Ditched the digital oscilloscope for an old analog CRT

I was troubleshooting a weird intermittent glitch on a King Air autopilot last month, and everyone swore the digital scope was better. I went back to my 1990s Tektronix analog because I can actually see the waveform in real time without the buffer lag. Has anyone else found analog better for catching those split-second power drops?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucas_price8311d ago

Does this kind of thing happen more often than we admit? I feel like in a lot of areas, the newer digital tools overcomplicate things that used to work just fine with older technology. Like with cars, I have a buddy who swears his 90s pickup with manual everything is more reliable than any new truck loaded with sensors and computers. Sometimes the direct hands on approach just lets you catch the little details that get lost in the digital translation. Would you say that's true for other things you use, or is this just a scope thing?

jamieburns11d ago

Yeah the whole "newer is better" thing misses the point. Sometimes the direct feedback of an analog tool catches stuff that gets smoothed over or delayed in digital processing. It's like using a manual transmission where you feel the engine versus an automatic that hides everything from you.