I just entered the field of electronic circuit hobbyist. I am an Electrical Engineering Graduate and am looking to start purchasing my own equipment (tired of using the equipment at work/school).
I am a college student, however, I do have family members that would be willing to buy me some pricey components (graduation presents). By pricey i do not mean $1000+... instead i mean <$300
This should give you an idea of my budget. I know in electronics you get what you pay for but hey, this is the budget I have to work with.
I need a power supply, soldering iron (and station), DMM, oscilloscope, maybe function generator.
Now my questions are the following:
1. For a hobbyist (so far I am only making simple circuits such as LM386 audio amplfiier, FM transmitter, IR alarm, etc.), do I need all the equipment I listed above or do I not need all of that or do I need more? I already have the small stuff like breadboard, perfboards, wires, etc.
2. Which make and model of each of those components would you recommend (they need to be good since I will probably be doing this for the rest of my life, but not extremely expensive since I am still a college student)?
I know that an oscilloscope is really expensive but I believe it is a very useful tool for creating a troubleshooting circuits. I have two relatives that want to give me something for my graduation so I would be able to purchase two relatively expensive pieces of equipment (<$300) or maybe even one really expensive one (<$600).
Thank you for your time and input on this matter. Hopefully this thread can serve as a starting point for other newcomers to the world of electronics.