Storage oscilloscope

[antdes45]

Hello everyone,

I'm thinking about buying a storage oscilloscope for probably $500 max.

I already own a used Tektronix 485 I got back to life for close to nothing, so I'm covered for a high b/w analog scope.

In the local ads all I can find is a used Tek 466 and it looks like a nice piece of equipment with dual beam and CRT storage, and that wouldn't be too expensive.
However, there's no USB, no freq, peak, etc. meters and storage doesn't stay there for a long time.

Otherwise, I'd be looking at the Rigol DS1052.

Now the question is, just like an analog captures more stuff in real-time mode, is the tube storage accurate enough to do anything better than a DSO such as the Rigol?

Thanks!

[psycho0815]

Considering you already have an analog scope i don't see a point in getting a hybrid thing like that.
I'd propably go with the 1102E though since the newer versions of the 1052E can't be hacked anymore. Or at least not as easily.

Of course i dont have any experience with scopes like the Tek 466, so i might be missing some major advantage it has.

Cheers,
Psycho

[ptricks]

Really hard to tell without knowing what type of work you plan to use it for. I am not one for trying to use 1 item to cover every task because you usually end up with something that works for a lot of different things but not excellent at one thing.
Personally I like the CRT scopes, yes they are big, use more power, but the quality of the readings is generally hard to match in anything under $1k

[grumpydoc]

Modern DSO's** with deep sample buffers have a lot of advantages and can do stuff that analogue 'scopes can't - eg I managed to pull the service password out of the Marconi 2024 that I bought with a DSO. To do that I had to look at memory reads & writes about 2ms after hitting the "enter" key with sufficient resolution to be able to decode the data bus at the point of the read. Yes I'd have been better off with a logic analyser but don't have one to hand.

They also have much more complex trigger systems - eg "see trigger edge, wait 2ms, start recording on the next edge on this channel" which analogue 'scopes can't compete with.

In general analogue 'scopes are excellent (best?) for repetitive signals, DSO's with deep sample memories can do things which are truly impossible for an analogue 'scope (even a storage 'scope) to match.

** That said my most "modern" 'scope is a Lecroy 9354TM which is a mid-90's beast.

[nctnico]

Now the question is, just like an analog captures more stuff in real-time mode, is the tube storage accurate enough to do anything better than a DSO such as the Rigol?

The thing to look for on a DSO is a 'peak detect' or 'envelope' acquisition mode. A digital scope without such a mode is pretty useless although many where made.

[madires]

Those old storage oscilloscopes just store/show the waveform for some time. Nice feature back then but totally useless with all the inexpensive DSOs available now. If you prefer CRTs you might want to have a look at a used mixed mode scope from Hameg. They are analog scope and DSO in one box (just push a button to switch between modes).

[grumpydoc]

you might want to have a look at a used mixed mode scope from Hameg.

The newer models - HM1008, HM1508 and HM2008 look OK on paper but beware (a little) of the older HM507 model. This is 100MHz on the analogue side but only 100Ms/s on the digital with 2kpts sample memory.

It's a very similar spec to my main bench 'scope - a Philips PM3382 which is also 100MHz analogue but has a 200Ms/s 32kpts digital side. So far I haven't really found a use for the digital as it's proved a bit underpowered whenever I've wanted a DSO.

[antdes45]

So I think I'll save up for a decent cheap DSO rather than bothering having 3 'scopes and spending my days fixing the old ones. The 485 has somehow been a nightmare to get back to life and even then I'd still have some cleanup to do on all the little contact blades in there to get it working 100%

[kripton2035]

Those old storage oscilloscopes just store/show the waveform for some time. Nice feature back then but totally useless with all the inexpensive DSOs available now. If you prefer CRTs you might want to have a look at a used mixed mode scope from Hameg. They are analog scope and DSO in one box (just push a button to switch between modes).

Fluke and Philipps also had these combiscopes models with analog and digital in the same scope.
limited memory compared to a cheap modern dso, but they are still usefull.

[Lukas]

They also have much more complex trigger systems - eg "see trigger edge, wait 2ms, start recording on the next edge on this channel" which analogue 'scopes can't compete with.

With a dual-timebase scope, this setup isn't a big deal. But when it comes to pulse width triggering, pattern matching, etc. an analog scope is useless.

[tlu]

With the low end dso being so cheap now, I do not see why you need to stick with an analog scope or maybe I'm missing something here? I'm a new player to this field but in school, all the scopes are digital...atleast the school I'm attending.

tlu

[madires]

The newer models - HM1008, HM1508 and HM2008 look OK on paper but beware (a little) of the older HM507 model. This is 100MHz on the analogue side but only 100Ms/s on the digital with 2kpts sample memory.

It's a very similar spec to my main bench 'scope - a Philips PM3382 which is also 100MHz analogue but has a 200Ms/s 32kpts digital side. So far I haven't really found a use for the digital as it's proved a bit underpowered whenever I've wanted a DSO.

That's really a little bit underpowered ;-) Got a HM1508-2 (150MHz) with 1Gs/s and 1Mpts. It also has two USB ports and two additional "digital" channels. It's quite useful for the analog and MCU stuff I do.

[cqmiao]

DS1102E it's OK?

?2400 CNY  in China?about less $400 USD~

I used it.