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From: jhs%Mitre-Bedford@d3unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ham-radio
Subject: nifty peripheral for your home computer...
Message-ID: <9161@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 12-Mar-85 19:39:17 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.9161
Posted: Tue Mar 12 19:39:17 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 15-Mar-85 02:39:15 EST
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 40


(I wish I could collect the value of this free advertising to the vendor...!)

Rapid System, Inc., 5415 136th Place, Vellevue, WA 98006 is offering a
"Digital Oscilloscope Peripheral" for several popular Personal Computers.

The device boasts 500 KHz bandwidth (2 MHz sampling rate) and sensitivity
down to 100 mV per division (which is 8 pixels vertically).  It has FOUR
separate inputs for vertical channels, plus a separate TRIGGER input with
polarity and sensitivity controls.  It provides also for internal triggering,
apparently only when looking at a single channel.  (Why don't they gate it so
you can look at all four but trigger off only channel A?  Oh, well...)

The peripheral sells for $399 for the Commodore and $499 for Apple and IBM
iterfaced models.  (What the traffic will bear is the name of the pricing
strategy they used, I guess!)

So far, so good.  However, they ALSO offer a nifty software package
called a Spectrum Analyzer!  So if you are too dumb or lazy, or both, to
write your own, you can have not only a 'scope but also an audio (500 KHz)
spectrum analyzer for around $600 if you already have the computer and the
display.  (The spectrum analyzer package sells for $149.)

It's not exactly realtime -- they quote 15 minutes worst case to do a
spectrum plot, including data collection, FFT and plotting -- but it sure
is cheap compared to Hewlett Packard!

Rapid Systems evidently isn't big on phone numbers.  Possibly they don't have
a phone in the garage.  Anyway, it looks like a very nice product for either
hobbyists or low-budget industrial labs who need a not very wideband but
VERY cheap scope and spectrum analyzer.

If anybody has used the system or has bought one, a "road test report" would
be very much of interest to the Net.

Congrats to Rapid Systems on a VERY interesting new product for the ham /
hobbyist / industrial / academic community.  I wish them success with it!

						73,
						 de W3IKG