It is astonishing what opportunities are continuing to be revealed for the recently introduced PIC16F87x series of microcontrollers. This Micro-PICscope is a prime example of a design idea whose implementation was greatly simplified by using one of these devices.

The Micro-PICscope is a handy little item of test gear and of benefit to anyone’s workshop. Using an alphanumeric liquid crystal display (LCD), it is basically a signal tracer, but one with the great advantage that it shows a representation of the signal waveform that is being traced. This is shown across eight of the LCD character cells and is a real-time trace of the monitored waveform.

Not only that, the display also shows the frequency of the signal being monitored, and its peak-to-peak voltage. The frequency range covered is basically for audio, but frequencies well to either side of this range can be traced.

Several ranges of control are offered by switch selection, covering the sampling rate, and synchronization on/off for the 'scope display. The signal input is switchable to provide different maximum peak voltage monitoring ranges. Selection of AC or DC input is provided.