THIS is New...
UTG962E US$127 + $20 new user coupon; this is my BG affiliate linkOf all the packages I was expecting today, the first to arrive was my UTG-962E Arb from bang-em-good, which they still estimate delivery somewhen around the middle of January.
![Shocked :o](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xshocked.gif.pagespeed.ic.CrwtrNUjLO.png)
I realize this is just some weird artifact of the two devices and the two signals together; I did try 1MHz/10MHz signals at the same time deliberately to SEE what weirdness might happen with the generator, but I never suspected there might be anything programmed into the 54645A that could even imagine a reading in the GHz range.
![Huh? ???](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xhuh.gif.pagespeed.ic.6Nvt7O8a11.png)
Huh.
Quickly playing with it, the UI is pretty straightforward and intuitive, aside from the confusing nature of their use of commas after the decimal. I like that you always have a small icon showing what the other channel is doing, and I like that you can select a channel to modify without enabling the channel; to enable it, you press the CH
x a second time and it illuminates, indicating output.
I'm not expecting lab grade output from this thing, and there are some weird limitations on what one can do with both channels active (mostly frequency vs waveform limitations), so of course there is a price you pay for the low, low price you pay. But definitely good enough for hobbyist use, and I love that it's designed to fit so conveniently in this otherwise unused space. I expect it should be plenty to use for diag-ing my 4070A, which
is lab-grade.
![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce._JElyJQqdB.gif)
I have yet to play around with the counter function; I'll update here if I find anything extraordinarily good or bad aboot it.
![Wink ;)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xwink.gif.pagespeed.ic.cldandycH0.png)
It powers from a 5V/2A external SMPS; users in the relevant thread report that it is of better quality than most cheap Chinese wall-warts, and that the noise floor is unexpectedly low given the price, especially considering it produces +/- 15V rails from that 5V using a on-board SMPS:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/uni-t-utg932utg962-200msas-function-arbitrary-waveform-generator-220394/The two black cables came with it; the blue one I made using my
cheap RG58 crimpers from a couple months ago.
For those who were interested in those cheap crimpers: Short version is they align pretty well for cheap stamped steel and sintered-metal dies, the crimp was clean and well-formed as expected.
![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce._JElyJQqdB.gif)
Not best pleased with the ends that came in the kit; while the center hole is the correct diameter, the barb is too fat to fold the braid back over the sheathing and crimp both sheathing and braid.
I was able to get a good crimp by skinning the blue Pliovic sheathing off to just the right length and pulling the braid up over the barb, then crimping with only the braid between the ferrule and the barb. Also, the center pin of these connectors are too brittle for crimping; I had to solder. The cable seems to work well up to the 30MHz max of the UTG-962E; no idea how badly I've affected the capacitance and reflected signal of that BNC at higher frequencies.
Looking on the intardnet, it appears this is exactly the way these are commonly used for HDTV and security cam installs... blearrghh.
https://youtu.be/ktQVwfo-s9wA'aight... time for me to sit down and write my dad a letter for Christmas.
See all y'alls when I have some actual news on the microscope & iPad/Tristar repair.
mnem
![Tweak :-/O](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiliey_cal.gif)