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Member's Forum Question of the Month: How often do you use a Handheld Oscilloscope?
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  • Replies 43 replies
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  • Handheld oscilloscope
  • oscilloscope
  • question of the month
Related

Question of the Month: How often do you use a Handheld Oscilloscope?

vivekvelusamy
vivekvelusamy over 2 years ago

e14 Question of the Month

Engineers are on the go. Gone are the days when engineers do most of their work in the lab or on the bench. They use test equipment in the facility or at a job site, that is, out of the ordinary locations. For these settings, engineers need handheld, portable equipment to make precise, accurate measurements. Handheld oscilloscopes are the focus of this month's Question of the Month: How often do you use a Handheld Oscilloscope?

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  • battlecoder
    battlecoder over 2 years ago

    I have a couple of handheld oscilloscopes. None of them are high-end, but they are surprisingly capable, for a lot of use cases.

    I originally thought that I'd be only using them only for "field" work, and for the rare occasions where I'm not near my bench-top scopes, but turns out I've found myself using them even when I have my other scopes at arm's reach.

    Handheld oscilloscopes are normally simpler, so they boot instantly and require less fiddling with settings, so for a quick inspection they are quite efficient.

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  • vmate
    vmate over 2 years ago

    Although I've never had a nice handheld scope, ever since I got my DHO804, which can be powered from an external battery bank with USB-C, I don't feel the need to get or use a handheld one. It's small enough to carry around, although larger than handheld scopes, it's so much nicer to use than a portable one.

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to manojroy123
    manojroy123 said:
    Depends upon project to project

    What are the dependencies? When do you go for handheld vs bench?

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  • dougw
    dougw over 2 years ago in reply to rsc

    A spectrum analyzer and a VNA would be nice....Relaxed

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  • manojroy123
    manojroy123 over 2 years ago

    Depends upon project to project

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  • rsc
    rsc over 2 years ago

    My Rigol scope is about as portable as I need for now.  I'd like to get a handheld spectrum analyzer some day.

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  • DAB
    DAB over 2 years ago

    I have never used a handheld Oscilloscope.

    Though back was I was an electronics technician, I would have probably used it a couple of times/week.

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  • genebren
    genebren over 2 years ago

    My DSO-TC2 is my only handheld scope.  I have only used it a few times as a scope but use it quite frequently as a component identifier as I build up PCBs and have tiny SMD components (mostly unmarked capacitors) fall off the PCB or get send flying during tweezer placement.  

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  • Christopher678
    Christopher678 over 2 years ago

    I Never

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  • BigG
    BigG over 2 years ago

    I really like using a scope that connects to a laptop, or tablet (typically via USB). You get a great UI and data analytics capability with this option.

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