As a general purpose oscilloscope, the large memory and high bandwidths of the PicoScope 3200 range of PC oscilloscopes make them ideal for use in all areas of test and measurement — from manufacturing and repair to research and development.

Powerful enough to replace benchtop oscilloscopes

All three PicoScopes in the 3000 range feature high bandwidths and sampling rates previously not available with PC-based oscilloscopes. The PicoScope 3206 has an impressive 200 MHz analogue bandwidth and a single-shot sampling rate of 200 MS/s. Using Equivalent Time Sampling (ETS) for repetitive signals, the sampling rate is increased to a staggering 10 GS/s.

PicoScope PC oscilloscopes have the following advantages over traditional bench top instruments:

• Waveform storage is limited only by the PC's storage capability
• Captured waveforms and instrument settings can easily be shared with others
• New functionality through free software upgrades
• Compact and portable design

Large memory buffers allow the capture of fast and complex signals

All digital oscilloscopes collect data into a waveform buffer, the bigger the buffer memory the longer the scope can collect data without reducing its sampling rate. PicoScope 3200 PC oscilloscopes all feature large buffer memories — from an impressive 256 thousand samples for the PicoScope 3204 up to a remarkable one million samples for the PicoScope 3206.

Most oscilloscopes in the same price bracket as the PicoScope 3206 have buffer memories of below 32 kB. With 1 MB of memory, the 3206 can capture at least 30 times as much data allowing complex waveforms to be captured in great detail even if they last for long periods of time. Once captured, PicoScope oscilloscope software allows you to zoom in on your signal at up to 2000 times magnification — allowing you to examine every last detail of the signal.

USB 2.0 for fast data transfer

PicoScope 3000 series PC oscilloscopes are connected to the USB port on any modern laptop or desktop PC. The fast USB 2.0 (480 Mb/s) interface ensures a quick screen update rate, even when collecting large amounts of data, whilst still retaining backward compatibility with PC's using USB 1.1

PicoScope USB oscilloscopes can be powered directly by the USB bus, eliminating the need for an external power supply in most applications, eliminating the need for an external power supply, and making the PicoScope 3000 series ideal for use both in the lab and in the field.

Built-in Signal Generator

The PicoScope 3204 can output a fixed 1 kHz square wave for compensating oscilloscope probes. The signal generators built into the PicoScope 3205 and 3206 can output sine, square and triangle waves up to 1 MHz in frequency. A useful feature is the sweep function that can be combined with the spectrum analyzer peak hold function to quickly test the bandwidth response of filters and amplifiers.