Re: "Sampler??"

On a sunny day (Wed, 31 Jul 2024 08:41:02 -0700) it happened john larkin
<jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in <i5mkajltsmevfuaii8t6trpseoi6bditvc@4ax.com>:

Those old monsters were big, heavy, and immensely complex. Not so
reliable.
>
Nowadays you can get a nice color digital SA with tracking generator
for around $1300 from Amazon. The little handheld toys start around
$60.
>
I think I'll order one for my new lab. Does anyone have suggestions?
There's a 1.5 GHz Rigol for $1300 and a 3.2g Siglent for $2600.
>
One key point will be front-end preselection/image rejection. I've
found that even the classic HPs had terrible spruious spikes, at
harmonics of the input frequency. Tek made one SA plugin that had *no*
image rejection. You had to figure it out yourself.

Tek had a nice 300 MHz analog one
I copied the circuit from an electronics magazine (early seventies IIRC) and build
something similar with it using an East German CRT I got for a few dollies ($$).
Many years later at Tek I met the man who had published that circuit,
he had got some headwind for publishing that circuit diagram.
Donated it when I left for far away...

It is not just the tool, it is your understanding how to use it and interpret it,
many dollies ($$) does not help with that.

But it does perhaps impress customers if you have shelves full of that stuff ;-)
For me it was just play and curiosity as always.

In broadcasting I was running around all day with a dual trace analog Tek on a scope card,