[Radio Wrangler]

An oscilloscope is a scary machine if you don't know how to use one. This view is reinforced by a small horde of people ready to chip in that they fix video recorders/colour TVs/spacecraft and never needed anything more than a basic multimeter. Their statements are quite likely true.

What they miss is the fact that oscilloscopes, once you learn to use them at a basic level, make life a lot easier.

If you approach one with the thought that "Here's a tool which can really help me" it will.
It turns electrical signals into patterns and the human mind is a pattern-handling specialist.

A voltmeter is like an altimeter and gives you a spot height

An oscilloscope gives you the whole damned contour map and you can see the shape of the land. Teaching and learning becomes easier too.

David