[ARC5] Signal Generator Selection

[k2cby at optonline.net]

Craig,

For years I used an ancient General Radio signal generator with a separate
power supply and a 1939 manufacture date. For the kind of accuracy you'll
need something like that would be perfectly adequate.

My next step upward - and what I'd recommend to you - is a URM-25. They are
dirt cheap, accurate, rugged, easy-to-maintain, and manuals are available
on-line.

My current signal generator is an HP 8640B. They were the "cat's meow" in
the 1970s and still represent "lab quality." The only problem is that they
are complex and hard-to-service. The price of a good one is way below your
$300 threshold, but try it out first in person, making sure that all the
controls work freely and there is output. They've got a couple of weak
points: a Nylon or Delrin bandswitch gear that swells over time and cracks
and an output module "brick" that tends to fail.

For your purposes almost anything that will produce an output signal (You
can always get 100% frequency accuracy using a counter.) will suffice. Think
what the WWII "radio mechanics" had to use.

/Miles, K2CBY

 

Miles B. Anderson, K2CBY
16 Round Pond Lane
Sag Harbor, New York 11963-3821
Phone: (631) 725-4400
FAX: (631) 725-2223

e-mail: k2cby at optimum.net

 

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