Hacking a scope, general considerations

[ErnestB]

Question: As a lot of people already hacked their scope (bandwidth), I wanted to know what are the experiences regarding the calibration (before and after the hack)? Like: does the lower bandwidth stays as true as after the hack, and that the higher frequency maybe are not so true? But, on the other hand, if you legally buy the higher bandwidth option, they do not re-calibrate the scope after that. So, I was interested in the general experiences. Specifically I am considering one of the Siglents. The model consideration is also based on "to hack or not to hack" issue. Cheers.

[RoGeorge]

For the instrument, there is no distinguishable difference between a bought upgrade and a hacked upgrade.

[axantas]

But, on the other hand, if you legally buy the higher bandwidth option, they do not re-calibrate the scope after that.

You answer the question yourself. You buy a code, insert it in your scope and you are set. The only difference: You can only buy codes, your scope is made for. If you manage to hack your scope to 500 MHz, and the hardware cannot handle that, but accepts your code anyway, you might get unsatisfactory results.

[Fungus]

Question: As a lot of people already hacked their scope (bandwidth), I wanted to know what are the experiences regarding the calibration (before and after the hack)? Like: does the lower bandwidth stays as true as after the hack, and that the higher frequency maybe are not so true?

a) Most of them offer the upgrade as an paid option via. a license key. The hacks are exactly the same as installing a license key.

b) Oscilloscopes are self-calibrating. You press the auto-cal button and they recalibrate themselves. You're supposed to do it whenever the temperature changes by a few degrees but hardly anybody ever does because it's not very important. Oscilloscopes are about looking at the shapes of things and accuracy within few percent is good enough.