I've got a new toy: a Tektronix 2246 ModA, for about $500 (incl. shipping from the UK). It's really nice (100MHz, 4 channels, analog but microcontrollered, hence nice measurement and cursor features).

Current project: making a very obnoxious and loud doorbell with a PIC. I came up with the necessary microsecond-precision delay routines and the remaining frequency generation stuff, and a bit of perl took care of eating a MIDI file and barfing out suitable frequency and duration information in PIC assembler.

The last insanely horrible tune I've been trialling: "Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen". Sounds perfectly ghastly when a cheap piezo is squarewave-squealing its guts out. I'm also thinking about using "Tirol isch lei oans" just to remind me why I'm here and not there.

Here's a pic of the latest test setup: I'm currently learning how to use an inductor to boost voltages (and how a common collector amplifier works). Messy but fun.