Function/signal generators can be quite expensive, but there are some alternatives that can provide some interesting learning experiences. In my first post I talked about a cheap ebay function generator available for a few pounds.
An alternative is to use a mobile phone app. I have an Android phone and I used an app called Function Generator by Keuwsolf. I butchered a headphone cable and connected the scope probe to it. Follow these steps:
- Cut the headphones off and expose the wires.
- Mark which cable is the left and which is the right headphone.
- Pick either the left or the right headphone and connect the ground (crocodile clip on the probe) to one wire and the probe to the other wire.
The app is pretty easy to use and can provide a various different signals to explore on the scope. The main stumbling block is to make sure the output is set correctly. For example the sliders tell you which of the left of the right outputs each channel is on. The buttons left and right turn on the left and/or right outputs and the out button turns the output on or off. So if you have channel 1 setup and want to output only this on the left output your buttons should be set like this.
You can use this app to do all of the same exercises as in the first post.
Comments