In addition to the sine wave output
from an audio generator a function generator also can output other
waveforms like square, triangle, ramp or noise. The arbitrary
waveform allows generating your own waveform. One way of doing
that is to use a digital scope and capture a waveform and load it into
the 33120. There are built in arbitrary waveforms like
Cardiac, SINC, Neg_Ramp, Exp_Rise and Exp_Fall.
The frequency range is 0.1 milli Hz (0.0001 Hz) to 15.000,000
MHz. The HP 8648A covers 100 kHz to 1,000 MHz so they have some
overlap in range.
The things I find most useful are the frequency and amplitude settings
for the output. The output includes both the AC and DC
levels. I have the duct cap on the front SYNC input connector
because when it's not there I tend to connect a BNC cable to it
expecting to get the output and waste time figuring out why there's no
signal.
It also has AM, FM, FSK, Burst, Sweep modulation capability so can
simulate many real world signals. This is one of the instruments
that's within arm's reach all the time.
This box also has the option for using an external reference. I
feed that from my house 10 MHz source that comes either from the
PRS10 Rubidium Standard that's GPS disciplined or the
FTS4060 Cesium standard.
Under System Menu -> Revision: 8.0--5.0--1.0
