#1464 1GHz Rigol Oscilloscope

Episode 1464
by viewer request: can my Rigol MSO5354 rated a 350MHz see 1GHz signals

[robinbrowne]

Back in the 80s I had a Heathkit 10MHz scope. My kids used to play doctor with it. They would check their heartbeat by touching their finger to the probe.

[ats]

At 3:24, the counter has just settled at 1.000 GHz when your finger arrives to change the frequency to 1.1 GHz! 😀

[ivolol]

_counter shows 1ghz exactly when zoomed_

"Forget the counter!" 🤣

[ken]

I've tested my "hacked" Rigol MSO5072 with a MAX2870 signal generator -- Similar to the ADF4351, but the MAX2870 can go up to 6GHz!

BTW, seems like a new FW for the MSO5000 is coming soon. It showed up on Rigol's public FTP site earlier today.

[vincei]

Couple things. a) The roll off on the front end is dropping the level the counter can reliably trigger off. b) also could be the physical implementation of the counter which may not support counting over a certain number of ticks during whatever its sampling interval is internally. I think a video about how frequency counters work would be interesting, no ?
[edit] Silly me, you probably already have a video on that subject 😂

[BryanTorok]

This is freaking amazing that this relatively inexpensive scope will work that far out of its specification. I have an analog HP scope that was manufactured for the Navy in a watertight case. I bought it in the mid-1990s while I was in college, but was likely manufactured in the 1970s. It is rated 60 MHz, but that is the 3 dB down point. So, even with 100 MHz probes, by 100 MHz there is virtually no display. The scope still works, but something has failed in the trigger circuit so I can't get a stable display.

[Homer]

If you tested it at 1.21GW, your appearance would change to Doc Brown, according to Marty McFly. 👍

[lawrencelederer]

A 300 MHz Tektronix 2465 will measure up to 1GHz with an attenuated signal. You can measure the frequency with the cursors if the frequency counter can't. Your frequency counter worked just fine once you increased the signal size on the display.

[NickNorton]

It is handy the "Show something is there" bandwidth is far higher than the linear, rated bandwidth.

[cmuller]

The signal generator is probably the most interesting part. It looks like a demo board. What is it exactly?

[andyhaas]

What is the little square wave generator? I'd like one if it's cheap.

[makerspace]

I did some testing of my unlocked MSO5104 with an RF signal generator. I found the response was flat up to 500MHz with a 3Db rolloff at 650MHz. Very remarkable indeed. This was with 50 Ohm test cables and a feed thru terminator at the scope. The probes are rated 350MHz, but they were unpredictable past 100MHz even with care grounding, so you should be careful about probe use. Quick question: Is there a way to lock the vertical channels to 10:1. When ever I power up the scope it switches the inputs to 1:1.

[peter.s.]

It's interesting how we start to see lower frequency modulations starting at 1.1GHz and gets worse as you go up. Seems like the input filter is starting to alias a little bit.

[rickwise]

I would guess that the rounding and roll-off is the anti-alias filter rather than the sampling, no?

[arashghasemi]

What's the model number of the square wave generator? I guess they only send the output of sharp edge digital switch without enabling the bandpass filter?

[Scorry]

Strange that 8 MSa scope has so limited bandwidth. Did you observe those signals in dot mode, not in sin(x)/x interpolation? It should be interesting.

[hexagonrecords]

So after 1 year of purchase, would you say it is worth every penny for 1100$ ? Would you recomand it ? You didn't mention flaws of that scope, is there flaws to consider before buying ? I wan't to buy one but ouch 1100$.

[klvramaiah]

I recently purchased 200 MHZ series Rigol scope and bandwidth upgraded to 350 M HZ. I decided to measures its bandwidth. So i was giving a 75 MHz Squarewave from STM32 development board(3 .3 V, gpio signal driven by timer) initially. while doing this i observed the squarewave is getting attentuated and loosing its shape.i have doubt like
1) shouldn't we use the PVP2350 probes to do this test?
2) shouldn't we use squarewave to test the bandwidth of the scope?
3) how to proove my scope is actually 350 MHz ?
replies would help me to understand more about the bandwidth

[OriginalJetForMe]

Where can I get one of those clock generators?

[joeteejoetee]

Gosh I want to buy a newer Rigol Oscilloscope!