oscilloscope realtime sweep? not on my tektronix...

Thread Starter

wintermute3

Joined Oct 26, 2010
3
I have a TDS 2004C that is in most ways a fine scope, but it has one annoying habit that, according to a friend, is a common issue with Tektronix scopes. When I have it set up in triggered mode on a slow sweep, say 1s/div, I can see it trigger (indicator at top of screen), but I see _nothing_ on the screen until the sweep is complete, perhaps 10 seconds later. Apparently HP scopes don't behave this way (nor of course analog scopes).

Have I missed / messed up some setting? What is this feature even called? And if I want to purchase a new scope that behave the way I desire, how can I assure that from looking at its specs? Thanks for any insight!

- Michael
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,070
I have a TDS 2004C that is in most ways a fine scope, but it has one annoying habit that, according to a friend, is a common issue with Tektronix scopes. When I have it set up in triggered mode on a slow sweep, say 1s/div, I can see it trigger (indicator at top of screen), but I see _nothing_ on the screen until the sweep is complete, perhaps 10 seconds later. Apparently HP scopes don't behave this way (nor of course analog scopes).

Have I missed / messed up some setting? What is this feature even called? And if I want to purchase a new scope that behave the way I desire, how can I assure that from looking at its specs? Thanks for any insight!

- Michael
Maybe you want Roll mode?
 

tautech

Joined Oct 8, 2019
383
I have a TDS 2004C that is in most ways a fine scope, but it has one annoying habit that, according to a friend, is a common issue with Tektronix scopes. When I have it set up in triggered mode on a slow sweep, say 1s/div, I can see it trigger (indicator at top of screen), but I see _nothing_ on the screen until the sweep is complete, perhaps 10 seconds later. Apparently HP scopes don't behave this way (nor of course analog scopes).

Have I missed / messed up some setting? What is this feature even called? And if I want to purchase a new scope that behave the way I desire, how can I assure that from looking at its specs? Thanks for any insight!

- Michael
What you see is auto Roll mode where the memory buffer must fill before anything is pushed to the display. Normal. most DSO's operate this way however some have a dedicated roll mode where the sweep is pushed directly to the display where it takes whatever timebase selection you have made for the display to fill.
For fast events at a slow timebase Normal triggering can be more useful than Auto triggering.

Adapt your usage to suit your tool.
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,070
What you see is auto Roll mode where the memory buffer must fill before anything is pushed to the display. Normal. most DSO's operate this way however some have a dedicated roll mode where the sweep is pushed directly to the display where it takes whatever timebase selection you have made for the display to fill.
For fast events at a slow timebase Normal triggering can be more useful than Auto triggering.

Adapt your usage to suit your tool.
That scope has roll mode.
 

BobaMosfet

Joined Jul 1, 2009
2,110
I have a TDS 2004C that is in most ways a fine scope, but it has one annoying habit that, according to a friend, is a common issue with Tektronix scopes. When I have it set up in triggered mode on a slow sweep, say 1s/div, I can see it trigger (indicator at top of screen), but I see _nothing_ on the screen until the sweep is complete, perhaps 10 seconds later. Apparently HP scopes don't behave this way (nor of course analog scopes).

Have I missed / messed up some setting? What is this feature even called? And if I want to purchase a new scope that behave the way I desire, how can I assure that from looking at its specs? Thanks for any insight!

- Michael
I think this has been answered
 
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