Fun analog oscilloscope hack... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 01:05:13 pm
content: Here's a fun little circuit to turn your old analog oscilloscope into a video monitor using XY mode and Z-axis modulation. Try THAT with your digital scope! How many digital scopes have a Z-axis input?

author: MikeK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 02:29:59 pm
content: Love it!

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 02:42:08 pm
content: Good work! We want more!

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 02:56:16 pm
content: Quote from: w2aew on May 03, 2012, 01:05:13 pmThe Agilent X 3000 does, only on/off though.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 03:17:58 pm
content: [joke mode]Using a scope to display video is not spectacular. the first tv sets had 3 tubes ( besides the picture tube) and could do it... here you have an analog scope full of electronics , and you still need to provide external trigger circuitry.Come back when you can feed it an HDMI signal and show the image in 3d, full color at 1920x1080 ...Now THAT would be impressive...[/joke mode]

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 03:36:59 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on May 03, 2012, 03:17:58 pmLOL! That would certainly be impressive, and take a lot more time than my 60min hack!

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 08:19:00 pm
content: Cool! My scope hack got posted to Hackaday!http://hackaday.com/2012/05/03/watch-a-shop-tour-through-the-screen-of-an-oscilloscope/

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 09:18:22 pm
content: Quote from: w2aew on May 03, 2012, 08:19:00 pmRock on!

author: Tube_Dude
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 10:39:48 pm
content: Hi, w2aewAwesome! You really are an analog oscilloscope Guru!Cheers...

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 03:37:49 am
content: I tinkered with the circuit some more, and dramatically improved the linearity and contrast/focus of the video on the scope. I think this circuit is going to have to be more permanently built onto a breadboard rather than the proto-board it's on now. I think I'll want to continue playing with this one in the future!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 04:42:39 am
content: We used to do this with a 545B back in the day,when afternoon shift at the TV site got a bit boring!We could cheat,as we had a horizontal & vertical drive generator in the rack,which we could lock to the incoming video.The image was negative,though,because we were too lazy to make up an inverter,& the 545B didn't give us access to the output of one of the vertical channels.It was always fun to show visitors!

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 07:25:08 am
content: For about as long as scopes and TVs have existed, people have also been doing the opposite...

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 01:14:39 pm
content: You would be hard pressed to guess where this came from.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 07:03:36 pm
content: I will take a flyer and say mains neutral.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 07:25:25 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on May 04, 2012, 07:03:36 pmNot even closeIt's a full reso 2MP picture so it's not exactly from a scope

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 07:29:16 pm
content: Looks like trend plot on a 8846A but without the graticule

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2012, 02:12:23 pm
content: Many folks have asked me via PM for a copy of the schematic for this little hack. Here is a scan of the final schematic - including several enhancements above/beyond the schematic shown in the video.

author: Short Circuit
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2012, 03:25:10 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on May 04, 2012, 07:25:08 amThat reminds me of my first 'scope' about 20 years ago, except I used an old Hercules PC monitor.No triggering, fixed timebase, unknown Y scale, but at least it allowed to get some insight in the signal.Luckily I could afford to spend the HFL500 for a 1-channel 5MHz russian scope quite soon thereafter(roughly equivalent money to a 2-channel entry level Rigol these days).

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2012, 08:57:57 pm
content: My first stab at scope was a hacked VU meter and a LED matrix readout. I created a 16x8 LED matrix which I connected to the VU meter kit. By multiplexing the columns I got a voltage/time graph. Fortunately my parents gave me a real scope when I was 14.