Oscillioscope - how do I make good use of it?

[andrew_k]

I just picked up this scope for $25 -





Didn't know if it was going to work when I bought it and sure didn't know it was all valve 
I did a quick bit of research and read how to set it up and feed it its own calibration signal. Everything seems fine, which is fantastic!

Has anyone got any resources I can read to learn how to make good use of it for debugging and experimenting with circuits?

[plankspank]

how to make good use of it for debugging and experimenting with circuits?

Nice find for the price. You're 1/2 way there. For the other half you will need a signal generator to feed into your circuit inputs, and probe the signal path with your new found scope. I build my own way back in tech school- do a search and find a good schematic for a good sine wave generator.

[andrew_k]

Thanks for your response, I found the improved version of RG's sine generator, and a triangle / square generator, both of which I will build in the next couple of days.

For a probe, do I just plug a banana plug into one of the three VP-P sockets? From my reading so far I get the impression each of those numbers represents an amplitude factor for the incoming signal --  x 0.2; x 1.0 and x 10  ?

[earthtonesaudio]

First, that's a sweet find.  It's very likely you can use that for stompbox work. 

If you can't find good info on the 'net, you could try finding electronics techs who are 50+ years old at radio stores or physics departments of universities, as they might know how to work it. 

[plankspank]

For a probe, do I just plug a banana plug into one of the three VP-P sockets? ?

These old scopes have a screw in connection which might be difficult to find today (BTY, I have a similar Old Heathkit). They were common in old microphone connections to PA amps of the day. You might be able to find one on old Radio equipment web sites (try Antique electronics.) You can easily make a probe yourself , but make sure you use coax cable (like RG-58U or even an old guitar chord)- the shielded ground from the scope to your circuit will cut down on noise much better than straight bananna.

From my reading so far I get the impression each of those numbers represents an amplitude factor for the incoming signal --  x 0.2; x 1.0 and x 10 

Correct. The main problem with these old scopes are they are not too accurate for measuring accurate P-P voltage and frequency readings, but you will learn alot by seeing what a circuit does to a signal- (i.e you will visually see the clipping effect of a T.S or a rat or the phase shift of a Phase 90..) Once you build your sig gen- figuring out your scope will become easy...

[plankspank]

For a probe, do I just plug a banana plug into one of the three VP-P sockets? ?

To clarify my answer, your probe goes to the screw in connection labeled "input". The bananna jacks labeled V-PP are probably input attenuator, X 10 and X 1 that are probably selected by inserting a shorting " bananna plug"- in essence a switch- I'm oly guessing here. My scope has an actual rotary switch for this function.