I Have an Oscilloscope... Now What?

Michael Roma

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I have had an HP 1707B scope for a while now but never used it. Now I have a use for it and want to test my Space Duel boards.

What is involved in getting the output to display on the scope. Is this scope even capable of displaying XY?

- Mike

OscopeDiag.jpg
 
I bought a scope a while ago for pretty cheap, and if nothing else, it looks nice just sitting on my workbench. ;) I really do wish I had a better understanding of how to use it though. A rough, semi-educated guess is that yes yours should be able to look at the XY out of a pcb....having dual channel hook-ups is the key thing I think and if it had a hookup for the Z input that would be a bonus.
 
You'll need to find the manual for it and look for an XY mode.
 
I don't SEE an X/Y mode on that pic you posted.

If it is there, it normally is on the time/div control. Usually the farthest setting either clockwise or counter-clockwise is where the XY mode is set. I've also seen a push button for it, but none of the buttons here are listed like that.

Even if it doesn't have an X/Y mode, you can look at both the X and Y channels at the same time with the dual traces.
 
My scope is labeled as vector not x/y
 
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I was able to find the manual for it on the hparchive site but didn't find any mention of an XY mode. I then posted here to see if maybe it was referenced differently and I was just missing it.

If it is there, it normally is on the time/div control. Usually the farthest setting either clockwise or counter-clockwise is where the XY mode is set. I've also seen a push button for it, but none of the buttons here are listed like that.

I do not see any thing on the time/div dial. It just has an off setting and then timing intervals up to 2 seconds.

Even if it doesn't have an X/Y mode, you can look at both the X and Y channels at the same time with the dual traces.

Does that mean that I can just connect one trace to the x and the other to y and have it display?

- Mike
 
No.

If it doesn't have an XY or Vector mode you'll only be able to see the waveforms of the signals. You won't see the game "picture" on your scope screen.

RJ
 
Like any kid with a new toy, you need to play with it. Maybe download a manual to look at once or twice a day and just probe stuff. Try looking at a crystal or something with a good steady signal and then tune in scope to see this. It is a very rapid learning curve and will be very easy for you once you know your scope.

The best part of having a scope is when you have one set of working boards and a bad set. With a scope it is much easier and they are very helpful with audio signals.

I prefer the one's with a signal generator.
 
Forgive my newbie question but..

Is it how you check if a chip is still working when the board is powered on? You set the oscilloscope in X/y mode, and check if theres any signal happening on the chip?
 
Forgive my newbie question but..

Is it how you check if a chip is still working when the board is powered on? You set the oscilloscope in X/y mode, and check if theres any signal happening on the chip?

Not a newbie question...

X/Y mode on an oscilliscope can be used to display the vector output from a
vector game like asteroids or star wars.

An oscilliscope doesnt really tell you if a chip is bad. It can show you what the signal/waveform is as well as the voltage coming out from a particular pin on a chip. If you know how the chip is supposed to work, you can figure out where it isnt working right.

You can also use a logic probe in many case to do the same thing. ($15 roughly).
 
Forgive my newbie question but..

Is it how you check if a chip is still working when the board is powered on? You set the oscilloscope in X/y mode, and check if theres any signal happening on the chip?

kind of....

You first need to know what the chips is/does then you need to find out what should be expected in the input and output or what is called the truth table.

If it is an audio amp, you will see a signal in and larger signal out (if it is working).

You can look at the data as a game is running by looking at the data lines and watch the signals.

I would plug in the scope, hook up a test lead, and probe a working/semi working board and adjust the time/sweep voltage/div until you see something on the scope. In just a few days/week's time you should be able to use the scope without much thought.
 
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