I sort of came to the same conclusion that having two separate tools would probably be more convenient than one box. Like you said, if it were $100 then that would make sense but there is other options for $250-$350 range. That cheap $70 unit on EBay is interesting. I don't know I need a generator at this moment but that seems like it might be worth considering. The frequency counter might be nice but I have one in my DMM right now. If there was interest we might be able to do a group buy of them direct from China and get the price down to $50 a piece even.
Sova From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Stoffregen Sent: Friday, August 1, 2014 5:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [dorkbotpdx-blabber] Looking for input on oscilloscope Also I noticed that the Rigol model he mentioned comes with an optional function generator for $250 more [Model DS1074Z-S] which might save money over buying one separately. Something to consider with built-in extras is the shared user interface. On a scope, you'll access this stuff using the menus, which are already packed with tons of scope features. Budget scopes have lots of crafty ways to share knobs, like only 1 set of vertical controls among all channels & math. It usually works pretty well, with only minor inconvenience for saving a lot of $$$, but those menus do tend to get pretty crowded. With a dedicated function gen, you get a big knob to vary the amplitude and/or frequency, buttons to change waveform and settings, and usually a display that shows what it's doing. The controls are optimized for the function generator features, which makes using it quite a bit easier and more natural than a function generator shoehorned into the scope's menu system. If it were under $100, of course the decision would be easy. There are many dedicated DDS function generators in the $250 to $350 range, and a lot of used gear well under $250. If you only need basic signals at modest frequency and you don't need the frequency stability of DDS, there are a lot of old/used but good quality analog function generators under $70. There's also some really cheap DDS stuff out there now, which might actually work? If anyone actually takes a chance buying these, or already has one, I'd be really curious to play with it sometime at a Monday meetup. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10MHz-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Carrier-Debuggin g-Source-Frequency-Counter-/281310662043?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0 <http://www.ebay.com/itm/10MHz-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Carrier-Debuggi ng-Source-Frequency-Counter-/281310662043?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417 f6c0d9b> &hash=item417f6c0d9b http://www.ebay.com/itm/2MHz-Dual-Channel-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Sine -Square-Wave-Sweep-Counter-/111407197529?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0 <http://www.ebay.com/itm/2MHz-Dual-Channel-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Sin e-Square-Wave-Sweep-Counter-/111407197529?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19f 062ed59> &hash=item19f062ed59 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2MHz-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Frequency-Counter -Square-Wave-Sweep-BNC-TTL-/281295638078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0 <http://www.ebay.com/itm/2MHz-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Frequency-Counte r-Square-Wave-Sweep-BNC-TTL-/281295638078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417 e86ce3e> &hash=item417e86ce3e#
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