hand held or bench oscilloscope?

[phill05]

Whats the opinion on a Hitachi Denshi V222 with a Thandar 2MHz Function Generator, with manuals and cables.

Phill

[Doddy]

Whats the opinion on a Hitachi Denshi V222 with a Thandar 2MHz Function Generator, with manuals and cables.

Phill

What is it that you're looking to use this for? From what I can gather from google this is a 20MHz dual channel CRT oscilloscope with a modulatable Z input (intensity - I've used this sort of thing in the past in place of cursive displays). Old analogue technology, with a trigger supporting TV synchronisation as well as the usual, heavy as hell, and with an aged CRT display (look for phosphor burn and adequate intensity and focus). Probably very useful for audio and unmodulated analogue video work, as well as low-end/frequency repetitive waveform digital measurement. If that floats your boat, I'd squint hard if the cost on fleabay was more than about £40.

The Function Generator - You don't offer much to go on, but likely a useful tool given the limited frequency range - good for testing audio circuits and even stepper systems for sure provided that it provides a DC offset (most do). Assuming a typical analogue job, If I was in the market for one, again, I'd hesitate above £30-£40.

If you look at the new digital chinese systems - you simply get more bang for your buck. An arbitary waveform function generator will cost about £40-£50 for entry level and will knock the socks off the Thandar, unless you need the low distortion of the analogue design that I assume the Thandar is based upon. Digital scopes just simply wipe the floor with basic entry-level analogue scopes - okay, you're looking at the numbers mentioned earlier in this thread £100-£250 entry level for PC/bench respectively, but they are simply more capable (and capable of misinterpretation!... caveat empor applies).

To put in context, I threw a Tektronix 453 dual trace analogue scope in the tip more than a decade ago. A beautiful 50MHz dual channel scope that would outperform the Hitachi, that from an electrical design was a thing of utter beauty, but just 50 years too old and from an analogue era long gone.

[cropwell]

I used to have a Gould 2 channel 10MHz scope which I bought in 1978. After it sat on a garage shelf for 20 years, I tried it out and it worked. Unfortunately I decided to sell it on eBay and got £24 for it. I now have a portable hand-held single channel scope that is next to useless and a two channel Velleman device, which wirelessly connects to my PC or tablet. It is OK, that is all I can say about it. I thought it was OK for £60, but did not know that Velleman had discontinued it in favour of a better model with a signal generator and USB connection.

If you want to use a scope seriously, I would not advise these sort of devices, but for the dabbler, who just wants to check a waveform or pulse timing, they are adequate.

Doddy, thanks for reminding me about Elektor, I used to read it 40 years ago. I didn't realise it was still going. I might get a copy or two to see what it is like nowadays, it was certainly better than Practical Electronics in those days.

Rob

[Doddy]

Doddy, thanks for reminding me about Elektor, I used to read it 40 years ago. I didn't realise it was still going. I might get a copy or two to see what it is like nowadays, it was certainly better than Practical Electronics in those days.
Rob

Wireless World (too much into the radio side for me)... Everyday Electronics (pretty comprehensive and theory led)... Hobby Electronics (suited my prepubescent years), and Elektor (top-end kit - vaguely remember building and repurposing their Z80 kit from their weather forecasting system). Fond memories of ways to spend your pocket money :)

[the great waldo]

Wireless World (too much into the radio side for me)... Everyday Electronics (pretty comprehensive and theory led)... Hobby Electronics (suited my prepubescent years), and Elektor (top-end kit - vaguely remember building and repurposing their Z80 kit from their weather forecasting system). Fond memories of ways to spend your pocket money :)

Electronics Today was pretty good for guitar effects and such like. I've still got some copies that are brown with age. I really miss going up the edgware road to Smiths Laskys and Henrys they sure beat internet surfing searching through buckets off old bits and pieces.
Cheers
Andrew

[phill05]

It is part of my late brother-in-laws workshop he was a radio ham and into electric clocks/watches so the audio remark make sense, sister wants me to sell it.

[Muzzer]

...and Practical Wireless. Less nerdy and DXy than Wireless World, sort of closer to Everyday Electronics and Elektor. Had an article published in it once, pretty sure I spent most of the payment on tooling.

I've seen Elektor a few times in WH Smith and it doesn't quite feel like it used to. It was always a challenge getting your hands on the new devices they were trying out but I managed a few of them. Did my first SMPS and a DVM from their designs, back in ~1980.

[Kitwn]

Not forgetting Radio Communication, (RadCom these days), the journal of the Radio Society of Great Britain. That's where I saw an advert for a job with the long gone BBC Transmitter Dept. back in 1982. And the rest is history, as they say. Well my history anyway

[Muzzer]

I recall that vaguely. I briefly bothered with a licence after passing the test (couldn't be bothered with learning Morse though) - G8XCN, IIRC. I did most of my transmitters before then. I guess legalising it removed much of the excitement factor. Then I got more into UHF digital frequency synthesisers, DFMs, directional aerials etc. Could never understand people getting excited about DXing. To me it's like using a workshop to make model engines....

[Kitwn]

I recall that vaguely. I briefly bothered with a licence after passing the test (couldn't be bothered with learning Morse though) - G8XCN, IIRC. I did most of my transmitters before then. I guess legalising it removed much of the excitement factor. Then I got more into UHF digital frequency synthesisers, DFMs, directional aerials etc. Could never understand people getting excited about DXing. To me it's like using a workshop to make model engines....

I lost serious interest in amateur radio when I became a professional. I did manage to get the licence G0 KIT as the timing meant I didn't have to wait long for that one to come round and someone was going to get it!
Receivers were a bit of a speciality of mine, the performance of the frequency synthesisers being a critical part of separating the good from the bad, and digital modulation/demodulation, though more in theory than practice. I could talk all day about Coded Orthogonal Frequency Divison Multplex coding and decoding and indeed did so on many occasions. UHF synthesiser noise performance was a big concern for the early digital TV set-top box designers and baseline receiver performance was a signifficant part of the transmitter network planning.