Intermediate Electronics -
Oscilloscope Tutorial

The Oscilloscope

Oscilloscopes are used by everyone from television repair technicians to physicists. They are indispensable for anyone designing or repairing electronic equipment.

• What Can You Do With Oscilloscope?
• Analog and Digital
• How Does an Oscilloscope Work?
  • Analog Oscilloscopes
  • Digital Oscilloscopes
  • Sampling Methods
  • Real-Time Sampling with Interpolation
  • Equivalent-Time Sampling
    

Oscilloscope Terminology

Learning a new skill often involves learning a new vocabulary. This idea holds true for learning how to use an oscilloscope. This section describes some useful measurement and oscilloscope performance terms.

• Measurement Terms
• Types of Waves
  • Sine Waves
  • Square and Rectangular Waves
  • Sawtooth and Triangle Waves
  • Step and Pulse Shapes
• Waveform Measurements
• Performance Terms
  • Bandwidth
  • Rise Time
  • Vertical Sensitivity
  • Sweep Speed
  • Gain Accuracy
  • Time Base or Horizontal Accuracy
  • Sample Rate
  • ADC Resolution (Or Vertical Resolution)
  • Record Length
    
    

Setting Up

This section briefly describes how to set up and start using an oscilloscope - specifically, how to ground the oscilloscope, set the controls in standard positions, and compensate the probe.

• Oscilloscope Grounding
• Setting the Controls
• Probes
  • Using Passive Probes
  • Using Active Probes
  • Using Current Probes
  • Where to Clip the Ground Clip
• Compensating the Probe
  

The Controls

This section briefly describes the basic controls found on analog and digital oscilloscopes. Remember that some controls differ between analog and digital oscilloscopes; your oscilloscope probably has controls not discussed here.

• Display Controls
• Vertical Controls
  • Position and Volts per Division
  • Input Coupling
  • Bandwidth Limit
  • Channel Invert
  • Alternate and Chop Display
  • Math Operations
• Horizontal Controls
  • Position and Seconds per Division
  • Time Base Selections
  • Trigger Position
  • Magnification
  • XY Mode
• Trigger Controls
  • Trigger Level and Slope
  • Trigger Sources
  • Trigger Modes
  • Trigger Coupling
  • Trigger Holdoff
• Acquisition Controls for Digital Oscilloscopes
  • Stopping and Starting the Acquisition System
  • Sampling Methods
• Other Controls

Measurement Techniques

This section teaches you basic measurement techniques. The two most basic measurements you can make are voltage and time measurements. Just about every other measurement is based on one of these two fundamental techniques.

• The Display
• Voltage Measurements
• Time and Frequency Measurements
• Pulse and Rise Time Measurements
• Phase Shift Measurements

Video Tutorial

• Oscilloscope Tutorial Video – Part 1
• Oscilloscope Tutorial Video – Part 2 – In this second part in a series of tutorials to teach you the basics of oscilloscopes.
• Oscilloscope Tutorial Video – Part 3 – (Final Part) you will learn about auto and one-shot trigger settings, 2 channel measurement, math functions.