[time-nuts] Rigol scopes

Robert Atkinson robert8rpi at yahoo.co.uk
Tue Apr 17 11:38:58 UTC 2012


I quite like the HP 546xx series 'scopes. An "analog like" interface but good DSO facilities. My regular 'scope at home is a 54645D mixed signal. Ideal for lower speed logic/anlog circuits and 8 bit PICs. Takes up a lot less space than a 16500x logic analyser! I still keep an older analog 'scope tucked away though. I'm supriesd no-one has mentioned latency (or maybe I missed it) My last work place had a Lecroy Waverunner that was PC based and it was very annoying to use. Both signal and control response was poor.  It also went off into self calibration at the most awkward moments. The 546xx has 3 lowerpower processors, each dedicated to a function and it shows. Used to have a HP 1980B and quite liked it. It was an analog 'scope with a digitiser attached. It was intened for ATE use so the single knob was not considered an issue.
 
Robert G8RPI

 

________________________________
From: "GandalfG8 at aol.com" <GandalfG8 at aol.com>
To: time-nuts at febo.com 
Sent: Monday, 16 April 2012, 23:29
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Rigol scopes

In a message dated 16/04/2012 22:15:50 GMT Daylight Time,  
lstoskopf at cox.net writes:

I bought one of the 50 MHz versions at Dayton last year.  OK for my needs. 
Not mentioned here is that the difference between the 50  and 100 MHz 
scopes is software control of roll off on the input.  I haven't  done it, but 
procedure was available on the WEB on how to spoof the  software.
--------------

It's still there, and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned  it earlier, it's 
on the eevblog forum, topic 553......

"Changing the  rigol DS1052E to DS1102E using USB , the dummy guide"

That forum's been running for a couple of years now and I can  testify that 
the software "modification" works very well.

I've seen it suggested that all 1052s are just 1102s that  failed to meet 
the 100MHz spec so have been sold as the "lesser"  version and that 
"upgraded" units will be somehow inferior to a "proper"  1102, but that's just a load 
of rubbish and I've performed the measurements to  prove it.
This is a classic example of "software  defined" equipment in general where 
the same hardware can be sold at different  prices depending on what's 
enabled, or crippled, in the firmware.

Given the price of the 1052, especially following the  reductions sometime 
after I bought mine and even without the bonus  conversion, it's an absolute 
steal.

Cue "the seller isn't really my wife or uncle....honest"  message:-)

The menu system can be a bit of a pain but it's intuitive  enough to manage 
without the manual, and of course one has  to be aware of the limitations, 
but I'm actually finding it far more user  friendly than my Tek CRT based 
DSO.

Perhaps one of the problems is that the Rigols really do  offer so much for 
so little, and in a relatively small box, that it's  sometimes difficult to 
take them as seriously as they deserve.

I still think of the Tek, and an older HP1740 that's tucked  away 
somewhere, as my "real" scopes but it's interesting  that the 1052/1102 is always now 
the first one I turn  to as my general purpose bench unit.

Interesting too to consider that it's had no problem  displaying the 1PPS 
pulse from several 5680A Rubidium units whilst half the list  was still 
querying whether or not such pulses even existed:-)

There was an earlier post mentioned the "spontaneous"  splitting of knobs 
and I have to agree this can be a  problem.
Having had three that split, without provocation or a by  your leave, I was 
eventually sent some replacements only to find it was  impossible to force 
them on to the shafts without pushing the attached PCB out  of the back of 
the scope and into never never land.
On that basis I decided it probably wasn't so much another  case of poor 
quality Chinese plastics as just another case of poor Chinese not  quite 
getting the size right!

So now I have some substitute knobs that do fit, don't quite  match but 
what the heck, and a scope that still works remarkably  well.

I can live with that:-)

Nigel
GM8PZR






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