Development of Affordable Portable Oscilloscope Using Vacuum Tubes

Abstract

The goal of this project is developing an affordable oscilloscope for the average hobbyist and making it simple to use and build. The developed oscilloscope is an analog oscilloscope. Because they are much simpler to build than digital ones, they are generally more resistant to high voltages and allow the user to measure voltages up to hundreds of volts without damaging the oscilloscope. This gives the user a greater freedom in experimentation. As the oscilloscope is an analog one the display will be provided with a cathode ray tube. Having a CRT display makes the driving circuit of the display much simpler than a digital one. To allow the oscilloscope to handle high voltages and to be able to power the x and y deflection on the CRT, vacuum tubes will be used. Even though vacuum tubes consume and waste power for the heating of their cathodes, that will only present a couple watts of loses that can be ignored in this prototype development.