Feeltech 6900 Signal Generator

You may have seen a recent comment from Peter Tennenbaum in my FY6800 review from last year.  His success at obtaining English documentation prompted me to get in touch with the company, the upshot being that the new FY6900 model has just arrived and looking remarkably like the FY6800.

I note in the EEV blog there is reference to a cooling fan. There certainly is a fan grill but I could see no sign of a fan nor could I hear one – I’ve not opened up the unit yet to prove this either way but it certainly looks like there is no actual fan. On the surface then not so much a new product as a 2019 upgrade from the FY6600 and FY6800 models – this is the inexpensive (£68 – £80 depending on frequency – Banggood have them in stock as I’m sure do various other suppliers – mine came straight from Feeltech) FY6900 Dual Channel DDS Function Arbitrary Waveform Signal Generator Pulse Signal Source Frequency Counter.

Rather than simply re-iterate information readily available in English on the Feeltech site, here it is… all the information you likely need and lots you probably don’t need. Enjoy. I guess the more people who visit their site and gripe about any language errors, the better off we’ll all be. If you are dipping your toes into signal generators (with arbitrary waveform generation) this is certainly an inexpensive entry point.

FY6900

14 thoughts on “Feeltech 6900 Signal Generator

  1. The first thing I noticed, I had to really force the mains plug into the socket, It seems to be 99.9% in simply is not good enough, (for some strange reason)

    Getting into it needs a simple IQ test, There is a screw under the model number sticker, but that only separates the top from the bottom, you have to take the front and back off first. Thank goodness I passed the IQ test and did not go and buy a can of spray freeze, to freeze the glue on the sticker to disable the glue bonding. I managed to use a kitchen knife to get in from the middle of the sides and either the top or the bottom to release the lock tab, the forth tab came loose when the front and back came away from the top and bottom. When I had finished it looked just like it did when it left the factory with no marks left on the plastic case.

  2. Im looking for software download for FY6900 Series Dual Channel Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator.

  3. Yes a Great series of instruments with only minor problems.

    Of interest these units have a very high resolution sweep and are a considerable improvement over the best that older-HP, or the latest Siglent or Rigol have to offer in this respect: Rigol DSG1022 is terrible with a max sweep resolution of only 1024 steps. HP33120a has a max of 4096, however these low cost units appear to have a much higher number of frequency steps in the sweep mode and consequently produce much smoother sweeps which are necessary for calibrating or producing correction curves for high resolution spectrum analyzers.

  4. I notice that the Sweep functions on the earlier versions (e.g. FY6600 and JDS2900) are lacking certain features. In any sweep mode the oscillator does not reset to the start frequency but resumes sweeping from the previous stop frequency. It would seem, that the only way to reset the sweep is to completely turn the unit off and then back on. The log sweep function on my FY6600 is not even close to true log and differs depending on sweep direction however the JDS2900 has an excellent log-sweep mode (true and precise log down to fractional Hz). The FY6600 has excellent distortion with most harmonics below -80dB at 1.5 volts. However the JDS2900 is poor in this respect with most harmonics barely below -45dB at any output level (0.1Hz to 25 kHz). How nice it would be to have a single generator that combined the best of both of these. Does anyone know if these problems have been fixed on the FY6900 or later versions of the FY6600, FY6800, JDS2000 etc.?

    1. Hello Chris B,
      The sweep frequency start issue is still present on the latest 1.3 firmware revision of the FY6900. I sent Feeltech an email today about this very issue. We will see what they say.

      1. Thanks for letting Feeltech know.

        I did find a messy way of resetting the sweep to the start frequency.
        1. Stop the sweep.
        2. Dial the sweep time down to the min limit (0.01 sec)
        3. Start and then stop the sweep briefly.
        4. Redial the sweep time to your time.
        The Sweep should then start at the dialed-in start frequency. This also works on the JDS-2900.
        It also helps to have the non sweep mode frequency set to a value out of the sweep range. Then in addition to the above – before starting the sweep, briefly switch to the non sweep mode and then back to sweep mode. This resets the “active” frequency that will be present prior to the sweep start.
        Again “messy” but it does provide a partial solution and make the instrument’s sweep mode more useable.

        1. I need to be able to repeat a sweep from 10Hz to 40KHz continuously. Perhaps for hours or days.
          SO are you saying that your “fix” detailed her will allow me to do this?

          Also please explain what is meant by “It also helps to have the non sweep mode frequency set to a value out of the sweep range. Then in addition to the above – before starting the sweep, briefly switch to the non sweep mode and then back to sweep mode. This resets the “active” frequency that will be present prior to the sweep start.”

          In particular what is the non sweep mode frequency?
          God bless and be well!

  5. Mine turned up – it has been on the bench for 2 days now sitting next to my 6800 and left powered up – both are working fine.

  6. Please be advised that when the unit does not power up, you may need to check the internal wiring.
    Mine had its power cable loose.

    Also the ground cable, connected to the mains ground was hanging on a single thread.
    Since the mains power cables are not isolated on the inside, it is very well possible that ground cable (part of a flat cable) may contact one of the mains power lines and cause a lot of trouble on your device and maybe everything connected to it.

    So please do yourself a favor and open up the device before powering it on.
    And while you’re at it, replace part of that “ground cable” with something that has proper isolation properties.
    I also put some shrink wrap around the mains solder joints just to be sure.

    For some photos, see: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GeRcD1omzCEhnu4bA

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