Specifications

11
Basic Oscilloscope Controls and Measurements
Basic front-panel controls
Basic front-panel controls
Typically, you operate an
oscilloscope using the knobs
and buttons on the front panel.
In addition to controls found
of the front panel, many high-
end oscilloscopes now come
equipped with operating systems,
and as a result, they behave like
computers. You can hook up
a mouse and keyboard to the
oscilloscope and use the mouse
to adjust the controls through
drop down menus and buttons on
the display as well. In addition,
some oscilloscopes have touch
screens so you can use a stylus or
fingertip to access the menus.
Before you begin . . .
When you first sit down at your
oscilloscope, check that the
input channel you are using is
turned on. Then press [Default
Settings] if there is one. This
will return the oscilloscope to
its original default state. Then
press [Autoscale] if there is one.
This will automatically set the
vertical and horizontal scale
such that your waveform can be
nicely viewed on the display. Use
this as a starting point and then
make needed adjustments. If you
ever lose track of your waveform
or you are having a hard time
displaying it, repeat these steps.
Most oscilloscope front panels
contain at least four main
sections: vertical and horizontal
controls, triggering controls and
input controls.
Vertical controls
Vertical controls on an
oscilloscope typically are grouped
in a section marked Vertical;
these controls allow you to
adjust the vertical aspects of
the display. For example, there
will be a control that designates
the number of volts per division
(scale) on the y-axis of the
display grid. You can zoom in on a
waveform by decreasing the volts
per division or you can zoom
out by increasing this quantity.
There also is a control for the
vertical offset of the waveform.
This control simply translates
the entire waveform up or down
on the display. You can see the
vertical control section for an
Agilent InfiniiVision 5000 Series
oscilloscope in Figure 16.
Horizontal controls
An oscilloscope's horizontal
controls typically are grouped
in a front-panel section marked
Horizontal. These controls enable
you to make adjustments to the
horizontal scale of the display.
There will be a control that
designates the time per division
on the x-axis. Again, decreasing
the time per division enables you
to zoom in on a narrower range of
time. There will also be a control
for the horizontal delay (offset).
This control enables you to scan
through a range of time. You can
see the horizontal control section
for the Agilent InfiniiVision 5000
Series oscilloscope in Figure 17.
Figure 16. Front panel vertical control section on an Agilent InfiniiVision
5000 Series oscilloscope
Turns channel 1 on
Adjusts the vertical scaling for channel 4
Vertically translates the waveform on channel 3
Horizontally translates the waveform
Adjusts the horizontal scaling
Figure 17. Front panel horizontal control section on an
Agilent InfiniiVision 5000 Series oscilloscope
Oscilloscope Fundamentals