If you tune your generator to 550 kHz, and you hear the 400 Hz tone at 550 kHz on the dial,
everything is fine. If you hear the second harmonic (1100 kHz) at 1100 on your radio, your
radio is acting poorly.

Z = 50 ohms means that inside your generator there is an impedance of 50 ohms, that the signal
passes through before getting to the output terminal.

Z means impedance, so Z= 50 ohms means the impedance is 50 ohms,
impedance is the opposition to the flow of an AC current, just as resistance
is the opposition to the flow of a DC current.

Z however is not always so simple. You could write it like this |Z|, which would mean
you could consider it as a resistance.

Z always depends on frequency , so |z| means any frequency can be used and it will still
at like just a resistance.

Your generator will provide the highest power (watts) to an external load when that load is
|50| ohms

Here's a chart you can print that converts db/uv to mv.

http://www.dipolnet.com/conversion_tabl ... _bib04.htm

Here is a conversion tool:

http://webzhao.com/toolmust/dbm.htm

-Mark-

Thanks for the very thorough explanation Steve!
Mark thanks again, I will use the tables for my next project which requires inputs in uV for the alignment procedure!

Thanks!
Ed

Pedantic way to handle an attenuator. It's technically correct, but SO easy to get it backwards - we're used to treating the scale markings as being so many dB of attenuation, whether they have a "-" in front or not. This instrument wants you to think of it as a 1uV source plus a selectable-gain amp!

Dave Wise