BG300 - Part 3 in our series on oscilloscopes for audio usage. This one focused on the basics of an oscilloscope. Vertical, horizontal functions, triggering, measurements, analog & digital scopes, etc.
Thanks for this one and the previous two. There are so many oscilloscope videos on the internet that show things without teaching well. Yours is way better because you explain how things work, why they are that way, and give practical, real world examples and information. And you go beyond the oscilloscope, which really was very helpful in the first two videos. I can’t thank you enough.
Yeah there are tons of videos but they are poorly made, they leave of a bunch of info off or they create more questions in your head because they don't answer them or give you a convoluted answer.
The other thing that the videos don't show is how to hook up the leads (bnc cables) to the unit being troubleshooted or the probe and its ground lead being hooked to ground and the probe being used.
Mark, really great video. you have taken something that looks really intimidating and made it really doable. Haven't touched an oscilloscope since the 90s during basic EE labs. I'm an aero engineer. you never really got to learn and play with the equipment. I can see this being really useful in guitar pedal builds. hoping to build up to building a tube amp someday.
Thanks for your generous gift of time to explain this stuff. I recall long ago taking a faulty amplifier to a local tech legend. He put it on a scope and told me within three minutes what was wrong. I look at mine everyday and think someday. Videos like this are a tremendous source.
Wow! What an amazing video! A visual walk-through like this is a million times more helpful than a PDF manual any day of the week. And now with the overview you gave, digging into the manual will be so much easier to do if I need to dig any deeper. I consider myself extra lucky since I have a nearly identical model and now I know how to get started using it. Thanks very much for putting such a helpful guide out there for all of us to benefit from. I'm very grateful.
Another great video, Mark, thank you! I recently started repairing guitar amps and bought a Leader LBO-508 CRT o-scope that’s in great condition and is perfect for my needs. I never fully understood triggering but it makes perfect sense now after watching you video. Great stuff!
A great video series, between Blueglow Electronics and D-Lab these guys are a wealth of knowledge for anyone looking to get a better grasp of electronics. They cover the tidbits that the classroom tends to leave out. Thank you.
Thank you!!! After looking at a zillion scope tutorials this one really gets to the point. I like the way you explain the what for and not just the how and what knob. You do a good job of explaining what the function does. Again thank you.
Great video. I have the 2 channel version of that Rigol. I still have only scratched the surface with all it can do. I am really enjoying this series. I can't wait till we get to parts 4 and 5 where I can really get into using the scope to do deep trouble shooting.
Outstanding Presentation Blueglow. You are awesome! Thanks for taking the time to do this tutorial. I hope success and blessings come to you on this channel. A big thumbs up for the way you teach!
Just finished the first three videos in your series. They are by far the best instructional videos I've seen for learning the o-scope. I'm a novice and bought a used scope on ebay two years ago. I've watched other videos, and played around with it, but this will really help me to understand. Can't wait to see the rest of the series. Thanks for sharing.
I can't thank you enough for putting together this series. I have a 2247A and several broken amplifiers and have been trying to figure out where to start. So, if I could give you 10 thumbs up, I would!
New subscriber here. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge with us. This is the best oscilloscope intro video on RU-vid! Looking forward to watching all the others.
Excellent video from a beginner. I have purchased several vintage pieces of audio gear that I want to try my hand at repairing. Cassette, players mostly and a few integrated amplifiers. Thank you!!!
Years ago I had to use analog oscilloscopes in digital telephone switches. I don’t recall ever looking for ac signals we were looking for high or low input & outputs at specific timing intervals. Might be +5 volt high for 250ms for example. Everything was logic gates. AC testing I’m pretty weak on and why I’m watching you O scope series. Thanks for posting the videos
A nice piece of work! Thanks for your efforts, Mark. Now a couple of yeah, but's! :) One aspect of digital scopes that always comes to mind for me is that they're generally (well, the affordable ones are) only 8 bits of A/D conversion. That means that there are only 256 distinct vertical levels, and if we're looking at the positive half-cycle, for example, that's down to just a hair better than 1% resolution. (That's resolution, not accuracy!) If the signal is only half of the maximum for that range, it's only using half the discrete levels, so now we're down to 2%. On the other hand, the analog scope is smoothly continuous -- it's not affected by the same kind of discrete levels, nor does the effective resolution fall off when the signal gets smaller, and so it can present the fine details of the curve more accurately. It's not just about fade time of the pospher -- it really is better. The other thing that comes to my mind when I consider the difference between analog and digital is that I'm comparing the electronics design and implementation of a $400 dollar scope with the electronics and design of a used $4000 scope that I got for less than $400 off of an auction site. My assumption (and experience) is that every aspect of analog electronics -- especially the input section which has to be analog in both scopes -- is going to be much more refined in the analog scope versus the (designed-to-a-price) circuitry in the digital scope. That would change if we were looking at $4000 (or higher!) digital scopes, but... not in my shop. :) In other words... I'm not too quick to assume that the precision of the waveform is equivalent, or better, in a modest new digital scope, versus a nice (i.e. Tektronix), used analog scope. I absolutely LOVE my analog Tektronix scopes, for everything except capturing a waveform for later evaluation, which the analog scopes just can't do. There, I fire up the digital, and it's really good at that sort of thing. Just a point of view... :)
Subscribed! I want to learn how to repair and maintain amplefiers, speakers and mess around with CD players. It all starts with the basics, and this video makes is clear as day for a nitwit like me 👍🏼👍🏼
Great video. I know how to use a scope but I'm no expert so I got some good info from your effort. I have a Tek 465 but will be buying a Hantek digital scope in the near future. I plan on converting it to be able to run on either AC power or battery power because I work on vacuum tube equipment from time to time and wanted something that I could electrically float so that I don't hurt it or myself. Yes, I know I can use a differential probe but it's more fun to buy a new piece of test equipment. And besides, like you, I don't like lugging my 465 around.
thank you for the informative video.. helped me get going with a tube based HP 100MHZ - running a mono signal in from a smart phone waveform app. the square wave is the most finicky to position stable on this machine.but I have this. :)
As you continue, or maybe in a separate video after you finish the series, you might comment on what can and can't be accomplished with one of the JYEtech kits like the DSO150 or DSO138. Only one input (but hey, you can afford two or more!) and very limited bandwidth (200 KHz?), but way cheap, $20-$30, "real" probe extra. I already had an old Sencore 60MHz analog scope, but picked up one of these kits just for fun. And it was fun to build, pocket money well spent even if it never sees real use from my point of view. I haven't even tried to use it for any work yet, but I rarely have an occasion to use a scope at all. I figured I might use it sometimes when I don't want to drag out the boat anchor Sencore. It does do frequency and voltage measurements for you, and can hold the waveform on the screen, so better for looking at momentary glitches. It can be battery powered, so not ground referenced, which might come in handy as well for hot chassis tube work? I think the question to be answered is, for audio work, is it at any time better than no scope at all?
This is very good. Like learning to drive manual, or use the basic flight in Msft 2020. Love those clear button and in fact those two button in one. You also understand why it move on, other than good for learning. Colour, signal generator 2-in-1 and desk space (it has a lot of depth). Not seeing the end or other yet but hope there is a digital one. Gear towards there. 46:00 got it.
On the 2246 channels 3 and 4 actually have independent voltage adjustment, its just limited. You'll see the buttons right next to them that say .5v and .1v. Those are your voltage selections.
Darned good stuff. Since this was for beginners, I think you should have grabbed a plastic probe adjustment tool and actually calibrated the probe. My 2465BCT has Ch1/2 inputs offer 1M-ohm AC/DC/GND and 50-ohm DC settings. Do you cover when to use the 1M and when to use the 50 in a different video? Thx.
I’ve been watching your oscilloscope videos nonstop. Did you do any video work on testing audio opamps with oscilloscope? I want to buy some and experiment to learn but rumor has it there are many fakes.
I have trouble triggering on low frequency signals, any tips? It seems like I can eventually, but lots of knob twisting. I have a simple hitachi v 212 scope.
I want to see how an O'scope is used on an actual amp, receiver how you use the probes on the equipment and how to set the dials on the O'scope as you go to do the troubleshooting when will that be?
Do these digital storage oscilloscopes with CRT displays drive the beam digitally after sampling the input with a ADC? Or so they operate like all analog scopes and the digital functions is sort of an add-on?
I have watched several videos about scopes, and one thing is never mentioned: The bar at the very top center with the arrow above it that is only on digital scopes. What is the purpose of this bar? Thank you for this fine series.
Beginner here. Why do you have the extra piece of equipment on top of the oscilloscope? Seems like the unit itself should have those fine adjustments that can be made?
My interest is anything that uses Vacuum Tubes. My knowledge level hopefully is one step above hurting myself. I have plans to get a Digital Scope as soon as I get enough money. Is using a Digital Scope on Vacuum Tube Equipment any different than what you will be talking about?
Hi Sir, good day. I would have liked to ask for help on how to use the old Hitachi model V-1565 oscilloscope I bought. I don’t know where to start and how to use. I’m an electronic habbies. I've always wanted an oscilloscope before but because it's so expensive I can't afford one. I just bought a 2nd hand oscilloscope and I think it works find and the other knobs are functioning and have power. I hope you have a video tutorial like the oscilloscope I bought. I really want to learn. Thanks a lot. From the Philippines.
i have a tektronix 2205 and when i put channel 1 at GND at auto P-P triggering i saw the zero line... but when i put it on normal mode triggering the line disapear... is that normal?
@5:59 1/16.666 does not equal 60. Checking the math, 60Hz would be 1 second divided by 60 (cycles): 0.16666667 seconds per cycle. 0.16666667 seconds is is not 16.66667 milliseconds; it is 166.66667 milliseconds. If I've made a mistake, someone please point it out. But a 1 second wavelength (1,000 milliseconds) would give a frequency of 1 cycle per second, or 1Hz. One-tenth of that wavelength, or 100 ms, would be 10Hz. And 10ms would be 100Hz. So, 60Hz does approximate as 17ms. I guess this reinforces the point made @4:44 that engineers don't speak in milliseconds when dealing with waves. The chance for error is unintentionally made obvious ;-)
I am trying to repair a crown macro-tech 5002VZ. It's a giant amp from the 90's. I need a scope. I'm looking at a digital scope on amazon with a signal generator built in. I'm guessing I can use this for supplying sine waves to amplifiers, but I'm not sure. it says "only the frequency is adjustable," (meaning no amplitude adjustments i'm guessing). it says it can do sine, square, triangle etc. this is what they are calling it: YEAPOOK ADS1014D 2 in 1 Digital Oscilloscope DDS Signal Generator with 2 Channels 100Mhz Bandwidth 1GSa/s Sampling Rate (ADS1014D) it's just under $200 seems like it would be good for amplifier repair, but I'm not sure. any opinions about this scope for amp repair? one channel of the crown amp is not functioning properly. seems to get hot on the dead channel. I'm seeing a little dc on the output. I think it said around .9VDC on the bad channel. the good channel read near 0VDC
If that is a switching power supply then you would need a high voltage differential probe to do that safely, and they typically have high attenuation so they can handle usually 700V or more.
Folks ought to know that when calibrating their probe(s), they should use a non-conductive screwdriver. It will make it easier to calibrate the probe(s). Also, once calibrated for a specific 'scope, the probe(s) shouldn't need to be re-calibrated as long as they are used with that specific 'scope. However, I _don't_ know how calibration is or is not affected by using a probe on different channels on that 'scope -- I'm obviously not an expert. ;) Edit: When you were showing the trigger level control on your old Tektronix 'scope, was there a faint "dot" that you were watching move around on the signal trace? I didn't see one, but have seen similar "dots" on other channels' videos where they were using 'scopes. Their dots were very hard for me to see via RU-vid, so I'm guessing that your dot was simply too difficult for me to see. This is a wonderful video! I can't wait for parts 4 & 5!
I hope someone is still around to help me.. i bought a cheap o scope to check my car audio. The signal test is supposed to be 1khz but it reads 500hz.. Am i doing something wrong? Also its on x1 sometimes it switches to x10 but idk how to change it.
At 26:25, should mention that the probe should be set to Times 10; unless the probe is strictly a Times 10 probe. You didn't cover the Chop/Alt button.
Actually... 1 divided by 16.666 is 0.060002400096. Doh! What we need to do, is keep in mind the time units! We divide 1 second by the time it takes to complete one cycle, which in this case is 16.666 milliseconds. Hence, it's 1 second divided by 0.016666 (16.666 thousands of a second) - and that yields the desired 60Hz frequency (plus some negligible change).
I got an old analog scope for $75 plus shipping.. Digital I haven't checked beware most sellers don't know how to test them so it many are listed as is. Some sellers will let you return items on eBay.
