Hi All,
I'm a wee bit disappointed that I tried to use my 'new' D53 lab oscilloscope this evening and got absolutely nowhere with it. It powers up ok and I've had a trace just once or twice for a once off scan across the screen when trying to measure AC voltage.
Is there something that I am missing in using a 'lab' type bit of test gear??
Regards
Rob
Hi Rob,
You might need to fiddle with the "Stability" control. Start out by getting a flat trace with nothing else connected, then think about applying signals. The stability control will need rotating back until the trace locks - too far and the timebase stops.
All that said, it's been 20 years since I last used one of these, so my memory might not be 100%
Good luck,
Mark
I'm not totally familiar with that 'scope, but you may not have the 'scope set up right for triggering. The general procedure is as follows.
Check the triggering switch selection. Set it to 'auto'. Then select the channel you want to trigger the time-base from. Adjust the trigger level control for a stationary display. The time-base switch will need adjusting according to the frequency of the input signal you are triggering from.
Al.
From distant memory, this 'scope has a click-stop for Auto triggering at the anticlockwise extremity of the Trig Level control, and this should work well for most simple waveforms. The "Stability" control previously mentioned is dual-concentric with the Trig Level control - it's the black "outer" if I recall correctly. Pretty sure you start by turning the Stability fully clockwise to begin, which give a sweep, albeit one that can't be locked (IIRC). Turn it anticlockwise, and at some point the sweep should lock. If you turn it any more anticlockwise, the sweep disappears.
Again, it's from old memories, but the more I think about it, the more confident I become. I think
Mark
Thanks Mark,
I shall give it a try. I was so pleased with myself to pick this scope up for £15 with decent plug in modules so i did feel deflated when I couldn't get it it to work.
Regards
Rob
Good luck - these are nice old 'scopes. The Stability control is the main difference between it and more modern 'scopes, which is why it's worth playing with it - everything else you should already know from your other 'scopes. I might have a copy of the manual somewhere - I'll have a look later...
Cheers,
Mark
You don't say if you have the manual Rob. If not, you can download it FOC from Jon's excellent website at this link:
http://www.thevalvepage.com/download/dow...e=d53a.pdf&dir=telequipment
I'm not familiar with the scope, but many scopes have a built in test waveform such as 1KHz at 1 Volt or whatever. Useful for checking the scope. If you don't have a built in test waveform, if you open up your ESR meter and clip the scope probe onto pin 2 of the 74HC14N IC, (and ground) you should see a nice square wave of about 150KHz of perhaps 3 or 4 Volts. Set the volts per div on the scope to 2 Volts and the waveform should be about 2 cms high peak to peak. With the timebase set to 50 us/div, you should see about 7 or 8 square wave cycles across the screen. It can be confusing to work out what uS/Div on the X axis is in terms of frequency, so the figures below might help in understanding what setting to use for an given frequency:
100ms/div = 10Hz
50ms/div = 20Hz
20ms/div = 50Hz
10ms/div = 100Hz
5ms/div = 200Hz
2ms/div = 500Hz
1 ms/div = 1KHz
0.5ms/div = 2KHz
0.2ms/div = 5KHz
0.1ms/div = 10KHz
50us/div = 20KHz
20us/div = 50KHz
10us/div = 100KHz
5 us/div = 200KHz
2us/div = 500KHz
1us/div = 1MHz
0.5us/div = 2MHz
0.2us/div = 5 MHz
So for example, if you were checking the secondary of a mains transformer - 50Hz AC, with the timebase set to100ms/div (10Hz) you should see a sine wave with 5 cycles on the screen.
At 20ms/div you'd see just one cycle.
As has been said, the first thing you need to do is to get a flat line across the screen which you can move up and down the screen with the Y position control.
Hope that helps a bit.
Best of luck with it Rob!