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Just switched from a multimeter to a scope for troubleshooting nav gear
Been using a Fluke 87 for years on every avionics bench job. Last Thursday had a King KX 155 that kept dropping the glideslope flag. Spent 3 hours chasing voltages with the meter. Nothing. Guy at the next bench said try the scope. Found a 60 Hz ripple on the power rail in 10 minutes. Scope is my new go to. Anybody else hold out on getting a scope for way too long?
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alicecooper28d agoTop Commenter
Used to think scopes were overkill for radio work... had that same Fluke 87 for about 15 years and swore by it. Then a buddy let me borrow his old Tektronix for a finicky Narco nav receiver that would drift off frequency. Wiggled the probe around the local oscillator section and saw the waveform smearing all over. Fixed it in 20 minutes with a solder iron instead of guessing for hours. That ripple thing you found is exactly the kind of ghost a meter just cant see... changed my mind real quick.
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butler.finley28d ago
That Narco musta been a nightmare before the scope showed up.
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seanlee27d ago
That old Tektronix probably saved me from throwing my Fluke across the hangar more than once lol. I still love my meter for basic checks but seeing that waveform jitter in real time is like cheating compared to poking around blind for hours. Guess I'm officially a scope believer now even if my wallet isn't.
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