Digital and MSO Oscilloscope Repair

A basic oscilloscope gives us the ability to look at a wave form in an amplitude verses time domain. This allows us to see the frequency (time) of the AC signal and it voltage (amplitude). We can see if our signal is clean or if it has noise in it. For digital signals it can show us if the voltages are at the correct levels for our logic signals and also show whether the digital signal is clean or noisy.

Modern Digital Oscilloscopes can do all previously mentioned and so much more. The can look at digital data streams and read what the actual data is which can be very useful in troubleshooting buss systems as used in cars, RV’s, and many home control automation circuits. Some have the ability for advanced signal analysis.

The most common modern digital scopes come it typically 2-4 channels with a bandwidth from 50Mhz up to over 300Mhz. An excellent scope can be had new for $300-$600 which is well in the range of a serious Hobbyist. Adding a little more money can get a scope that actually has multiple pieces of test equipment built in like a Digital Multi Meter, Function Generator, Frequency Counter and more. This makes the Digital Oscilloscope a great addition to a Hobbyist work bench who wants to get more into electronics.

An upgrade to those basic scopes is an MSO (Mixed Signal Oscilloscope). These scopes typically have the features of the basic scope with the addition of 8-16 special digital inputs that make them useful in monitoring parallel data busses often used in microcontrollers, robotics and similar uses. This allows for analyzing data on a parallel buss as well as serial buss.