Suggestions for a good digital signal/function generator?
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City: Monteith, Ontario CA
Ron,
You asked about "punching in frequencies". No, the BK that I use does NOT do that. I have had good success at the hobby level with mine, but ....
If I were buying today I would not spend the $650cdn that I spent then (a good price back then). I would buy one of the $200-$300 digital wonder boards that have been mentioned here already.
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Well, even if I need to dial it in, that is fine IF the thing won't immediately start drifting as this old C-B unit does. (Of course I would rather just punch it in and it be there, and stable.) 
All -
Some of you were wondering why I hadn't mentioned a scope. I bought a new Hantek dual channel scope a year or two ago from Circuit Specialists when they were having a sale on them. It replaced a very old CRT CONAR scope that was very limited in bandwidth and function.
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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City: Menlo Park
State, Province, Country: CA
I find the "dial-in" design to be very usable on my unit. Get close with the MHz or 100 kHz unit, push the right arrow button to shift to the next significant digit etc. Done in a few seconds, and steady as a rock. These units are all digital synthesised, with a crystal oscillator reference. Any drift/ inaccuracy is in the 10's to 100 Hz at worst.. You can always check by tuning it against WWV. For radio alignments, it is more than good enough.
I don't hold with furniture that talks.
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City: Ferdinand
State, Province, Country: Indiana
Hey folks, what are your opinions on a B+K-Precision 4040DDS generator?
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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City: Ferdinand
State, Province, Country: Indiana
While I await someone's answer(s)...
I just missed out on an HP 3336B. It sold for $80; I bid $79.99 and lost.
But as I said, I don't have a good feeling about buying something used unless I know and trust the person selling it. This is why I did not bid higher.
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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Never mind.
I've just purchased a used B+K-Precision 4040 (not 4040A or 4040DDS) for a price I felt I couldn't refuse. We shall see how it turns out...
Thanks to all for your thoughts and advice.
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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City: Coopersville
State, Province, Country: MI
Hi again Ron!!
I just noticed in your original post that you mentioned a B&K 4040A. It's the replacement for my Berkeley Nucleonics 625A. They are made by the same outfit. I like my BNC 625A, but it's kinda a pain to use. The B&K 4040A is MUCH more user friendly. I'd probably go with the B&K box. I believe that the B&K stuff is made mostly in Japan, or Korea. I'm surprised at how well their stuff works.
Kim Herron W8ZV
w8zv at goldenradioservice.com
1-616-677-3706
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City: Coopersville
State, Province, Country: MI
I see you bought a B&K 4040. Good for you. If it doesn't have a manual with it, you can get one from B&K. They support all their stuff for a LONG time. They just discontinued that model too. You can get that manual by going to their website and filling out the request form. I've had them send me stuff free. I like the American built/sold stuff better than the Chinese stuff. The product support is LOTS better.
Kim Herron W8ZV
w8zv at goldenradioservice.com
1-616-677-3706
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City: Seattle
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That B&K 4040 looks quite nice. Very curious to hear how you like it.
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Kim
Thanks for the tip! I did go to their website. They still have the 4040A manual available online but not the 4040, so I filled out the request form and sent it. In less than an hour, they sent me a PDF of the 4040 manual and a separate PDF of the 4040 schematic and parts list. FREE. Now that's service! 
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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Nathan
Oh yes, I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
Posts: 13,776
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Joined: Sep 2005
City: Ferdinand
State, Province, Country: Indiana
It has arrived!
I fed its output into the input of my B+K 1855 frequency counter, and this is what it read:
I tuned the "new" old 4040 signal generator around, and its frequency just kept agreeing with the frequency counter. Which leads me to believe that it is working!
The Clough-Brengle has now been officially put out to pasture. Or, more accurately, stuck into a corner until I can make it to a swap meet and put a nice big FREE sign on it.
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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City: Lexington, KY
Looks good Ron! Keep us updated on if you need an attenuator with that, and if so, what you're using.
John KK4ZLF
Lexington, KY
"illegitimis non carborundum"
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I will, John. And thanks!
It has a variable attenuator knob as well as a button that when pushed cuts the output by 20 dB, so I'm hoping that will do the trick. We shall see.
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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City: Seattle
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