Did you know?


The difference between an oscilloscope and a spectrum analyzer? This article explains the difference using examples. Read more...

 

 

 Latest Oscilloscope News


In 1956 Hewlett-Packard (HP) introduced its first oscilloscope, the HP 130A with 300 kHz bandwidth. Read more...

 

 

 Advertising

 

 

 

 Oscilloscope Basics

A Comparison between Oscilloscopes and Spectrum Analyzers

oscilloscope spectrum analyzer functionWhether it is for a land survey searching for minerals on Earth, or for a space exploration in search of alien life forms, the analysis of any signal boils down to looking at its time and frequency information. While an oscilloscope displays a signal with respect to time, a spectrum analyzer shows it with respect to frequency. Both of these tools are very important in any signal analysis application. This article explains the difference between oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer using examples.

Read more ...

 

 Oscilloscope Background

A simple method to verify the bandwidth of your probe

Agilent oscilloscope Probe BandwidthIn oscilloscopes or oscilloscope probes, bandwidth is a measure of the width of a range of frequencies measured in Hertz. Specifically, bandwidth is specified as the frequency at which a sinusoidal input signal is attenuated to 70.7 percent of its original amplitude, also known as the -3 dB point. Most oscilloscope companies design the scope/probe response to be as flat as possible throughout its specified frequency range, and most customers simply rely on the specified bandwidth of the oscilloscope or oscilloscope probes, wondering if they are indeed getting the bandwidth performance at the probe tip. Now you can use these step-by-step instructions to simply measure and verify the bandwidth of your probe with an oscilloscope you may already have.

Read more ...