Using a scope

[steve ravet]

> In Dallas on the first Saturday of each month, there is a swap meet
> for electronic stuff.  It started out decades ago as a ham radio
> meet, but as evolved to a computer orientation.  There is a lot of
> test equipment there including HP stuff.  Can I tell if a scope
> works properly as long as the guy can turn it on?

A lot of scopes have an oscillator built in to them that you can hook 
a probe to.  It's usually 50KHz or something like that?  Look for a 
little loop that you can clip a probe to on the front face, it'll 
says something like "calibration".  If the scope properly displays 
the waveform it's probably good enough for automotive work.

Also, Tom Cloud or someone else could probably tell you how to build 
an oscillator from a 555 chip and a 9 volt battery and a couple other 
things.  You could carry that with you to test scopes with.

--steve