To compliment the older analogue Tektronix oscilloscope, I have at my disposal a Hantek digital oscilloscope.

Although this instrument is a fairly low cost entry level digital scope, it performs perfectly well for my needs. The Hantek DSO5102B which is a dual channel 100 Mhz unit with 1 GS/a real time sampling rate and a more than adequate 1 MB memory depth (sample points) with a 7” LCD.

A handy feature of the DSO5102B is a “zoom” function which makes it easy to select a tiny portion of the viewed signal. In this mode, the screen “splits” into two windows. The original waveform is shown in the upper screen window and the magnified area is shown in the lower window.

There is an impressive selection of 32, yes 32, different waveform measurements. Any of these may be applied to either one of the two channels: Frequency, arithmetic mean voltage, period, peak-to-peak voltage, minimum, maximum, cycle RMS, rise time, fall time, positive width and negative width. The measurements displayed on the screen may be customised to suit the user – nifty!

You can read two different channels at the same time and perform math calculations with the signals and even apply the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. FFT is a mathematical version of viewing signals similar to a spectrum analyser.

The instrument has two USB ports, the first being on the front panel, into which can be inserted a USB flash drive for saving screen shot, and a second port on the rear for remote control from a PC, software is supplied with the oscilloscope. It has to be said, the supplied software is very basic and rather “buggy”.

A handy built in HELP system provides relevant on-screen help at any time simply by pressing the HELP button.

You can watch a review of the Hantek DSO5102 oscilloscope on youtube here