Doing Without an Oscilloscope!

[crowclaw]

I have a PC scope which also works as a multimeter and frequency analyser.
I'm fortunate to own one, as I  work in electronics anyway. My instrument is approx 5_6 years old and works through the serial port of my PC. Pico technology make them here in the UK although other companies have similar instruments.
Being digital of course, means I can store wave form results for latter analysis etc. I have seen them for sale SH on Ebay so you may pick one up. You already have the display so it takes no room up if you're PC/laptop is nearby to your work area. Digital multimeter's can give very misleading readings on this type of pulse related work, so better be able to see what you are doing. Merv

[crowclaw]

Hi again,
So have been giving this matter further thought...mm-mm. Not ideal but would make an interesting project that could be expanded upon!! Use several miniature neon lamps wired in series to form a potential divider network, as each neon lights up a point of calibration can be set. The chain is high impedance so can't load up your output's. A series diode added will tell you the nature of the pulses -ve / +ve. Next how about adding a gated divider to count out the pulse train... calibrate a control for reading the frequency. And if you really one to be cool... think vintage wireless magic eye's. These tubes had fluorescent windows that lit up through their glass envelopes, the more grid bias applied the wider the display, so OK you had to have a filament voltage and HT supplies but what the heck. Food for thought but hey... don't mention a word to IST just imagine the fun he could have with it!! But I thought of it first. Merv

[ATT]

if you really one to be cool... think vintage wireless magic eye's.

Hey Merv,

You mean like the old Bell and Howell tape recorders used for a level indicator? Now -there's- a blast from the past...

Are you sure you're not sitting on a collection of old EE mags?

(that is a very cool idea, though...!).

Tony

[crowclaw]

Hi Tony,
spot on mate...and yes I have a collection of old mags too. Oh sad, good old days, good old days.

Happy New Year
Merv

[jadaro2600]

Great ideas everyone, keep them coming.

I was recently watching some videos about how to turn an old CRT into an oscilloscope, but they lack grids, etc.  And the ability to freeze an image - I think the best solution is a PC related one, as it involves being able to screen capture and data log.

The sound card solution is always interesting, but it's limited to AC, as pointed out, and the measurement is capped at the frequency of the sound card's DAC ( audio processor frequency ( in higher end models, this is ~96kHz )..

Say, has anyone else noticed that the most stereo / surround receivers only output a max of 20khz, yet we're led to believe that we're getting otherwise because of a sampling rate delusion?