Anyone who likes to experiment with electronics, especially radio equipment, simply can’t go wrong buying an oscilloscope. I recently picked up a Hantek DSO2D15 for about $200. on Amazon. It goes to 150 MHz and works great! I did several tests with tones and RF and it picks up every waveform accuarately. It even has a built-in signal generate that’s pretty accurate.
I also picked up an spectrum analyzer. When I became a ham, such a device was quite expensive and few hams had them. I bought a Zeenko TinySA Ultra+ for about $180 on Amazon. It scans from daylight to 6 GHz and includes a signal generator as well. It has a very sensitive input. If I have an antenna connected to it and key up any of my HTs on high power, the unit could be destroyed. It actually came with a 50 dB attenuator rated at 50 watts. I normally keep the attenuater inline between the antenna and the RF input so as to not damage the unit. I have two DMR hotspots in the office, each putting out about 10 mw on 70 cm. With the attenuator in place, they show up fine and on frequency.
The scope and spectrum analyzer came with a lot of features I was not expecting. The scope has a measurement button that will display measurements of just about everything that has to do with a waveform. It has an “Auto Set” button that automatically selects the best v/div, s/div, and trigger to make a nice waveform. It even way to decode signals, like from a serial port. How cool is that? The spectrum analyzer includes a headphone jack so that I can listen to a signal if I want. It even has software that runs on Linux so I can plug it into the computer and control it from there. The scope has simiar software but it only runs on Windows.
I’ve been a ham for over 30 years and I’ve always wanted a good scope and spectrum analyzer. Thanks to advances in technology, one can now buy very good instruments for a great price. Sure, they aren’t exactly “lab grade”, but they get the job done for me.
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