Well I'm going to call it official, that I am one of three candidates for this RoadTest. I'm assuming if you accept the offer and the equipment shows up at your door then it is official, even though there hasn't been any announcement on the RoadTest Review posting. RS will no doubt get to that later.
The equipment arrived but just after an email indicating the scope shipped is not the correct model. The Pico 6403E was delivered, confirmed. I am now dealing with the logistics of getting the correct scope 6424E delivered while returning the errant unit. Oh well, more wait time
The anticipation of this RoadTest review reminded me of Christmas mornings from my youth. After being asked to provide a list of Christmas wants, I waited knowing the wanted gifts would be included with the needed gifts. The balance of gifts I received would always favour the needs. I did know at the end of the Christmas wait, I would receive at least one item I actually asked for.
In this version of a Christmas story, I asked for the PicoScope 6424E Oscilloscope + Accessories. On reflection, there were 87 applications and mine was selected. Thank you Santa! After sharing the selection victory with my family I had this thought. I feel I have made the list of individuals, that are complained about on rscasny blog posts that have examined the RoadTest Review process. I'm one of those select few people, that always get picked for the good stuff. The complaint is why bother to apply? Of course the winner of a RoadTest review will always be one of those elite and then names get listed on the post. My name was never there. Like Steve Martin in the movie The Jerk, I made the phone book, I made the phone book!
Well the anticipation is over and now comes the excitement that is tempered with trepidation. What did I pitch in my application? Can I deliver? I never thought I would win. What happens if I can’t produce? Pause, take a breath. Calm blue ocean. Just remind yourself, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time. You have been here before.
The pitch in my application was to review the equipment while analyzing servo motor operation. I did a tutorial for a magazine publication back in June 2019 describing the operation of servo motors on a Raspberry Pi. It doesn’t work on a Pi today. What has changed?
Servo motor operation on the Pi has be lack lustered in comparison to operation on a microcontroller like an Arduino. My goal is to examine the pulse width modulation (PWM) signals that drive servo’s to look for a better understanding.
The gear for this RoadTest includes a Probe holder kit. The advert suggests it's the ideal test bed for scoping printed circuit boards. I have my grand-daughter conditioned to not touch things on pops test bench. We will see how the setup works both on the kid when all the probes are sticking up in the air.
The equipment is primarily supported in Windows but is available in MAC & Linux. I primarily operate in Linux but do have Windows available. This will be a learning curve in both equipment and operating systems. I’m hoping to deliver a assessment of the term "available" for Linux.
I also hope to dabble in the channel capacity using the MSO. I have a oscilloscope loading experiment I plan to deliver that I'm hoping actually works and provides some insight.
My experience with digital oscilloscope is minimal. I confessed that shortcoming in my application. I have used the experience of the E14 community to make a purchase of a scope Mini scope recommendations. My purchase sat on the shelf unused. Other shiny things called commitments, distracted me. I did complete a software upgrade on the device I purchased while preparing the application for this review. I’m confident I can deliver more output on this scope than what I did with my purchase.
It has been 25 years, since I left the screens of oscilloscopes in electronics and followed a career that focused on screens in front of computers. I recall my Tecktronic oscilloscope days. Maintenance and installation of ground based avionic systems were anchored in scopes for confirmation of equipment operational parameters. The vertical propagation delay of LDF450 was...... wait that was for setting up time domain reflectometer equipment and not oscilloscopes. Oh this may be harder than I thought.
The formula I have used in the past for RoadTesting equipment, has been to make blog posts as the review progresses. This accumulates the material that will be summarize in the official RoadTest Review formatted report. I also like to think it engages the E14 Community. I know post about RoadTest reviews I have applied on and have not be successful appeal to me. I read their posts and sometimes comment with envy.
This Application blog posting is the first of the series of posts. It shares upfront, the details of the application. It also provides an outline of what is to come. I have roughly framed a list of these other blog posts:
- The Application
- Christmas morning impressions, unboxing the equipment inventory
- Equipment setup and learning resources for the blue screen of death environment
- What are the first impression of the probe holder kit using Raspberry Pi and Adruino Uno test platforms
- Scoping the servo operation using the test equipment
- Loading the equipment signal inputs with PWM
- Windows and Linux operating system assessment
I’m writing this first post after just receiving the wrong equipment. My commitment is to deliver on what I indicated in the application, when the equipment arrives. The blog postings, however many I deliver, will support that commitment.
Bring up the tail end of this blog post is my thanks to the E14 RoadTest Review committee and the vendor for selecting my application. Having worked with some of the talent people that applied on this review, the selection committee's choice could not have been easy. I consider myself a lucky candidate. I appreciate the confidence you have in me and hope to not only meet but exceed your expectations in the review.
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