time.

Morecomplicatedtriggersexisttofocusonstandardizedwaveformsthatcarryvideodata,likeNTSCor
PAL.Thesewavesuseauniquesynchronizingpatternatthebeginningofeveryframe.
Youcanalsousuallyselectatriggeringmode,which,ineffect,tellsthescopehowstronglyyoufeelaboutyour
trigger.Inautomatictriggermode,thescopecanattempttodrawyourwaveformevenifitdoesnttrigger.
Normalmodewillonlydrawyourwaveifitseesthespecifiedtrigger.Andsinglemodelooksforyourspecified
trigger,whenitseesititwilldrawyourwavethenstop.

TheProbes
Anoscilloscopeisonlygoodifyoucanactuallyconnectittoasignal,andforthatyouneedprobes.Probesare
singleinputdevicesthatrouteasignalfromyourcircuittothescope.Theyhaveasharptipwhichprobesintoa
pointonyourcircuit.Thetipcanalsobeequippedwithhooks,tweezersorclipstomakelatchingontoacircuit
easier.Everyprobealsoincludesagroundclip,whichshouldbesecuredsafelytoacommongroundpointon
thecircuitundertest.

Whileprobesmayseemlikesimpledevicesthatjustlatchontoyourcircuitandcarryasignaltothescope,
theresactuallyalotthatgoesintoprobedesignandselection.
Optimally,whataprobeneedstobeisinvisibleitshouldnthaveanyeffectonyoursignalundertest.
Unfortunately,longwiresallhaveintrinsicinductance,capacitance,andresistance,so,nomatterwhat,theyll
affectscopereadings(especiallyathighfrequencies).
Thereareavarietyofprobetypesoutthere,themostcommonofwhichisthepassiveprobe,includedwith
mostscopes.Mostofthestockpassiveprobesareattenuated.Attenuatingprobeshavealargeresistance
intentionallybuiltinandshuntedbyasmallcapacitor,whichhelpstominimizetheeffectthatalongcablemight
haveonloadingyourcircuit.Inserieswiththeinputimpedanceofascope,thisattenuatedprobewillcreatea
voltagedividerbetweenyoursignalandthescopeinput.

Mostprobeshavea9Mresistorforattenuating,which,whencombinedwithastandard1Minputimpedance
onascope,createsa1/10voltagedivider.Theseprobesarecommonlycalled10Xattenuatedprobes.Many
probesincludeaswitchtoselectbetween10Xand1X(noattenuation).