Well, you may get the Agilent at about $400-500 which is good, but if
you need some modulations up to 20Mhz carrier, why don't you consider
a DDS like AD9851 ?
It's definitely cheaper if you have some spare time... and you can
design yourself a quite good signal generator (forget it only if you
need SFDR bigger than 60-70dB and you don't have a good spectrum
analyzer)

Vasile

On 7/11/08, Philip Pemberton <piclist@philpem.me.uk> wrote:
> Hi guys,
> I'm in the market for a signal generator -- I'm trying to get a PLL to
> lock onto an RF (low hundreds of kHz) carrier, then use a phase detector
> to decode the ~12.5bps phase-modulated data that's riding on top of the
> carrier.
>
> Yes, I'm making a Radio 4 Timecode decoder. Though IIRC the BBC spec
> calls it "LF Radio-Data".
>
> Catch: the Hameg signal generator I'm using now doesn't do any form of
> modulation besides some quick-and-nasty AM which I've been using to
> tweak the filters. 1024-point 12-bit arbitrary waves is about as
> advanced as it goes, which isn't going to get me a 198k sine with PM data.
>
> So I'm looking at a new signal generator -- the Agilent 33220A and Tek
> AFG3021B are on my shortlist and have basically identical specs (aside
> from the Tek's bigger display). I'm leaning towards the 33220 because
> it's smaller than the Tek (desk space is at a premium), and it's going
> to be tethered to a PC most of the time anyway so the large LCD is
> pretty irrelevant. It's also about =A3200 +VAT cheaper...
>
> Now before I plunk down ~=A31k +VAT on one of these boxes... has anyone
> actually used one of these boxes? Any comments or criticisms?
>
> Most of what I'll be using it for is <20MHz or so RF testing, bandwidth
> tests / frequency response of amplifiers, that sort of thing. I'm also
> open to suggestions of similar equipment from other manufacturers...
>
> Thanks,
> Phil.
>
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