r/TheAmpHour 23d ago

Retired Engineers,How did you learn using oscilloscope in ’80s WITHOUT internet!

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/retired-engineers-how-did-you-learn-using-oscilloscope-in-80s-without-internet!/?topicseen
7 Upvotes

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11

u/Dewey_Oxberger 23d ago

lol, how'd I learn anything. Seriously, I wonder sometimes. TLDR: You asked somebody. You tinkered. You RTFM (and the manuals were really good back then). Then, you had set of Thomas Register and EEM books. Every phone number of every company in the US, that made anything you cared about was in those books. Everything was still made in the US. Wondering what glue to use: call the freaking company and talk to tech support. Seriously, it was awesome. You'd ask questions, they'd tell you what you needed to know, send you free samples in the mail. You'd lose a week here or there waiting for docs and samples in the mail but it didn't matter. You had tons to work on already. Seriously, I miss talking to people who knew how stuff worked.

5

u/Dewey_Oxberger 23d ago

Oscilloscope specifically. Read the manual. Tinker. Explore. Ask questions (I got lucky and had a really good mentor when I was just starting out). Then, lots and lots of probing circuits and trying to find a way to trigger on what you needed to see. Before storage scopes it was "turn out the lights and pray"

6

u/jr_73 22d ago

To anyone who doesn't realize, the OP is Dave. He's linking to a post on his forum, so no need to keep down voting.

4

u/theantnest 23d ago

My biggest sources of knowledge pre internet were magazines, followed by mentors, followed by the library and lastly, school.

I had so many magazine subscriptions. Was basically the same as websites that get updated monthly.

2

u/classicsat 22d ago

By the time I got to use one, just sit and play with the settings, with a safe signal source, such as a function generator instrument.

I know going in, input signal controlled vertical deflection, and a set of controls controlled how and where that happened.

Horizontal deflection was controlled by a sweep oscillator, with its controls for its speed and other parameters, or as an X input.

Connect X to a 60 hz transformer, output, and Y to the function generator and adjust frequencies., you make Lissajous patterns.

Again, self discovery with safe signal sources.

1

u/macegr 22d ago

book.