Objective:

After performing this experiment, students will able to:

1. Use function generator, DC supply and digital multimeter.
2. Explain the four major function of controls on the oscilloscope.
3. Use an oscilloscope to measure ac and dc voltages.
Theory:
There are four major function of control on the oscilloscope (Display control, vertical control,
triggering control and horizontal control). The display control include INTENSITY, FOCUS,
and BEAM FINDER. The vertical controls include input COUPLING, VOLT/DIV, Vertical
POSITION and channel selection (CH1,CH2, DUAL, ALT, CHOP). The triggering controls
include MODE, SOURCE, trigger COUPLING, trigger LEVEL and others. The horizontal
controls include the SEC/DIV, MAGNIFIER and horizontal POSITION controls.
Procedure:
1. In each of the major groups reviewed the front panel controls. Then turned on the
oscilloscope, selected CH1, set the SEC/DIV to 0.1 ms/div, select AUTO triggering,
and obtained a line across the face of the CRT.
2. Turned on power supply and used the DMM to set the output for 1.0V. Used
multimeter to measuring this dc voltage from the power supply. Followed the
following step:
a. Placed the vertical COUPLING (AC-GND-DC) in the GND position.
Disconnected the input to the oscilloscope. Used the vertical POSITION
control to set the ground.
b. The CH1 for VOLT/DIV control to 0.2V/div was set.
c. Placed the oscilloscope on the positive side of the power supply. Placed the
oscilloscope ground on the power supply common. Moved the vertical
coupling to the DC position. The line should jump up on the screen by 5
divisons. Noted that 5 divisions times 0.2V per division is equal to 1.0V the
(supply voltage). Multiplication of the number of divisions of deflection times
volts per division was equal to the voltage measurement.

3. Set the power supply to each voltage listed in the table 1. Measured each voltage
using the above steps as a guide. The first line of the table has been completed as an
example. To obtained accurate readings with the oscilloscope, it is necessary to
selected the VOLT/DIV that gives several division of change between the ground
reference and the voltage to be measured. The reading on the oscilloscope and meter
should agree with each other within approximately 3%.
4. Before viewing ac signals, it is a good idea to checked the probe compensation for
your oscilloscope. To checked compensation, set the VOLT/DIV control to 0.1V/DIV,
the AC-GND-DC coupling control to DC, and the SEC/DIV control 2ms/div. Touched
the probe tip to the PROBE COMP connecter. Should observed a square wave with a
square wave with a flat top and square corners. If necessary, adjusted the
compensation to achieved a good square wave.
5. Set the function generator for an ac waveform with a frequency of 1.0kHz. Adjusted
the amplitude of the function generator for 1.0V rms as a read on your DMM. Set the
SEC/DIV control to 0.2ms/div and the VOLTS/DIV to 0.5V/div. Connected the scope
probe and its grounded to the function generator. Adjusted the vertical POSITION
control and trigger LEVEL control for a stable display near the center of the screen.
Should observed approximately two cycles of an ac waveform with a peak-to-peak
amplitude of 2.8V. This represents 1.0Vrms as shown in figure 1.1.
6. Used the DMM to set the function generator amplitude to each value listed in the
table 1.2. Repeated the ac voltage measurement as outline in step 4. The first line of
the table has been completed as an example.

Data and Results:

Power Supply
Setting

VOLT/DIV
setting

1.0V
2.5V
4.5V
8.3V

0.2volt/div
1volt/div
2volt/div
5volt/div

Power
generator
amplitude
1.0V
2.5V
4.5V
7.2V

VOLT/DIV
setting
0.5volt/div
2volt/div
2volt/div
2volt/div

Number of
divisions of
deflection(div)
5.0div
2.4div
2.25div
1.6div
Table 1.1

Oscilloscope
(measured
voltage)
1.0V
2.4V
4.5V
8V

DMM
(Measured
voltage)
1.0V
2.49V
4.54V
8.29V

Number of
divisions of
deflection(div)
5.6div
2.8div
4.5div
7.8div
Table 1.2

Oscilloscope
measured
(peak-to-peak)
2.8Vpp
5.6Vpp
9Vpp
15.6Vpp

Oscilloscope
measured
(rms)
1.0Vrms
2.0 Vrms
3.2 Vrms
5.5 Vrms

Analysis and Conclusion:

Based on the results obtained, analyse and conclude the results.
From the results obtained, it showed that the DC voltage measured by digital
multimeter is very closed to actual values of power supply. Meanwhile, the DC voltage
measured by oscilloscope is slightly different to the actual values of the power supply. The
observations proved that the digital multimeter has better accuracy compared to the
oscilloscope. Although, oscilloscope is lack compared to digital multimeter but the readings
difference still in the range of 3% which is common and its means that oscilloscope
functionality to measure DC voltage is reliable.
Secondly, it showed from the graph that the AC voltage measured by oscilloscope has
high difference compared to the actual AC voltage. Other than that, it also shows that the
higher the values of power supply the higher the error measured by the oscilloscope. The
observations proved that the oscilloscope has lack of accuracy in measuring AC voltage. This
is could be due internal defect.
As conclusion, the used of digital multimeter for this experiment has very good
accuracy in measuring the DC voltage. Meanwhile, the used of oscilloscope in this
experiment has a lack of accuracy in both measuring DC and AC voltage. Its measurement
accuracy of AC voltage is much lack compared to its measurement accuracy of DC voltage.

Graph Measured DC Voltage (V) over Power Supply (V) for Digital Multimeter and Oscilloscope

Graph Measured AC Voltage (V) over Power Supply (V) for Oscilloscope.

Evaluation and Review Questions:

1. (a) Compute the percent different between the DMM measurement and the
oscilloscope measurement for each dc voltage measurement summarized in table 1.1.
Calculation:
Expected value, Yn
Measured value, Xn

A 1
Relative accuracy,

Yn X n
Yn

% Accuracy, a = 100% - % error

= A 100

1. Yn = 1.0V, Xn = 1.0V

% Accuracy =
= 100 %

2. Yn = 2.49 V, Xn = 2.4V

% Accuracy =
= 96.39 %

3. Yn = 4.54 V, Xn = 4.5V

% Accuracy =
= 99.1%

4. Yn = 8.29 V, Xn = 8V

% Accuracy =

= 96.5%

(b)

Which you think is most accurate? Explain why.

The digital multimeter has better accuracy based on the accuracy

percentage calculation, it proved that digital multimeter has average of 99.1% of

accuracy in measuring DC voltage compared to the oscilloscope which has slightly
lower accuracy, 96.39%. The reason why the digital multimeter has higher accuracy is
due to its high input impedance. Therefore, the tested circuit is unlikely to be
disturbed. Meanwhile, oscilloscope unable to load down the circuit as it is designed
primarily for waveform observation.
5. Briefly describe the four main functional group of controls on the oscilloscope and the
purpose of each group.
a) Display control
i.

The purpose of this group is used to display and adjust the signal for
optimal viewing. It includes display screen, the intensity-control knob, the
beam-find button, the focus-control, and the power switch.

ii.

Commonly, the display screen has 8 by 10 centimeter grid. Through it,

graph is displayed by moving an electron beam inside the cathode-ray tube.

iii.

The glowing tracing happen as electron beam flow across phosphorous.

iv.

Besides, the intensity-control knob function is to adjust the brightness of

the trace. This level of brightness is set according to user preferences. Then,
the beam-find button provides location to user anytime the electron beam is
off screen. Lastly, the focus-control knob adjusts the electron beam for
optimal trace resolution.

b) Vertical control
i.

This group is used to adjust the vertical components (Y-axis) and the
vertical positon of the signal.

ii.

It consists of the vertical-position knobs, channel-selector switch, voltsper-division selector knobs, input-coupling switch, the channel-modeselector switch, the channel-2-invert switch.

iii.

The vertical-position knobs are used to move trace vertically on the

channel.

iv.

The channel-selector switch allows channel selection to be displayed on

the screen.

v.

The volts-per-division-selector knob is used to sets the vertical scale on

channels trace.

vi.

A division is one block on the screen and each tick mark is one fifth of a
division or 0.2. This knob is marked in both volts and millivolts.

vii.

The input-coupling switch, labelled AC/GND/DC, selects the coupling

mode of that channels display. AC means that only the alternating portion
of the signal is displayed. DC will display both the alternating portion of
the signal, plus any DC component. GND shows the 0V reference level.

c) Triggering control
i.

In order to display a signal, the oscilloscope must be able to lock the

signal, therefore the function of the triggering controls is to lock the signal.

ii.

The trigger group is made up of the trigger level knob, the rising/falling
edge switch, the trigger mode switch, the hold off knob, the trigger source
switches, and the trigger coupling switch.

iii.

The trigger-level knob sets the voltage level at which the oscilloscope
will trigger. When the signal is not stable, the trigger level may be too
high or too low for the oscilloscope to recognize the signal.

iv.

This adjustment provides a mechanism for ignoring small signals or low

voltages that are well below the level of the signal you are interested in.

v.

Besides, the rising or falling-edge switch selects whether the

oscilloscope will trigger on the positive or negative edge of the signal.
Positive is for rising and negative is for falling.

vi.

Then, the trigger-mode switch will normally be set to AUTO but it can
be changed to NORM.

vii.
viii.

The hold-off knob affects the delay associated with triggering.

The trigger-source switches allow us to select which signal the
oscilloscope will attempt to lock onto.

ix.

Examples of choices includes CH1, CH2, VERT MODE or

EXTERNAL.

d) Horizontal control

i.

The Horizontal Control Group have various knobs and switch which are
coarse and fine position knobs, the horizontal magnifications switch, the
second-per-division-selector knob, and the magnification-scale selector
switch.

ii.

The coarse and fine-position-knobs allow the horizontal movement of the

traces for both rough manner and precise manner.

iii.

The movement is used to position the traces in a manner that makes

measurement both more convenient and precise manner.

iv.

The movement is used to position the traces in a manner that makes

measurement both more convenient and precise.

v.
vi.

The horizontal-magnification switch allows the horizontally magnified.

The trace separation knob in the Vertical-Control Group allows for the
vertical separation of the X1 trace from the magnified.

vii.

The seconds-per-division knob sets the time base for the horizontal scale. It
is marked in seconds, milliseconds, and microseconds.

6. If you having difficulty obtaining a stable display, which group of controls should you
adjust?
Trigger control. This control sets an internal voltage which is compared to the voltage
of the input signal. As the input signal same as the trigger voltage, the scope trigger.
In order to get a stable image, the level knob need to be turn back and forth slowly
until the stable image obtained.
7. (a) If an ac waveform has 3.4 divisions from peak-to-peak and the VOLT/DIV control
is set to 5.0V/Div, what is the peak-to-peak voltage?
Vpp = 5.0x3.4
=17.5V

(b)

What is the rms voltage?

Vrms = Vpp / 22
= 17.5 / 22
= 6.187V

The RMS voltage is the effective value of a varying voltage. It is same to steady DC
constant value so they have same effect. As example, a lamp connected to a 6V RMS
AC supply would have same brightness when connected to a steady 6V DC supply.
Others example, a sin wave with an RMS value of 8V RMS, required 8V DC to
supply same power via DC voltage. This is because the RMS wave value is equivalent
to steady DC value.
8. If you want to view the amplitude of an ac waveform that is 20.0Vrms, what setting of
the volt/div is best?
By assuming the best number of division of deflection is 4, then the best setting is 20
volts/div. This is because the larger the portion of display, the more accurate the
measurement.
9. The most accurate way to measure a waveform on an oscilloscope is to use a large
portion of the display area. Why?
This is because if a volts/div setting is 5 volts, then each of the vertical major division
represents 5 volts. However, if the setting is 0.5 volts/div, then each of the vertical
major division represents 0.5 volts. Therefore, by having large portion of display area,
the vertical minor division would be able represent smaller changes of voltage in
waveform.