Monacor Audio Generator AG-1000 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: hacklordsniper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2012, 05:42:21 pm
content: I spotted this one in a local ads, the seller had no idea what he was selling or is it working. I decided to take the risk, it was cheap anyway.Well on my surprise it works quite nice. However it came much dirty so lets make it better:When you open it you easily realize there isnt much inside. But what is there is built with great attention to details and all screws nicely secured. The big air capacitor determines the frequency and features a small capacitor for calibration. Rest of calibration is done on small mainboard where every pot has its function on the silkscreen (oh good old times!)The panel was quite dirty i guess the instrument was used by smoker who breathe on it cigarette fumes or something else, this rag is from single pass!!!The banana sockets were very bad so i replaced them with new and gave the knobs a nice long ultrasonic bath. Later i repaired the knobs pointers with black sharpie.After assembly looks nice, works nice (actual maximal frequency is 1.5 MHz)! and regarding the precision, 100 KHz on the analog display with give out 100.10 MHz out, amazing precision after these years.Actually i dont need it, but could not resist to have it on my bench. This old equipment has something that todays Rigol or Atten will never have, a soul!Uploaded withImageShack.us

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2012, 08:03:29 pm
content: Nice. I have something with a similar look, made by Trio Kenwood.Here's a photo of the unit from the radiomuseumMy unit is in better shape.Perchance, can you check how much distortion comes out of the sine waves? It looks like its a a sine wave oscillator that chops to make square waves so its sine could be quality waveforms good enough for audio testing.

author: hacklordsniper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2012, 08:30:26 pm
content: I will hook it up to a scope and check how it performs exactly. But i got a clean and nice sinewave at 1.5 MHz with first check

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2012, 10:58:18 pm
content: I have a couple of these and a couple of the RF generator version (150MHz).I only bought them a few weeks ago and I have no regrets. They were 'as new' and less than GBP30 each inc delivery. They perform pretty well considering their simplicity. The scales are nice and large and they are beautiful ANALOGUEThe AF and RF sig gens were sold under many brand names but all are very similar inside.I have several R&S, Marconi and a Adret RF sig Gen but they are all digital and sometimes you just want to quickly run up a nice small (portable) AF or RF generator to do a quick test or manually sweep a range of frequencies.These may be simple but they are proving usefulI have the manual for your unit which I attach to this message.EnjoyAurora

author: hacklordsniper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2012, 08:17:10 am
content: Thanks Aurora!I have a friend now begging me to give it to him so i think i will give it awayBut i like it quite much, the reason why i love it is the analogue scale.