John, That sounds like asking what is the best vehicle for you to buy. If you do not know what you want to do with it, I am not sure we can help you all that much. However, if you have a specific objective, I am sure you will get a lot of valuable information here.
You have a (good) analog scope, you may want a power supply or two, a soldering iron and maybe a desoldering station if you do surface mount. You also want a good hand-held multimeter. Some sort of signal or function generator may be useful too. These vary widely depending on frequency range and features. There is no good single answer to any of these questions without knowing more about what you do with it. Many of us on this list have more than one of pretty much everything (I am guilty of that too) to reflect the fact that no single instrument is universal, with possibly one exception: my favorite hand held DMM is a Fluke 8060A, but I am sure some people will have another favorite :) Don't start spending what little money you have until you know what you need. If you just need to spend money, may I interest you in a wonderful business opportunity in Nigeria? Didier KO4BB ------------------------ Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless thingy while I do other things... -----Original Message----- From: John Foege <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:35:22 To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement<[email protected]> Subject: [time-nuts] Test Equipment I realize that this e-mail is somewhat off topic, however, I also believe that I will get some of the best answers from the members of this list: I have recently started to build an electronics lab, and am currently trying to acquire test and general equipment for my little basement workshop of horrors. So far, being on a limited budget, I have acquired a Tek 2465A in good working order, a Fluke 1953A counter, and my little gem (ok not quite so little) HP5345A with the 4-ghz freq converter plugin w/ opt 11 & 12. I'd just like to ask everyone what they would be, if they were in my shoes, attempting to acquire. Unforunately, however, I am just out of engineering school and not working with much of a budget here. I'd kill to have all the fancy gear some of you nuts have. I'd really love a DSO instead of the Tek 2465A I have. I'd kill for a good spectrum analyzer or VNA etc. Any suggestions on what I should acquire and/or suggestions for economical equipment that I should make that is a must have? I am a good DIYer when it comes to building equipment, so often I attempt to build that which I cannot afford. I appreciate everyone's' opinions in advance. Thank you. Sincerely, John Foege KB1FSX starving-engineer! _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
