probes, mine is only 300VRMS
and I've gone past that by at least a few hundred with spikes many times.

As for waveform depth, I can't find anything in my specfications re that, or memory depth for that matter, so someone else will have to advise.

My scope is a Tektronix TDS220, relatively old.

Keep in mind, my background started out much like yours so I can speak only from my free energy and non conventional propulsion research experience, mostly involving high voltage stepped down for measurement using high voltage probes. Regarding what's good for normal electronics circuits with normal components, even for free energy purposes, someone else will have to say.
-Steve
http://rimstar.org   http://wsminfo.org

[jas_bir77]

thanks steve
can you elaborate what is 300VRMS.