Like a lot of hardware tinkerers, [dexter2048] has a Rigol DS1052E oscilloscope sitting on his bench. One day when trying to coax some information out of the FFT setting, [dexter] threw his hands up in frustration and decided to write a file viewer with FFT spectrum analysis. The resulting viewer gives this very capable and inexpensive oscilloscope a spectrum analyzer.
[dexter2048]’s app is able to capture signals from 0 Hz to 500 MHz and demonstrated this fact by sticking a piece of wire into one of the Rigol’s inputs. The resulting waveform is then sent to a computer where [dexter] got a nice picture of the radio spectrum between 82MHz and 114MHz. In his graph, you can clearly see the FM radio stations that can be picked up in [dexter]’s lab.
This small modification to the Rigol DS1052E oscilloscope it the latest in a long line of hacks that give this wonderful, inexpensive scope double the bandwidth, data collection via Python, and even a homebrew version of Pong. Anything that provides new functionality for old gear is great news to us, and we look forward to many, many more 1052E hacks in the future.
Tip ‘o the hat to [Murlidhar] for sending this in.
IN DEXTER’S LAAAAAAAB
Am I the only one who thought that?
I wonder if there’s gloom and doom when things go boom.
I wrote that line. Then I saw it.
“That’ll do”
Newbie, (where can I get an actual copy of the hack-text?)
Really nice ;)
The FFT view was the most disappointing feature on this scope in my opinion ;)
The scope manufacturer is Rigol, not rygol…
Otherwise, very good
Maybe it’s a cheap Chinese knock-off. B^)
Came to post this too.
Damn myself all to hell
@Brian, if you’re going to go to Hell, do it for something more spectacular than that. B^)
uhm, my rigol has this, its under math menu, fft
More rigol wfm reader source code:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/18999-read-binary-rigol-waveforms
And a wfm reader from sourceforge, reported to also read tektronix waveform files:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wfmreader/
Perhaps the better FFT processing code could be loaded directly on the Rigol itself? http://rigolwiki.codenaschen.de/index.php/Main_Page
Might want to read more carefully. Dexter’s post talks about *sampling* at 500 MHz. That’s a 250 MHz Nyquist. But hey, it’s only a factor of 2 error.
As for the fft function on the Rigol, I haven’t quite figured out what it’s doing. My guess is that it’s windowing based on the sweep rate and averaging. Whatever it’s doing, it’s hard to see how it’s of much use.
Nice plot of the FM band, but I take it that this is a snapshot not realtime? Is the biggest spike your home “pirate” radio station? It is with me.
I made a spectrum analyzer out of a car radio and a sweep ckt and o’scope. The sweep freq could be varied and in realtime would show details like powerline noise visibly separate from carrier signals. The tuner could sweep above FM and show the brief aviation traffic.
Hacking the Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope with Linux
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hacking-the-Rigol-DS1052E-Oscilloscope-with-Linux/