Paul gave me some advice in a private email. Sounds like I should save some more money for a nicer Rigol. I can’t afford the $2000+ for the Agilents. Also I noticed that the Rigol model he mentioned comes with an optional function generator for $250 more [Model DS1074Z-S] which might save money over buying one separately.
Sova He said: [Regarding the old used Tektronix scope] Don't buy that old dinosaur, even for only $50. Of those 2 choices, definitely Rigol 4 channels can be very helpful, but the capture those old analog scopes had is pretty much worthless. Really, I'd recommend saving up for at least a Rigol DS1074Z, or Agilent 2000X or 3000X scope. When you compare modern digital scopes, always look for the waveforms/sec capture+render rate. If they don't give that spec, you can assume it's very slow, like only 5 to 30 waveforms/sec. Whatever you do, avoid Owon. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Turnbull Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 3:33 PM To: A discussion list for dorkbot-pdx (portland, or) Subject: Re: [dorkbotpdx-blabber] Looking for input on oscilloscope Those cheap 1GSa/sec 100MHz Chinese scopes are fine for HF radios. I designed my SDR using one. Maybe get some better probes than what it'll come with. Just stay away from USB scopes which all seem to exaggerate their bandwidth by a factor of 4 or 5. 73 David AE9RB On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 2:20 PM, Sova <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I’m looking at getting a scope to setup a basic test bench at my place. Mainly I’ll be using it to repair amateur radios, amplifiers, and maybe some debugging of digital circuits later. There is a guy on CL that is offering me an older Tektronix 2252 100Mhz analog scope with digital storage and integrated volt-meter for $350. He can’t vouch for its calibration. Alternatively, I’m looking at the Rigol DS1102E which is the same price. It is a Chinese made LCD based digital scope that is much smaller and portable and seems to have good reviews. It is 1GSa/sec, rated 100MHz with a million point storage. Which do you think is the better investment? I know that the Tek is a high quality device but it is over 20 years old and probably impossible to fix if something breaks in it. The Rigol is new but probably not well made but the portability and desk space I’d save seems like a real plus. I’m worried that it won’t be high enough resolution for doing the radio repairs but most IF frequencies in radios are around 465KHz so it might be fine. Or, maybe one of you guys has an older scope you want to sell?
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