Beckman Function Generator, Model FG 2A?

Its a nice general purpose function generator....

Not much else to say about it really, its by a well known company, so the build quality should be okay...

There's one on ebay.com at the moment with a starting price of $30... They don't usually sell for more than that unless they have the magic names of HP, Tektronix, Fluke, Marconi etc...

John.

To be honest, the only info you need on these instruments is on the front panel...

If it doesn't work and needs repairing then the newish ones (up to 20 years old) will use a single chip frequency generator and the older ones will be even easier to look at and repair...

John.

Thanks John,

The one in question is offered for $40.00 with no leads or paperwork of any kind, so I may want to hold off, thanks again.

JJ

http://search.ebay.com/hp-3312A-generator_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQcatrefZC6QQdfspZ1QQfromZR10QQfsprZ0QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsabfmtsZ1QQsacatZQ2d1QQsaobfmtsZinsifQQssPageNameZRC0021?_trksid=p1638.m120

HP 3312A adding, to what you have shown, adjustable modulation (AM FM Sweep) a 30Vpp and 0.01Hz to 13MHz

I bought one 20 years ago (used) and still alive and kicking.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Beckman-Industrial-function-generator-FG2A_W0QQitemZ290203148954QQihZ019QQcategoryZ97196QQcmdZViewItem

$29.99 for the next 8 hours. plus $10 shipping. Just another option.

If you are planning on TV repair/adjustments this will not work for you. You need 10 meg for TVs.

As I said JJseeker, this model is ideal for not just someone starting in electronics but also for the professionals looking for a straightforward 'squirt box'...

For the basic instruments all you need is a power supply, function generator, a cheap oscilloscope, soldering iron and a multimeter and you're away!!

Remember, if you do need a higher frequency than 2 MegHz, just remember you will get plenty of harmonics from this instrument way up past 10 megHz when switched to square or pulse output, so don't go buying expensive instruments until you're sure you need them.

John. - Good luck!!

Thanks again John,

I did end up picking it up, now all I need is that "cheap oscilliscope" and I'm all set.... as soon as I get some probes.

Any advice on oscillators like brands,features,prices,things to look for when buying used that sort of thing would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

JJ

I assume you mean oscilloscopes?

There are plenty on ebay, trouble is finding the one you want / need and not paying too much for it...

If you can afford £50 ($100) that will buy you a very nice 50 MHz analogue scope... Now some might say you WILL need a storage scope, but for starters and without knowing what area of electronics you will be working in, I would suggest a cheap oscilloscope - cheap enough so that at a later time when you realise what its limitations are you will know which specification to go for...

I have a dual scope on my bench, its only 20 MHz bandwidth, but it has the ability to switch between a digital scope and an analogue one, at the push of a button, I've used it for over 22 years and its still perfect for me, mainly as most of my work is precision low frequency stuff...

I do have access to a 250 MHz scope but I've never bothered using it... so its 'horses for courses' for general purpose audio electronics you can get away with a really cheap 10 to 20 MHz analogue scope on ebay less than $60...

Possibly a more important aspect is the size of the oscilloscope!? If you have little bench space then you want a more compact scope...

If you see anything on ebay or elsewhere pop in and ask what 'we' or I think about it and let me know what you intend to use it for, then maybe I can offer better advice...

John.

Yeaaa... don't know what happened with the "oscillators" part, the brain must of glitched.

My interest at this point is in the area of digital cameras and motion control, looking to combine the two so a dual scope is probably the route I want to go, but I also have a general interest in learning all I can about electronics. I'll probably pull the trigger in a couple of weeks, so I appreciate the offer to review any potential purchases, I'll definitely take you up on that. Thanks again.

JJ

I had a 20 MHz dual trace Heathkit scope which did well for analog stuff for many years. I paid $600.00 for it fresh out of the box. When I started doing heavy duty digital work though (such as digital filters), it no longer worked in that I had to deal with propogation delays of nanoseconds, and the 20 MHz scope could not detect spikes due to this. I upgraded to a 100 MHz scope which I still use today. You must realize though that at that time, digital scopes started out at about $10,000 and up. This was ca 1986.

Bottom line though is that 20 MHz will work for many applications, but you need to recognize its limitations.

Bill