Just got a vintage wavetek 180 sweep function generator. I want to connect this directly to my oscope.

1) can I just buy a BNC male to male cable ? coax? and directly connect it?
Or is there a special BNC cable that must be used?

Thank you for the info

 

The BNC should work OK. Some generators want a 50 ohm load, but you can get them in a small unit with BNC's on both ends, 1 male 1 female so it sits inline.

Caution: $$$

 

Do you mean the BNC cable has a built in resistor? $$$
Also will the coax type cable create capacitance?

Could I just use an RCA audio cable connected to a BNC jack?
BNC male to rca female jack

Lastly just build my own BNC cable.

 

For non-critical situations, you don't need a fancy BNC cable.
A simple piece of hook-up wire from center-pin to center-pin will work, though not elegant.

There is also such a thing as a male BNC to banana jack adapter.

or you can use this:

 

do you connect the oscope ground to the generator ground?

You mentioned to use just the center pin on both oscope and generator.
and no ground?

 

Most scopes and function generators already have their BNCs on chassis GND.

Note that I am cheating here. For proper performance, use a male-to-male BNC cable as you originally suggested. You do not need a 50Ω terminator.