Pops has an oscilloscope in his shop, though it might as well be a magic wand in my inexperienced hands.
Pfft. If you know how to use a voltmeter and do simple multiplication and division, you can use an O'scope.
Center pin of the probe is the red lead, shield/ground clip is the black lead.
The controls are divided into voltage, time and trigger sections.
On the screen: Y-axis is voltage, X-axis is time.
Volts/div = how many volts it takes to move the trace one square (a division) vertically on the display.
-- Signal is 5 divisions high, voltage knob is set to 1v/div ==> (5 divisions) * (1v/div) = 5v signal
Sec/div = how many seconds it takes to move the trace one square horizontally on the display.
-- Signal takes 5 divisions to complete cycle, time knob is set to .5ms ==> time per cycle = 2.5ms (.0025 seconds per cycle)
-- Frequency (cycles per second) is the inverse of time (seconds per cycle), so the frequency = 1/.0025 = 400 cycles per second. (400 Hz)
The trigger section tells the scope when to start drawing from the left of the screen.
-- When the last trace has finished drawing
and the level = 0v (level knob setting shown in pic), start drawing again
--External Input is when you use another signal to determine when to start drawing (like the starter's gun in a race)
That covers most of the ways you'll use an oscilloscope. Now go play and learn.
Scott