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MSOX3104 graticule not square?

Question asked by neganur on Apr 13, 2014
Latest reply on Apr 16, 2014 by Willco788

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Hi,
I'm enjoying my new oscilloscope at the moment but couldn't help noticing that the graticule isn't square. It is approximately 15 x 12 mm.
Coming from a Tektronix 7104, I'm used to a perfectly square-shaped graticule.

What is the reason that the Agilent scope is not square?

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algoss Apr 14, 2014 2:11 AM
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Are you really talking about an OLD Tek 7104?

If so...

Old scopes were based on electrons being fired from a "gun" in the back of the CRT, and being deflected, magnetically, as they moved toward the front. It was easiest to make those vacuum tubes the same dimension in the vertical and horizontal direction, since the same magnetics could be used in each direction, among other things.

Modern scopes are built with LCD screens, and almost all of the ones available are either in a 4:3 or 16:9 format, that's what the scopes have. All measurements are made by the scope and the vertical and horizontal settings are in terms of divisions. Some scopes use space on the right side for measurements, which helps square things up somewhat, but since text tends to go horizontally, the top and bottom of the screen get used, too.

It's a new world.

Al
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- neganur @ algoss on Apr 14, 2014 8:23 AM
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  Hi Al,
  
  thank you for taking the time to look into my issue!
  
  But I fear I wasn't very clear when explaining what I meant. Of course the display technology is very different, which is something I really appreciate. But the grid, or graticule, on the infiniiVision oscilloscope is not square, it is rectangular. Note, that I am neither talking about the screen size nor aspect ratio.
  
  When you change the horizontal mode of the MSOX3104 into XY mode, the graticule actually changes from an 1.45 x 1.1 mm to an 1.1 x 1.1 mm.
  
  The reason for the graticule dimension change when changing to XY mode highlights my issue pretty well. The shape of the curve changes (take the 90° phase shift circle as an example). I find it a bit annoying that the waveforms are elongated.
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  - Normal.png12.4 KB
  - HMO3522.png10.9 KB
  - XY.png12.2 KB
  - Tek7104.JPG2.1 MB
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  - algoss @ neganur on Apr 16, 2014 2:41 AM
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    I appreciate your comments, but...
    
    The shape of the graticule is related to the screen size, aspect ratio, and the use of the available pixels. Every designer makes different choices based on what they want to show on the screen at any given time.
    
    Very few people use XY mode these days. It was easy to do for CRT based scopes, and produces pretty pictures. Now there are generally other ways to get the same information, about phase, and relative frequency, with the built-in measurements.
    
    Al
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    - Willco788 @ algoss on Apr 16, 2014 6:26 AM
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      To me it's the equivalent of watching an old 1960's TV show on a modern TV and the picture is stretched to fill the screen. The oscilloscope trace will be stretched a bit but as long as the graticules are calibrated it really doesn't matter.
      
      Jack
      Willco Electronics
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MSOX3104 graticule not square?

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