I'm just starting to get into the repair field and I am buying some used equipment that I will need. I've been looking at oscilloscopes and am not certain what frequency I should look for. I plan on repairing household electronics, guitar amps, etc.
Any help with this and other features to look for would sure be appreciated.
Thanks, cronam51

 

Welcome to AAC.

Given your use, I would suggest that a ~60MHz, two channel scope would be more than sufficient while offering flexibility a lesser scope would not have.

There are many options, but since you don’t have a lot of experience, sticking to well known brands like Siglent or Rigol is probably your best bet.

You might want to look at used scopes since they will be an excellent value compared to new.

If you look around and have questions about particular options, I am sure you will get a lot of help here.

Good luck.

 

If just trouble shooting relatively low frequency equipment, Have you considered a Digital Storage type?
Used with a lap top makes it very portable.
Also keeps a record of traces, if needed.
Max.

 

If just trouble shooting relatively low frequency equipment, Have you considered a Digital Storage type?
Used with a lap top makes it very portable.
Also keeps a record of traces, if needed.
Max.

This might be a good option, but I find I prefer dedicated instruments if possible. Scopes with good computer interfaces are definitely a good thing, though, and Siglent has decent connectivity and I believe Rigol does as well.

It is true that if your budget is very constrained, the PC scope route is a very good one.

 

It is true that if your budget is very constrained, the PC scope route is a very good one.

At the risk of a novice mistake damaging your PC or laptop.

A standalone scope is generally the best solution and the entry level DSO's are only the size of a shoe box so portability is not a problem if required.

 

I have been using one of the SysComp dual channel 10mhz digital storage scopes since they originally went on the market, and tend to make it my first go to when moving around instead of lugging the Really heavy Tektronix.
Used on both lap-top and desk top P.C.'s with no issues so far.
Max.

 

I just jumped into the electronics hobby a few months back and quickly realized I needed a 'scope. I looked carefully at used/reconditioned Tek 465b scopes because I had extensive experience with them and also lower cost analog scopes, but finally decided on the Hantek 6245BD PC based 'scope. This one had more than enough bandwidth for what I am doing, has 4 channels which is enough for most work and includes a digital waveform generator that can output a variety of waveforms from 1Hz to multiple MHz. I have found that feature extremely useful and it has saved me from purchasing a separate waveform generator. It is also nice to be able to store a trace complete with voltage/frequency levels in the PC memory for later reference or for posting in forums like this. This 'scope ran me about $375 on Amazon which is a lot for a hobby, but OTOH, I have found time and time again that it is better to pay too much for a good tool than too little for a tool that does not do what you need it to do.

The only negatives on this 'scope is that it took some searching to find a X64 Windows 7 based driver for my laptop. I have also noticed that it tends to exaggerate the noise present in all measurements, but it could just be that the older analog scopes just hid that noise from me. I have also had a couple of occasions where the software just froze up on me and had to be reloaded. That said, I am pleased with my purchase after 6 months of use and would buy it again.

vern

 

When I replaced my CRT scope with a digital scope I felt the trace was noisy and felt bad about it for a few weeks until it hit me that this is a digital scope and the vertical resolution on the screen was good enough to show quantization noise and that actually made me feel good about it.

One feature many digital scopes have is an FFT mode in which is very much like a spectrum analyzer and some people find to be very useful.

By the way it is a Tektronix TDS2002 that I chose because it would fit in my airline carry-on luggage. While I had to repair or replace my old Eico and B&K CRT scopes every fiver years or so, the Tektronix is still gong after 16 years. The more recent models are offered with a 10 year warranty.