Continually screwing and unscrewing cal standards is the worst part of the analysis procedure IMHO (and I assume that to be true for others, too). Having an ECAL unit saves an enormous amount of time, trouble and wear on the connectors. Unfortunately, as a hobbyist I can't possibly justify the expense of one.
I guess that is the worst part of being an RF pro!
The 3577 goes down to 5Hz, yes, but the test set doesn't! The LF limit of the test set is 100kHz.
Jeroen belleman
Yes, it's easy to overlook that. My VNA is extendable up to 6Ghz, but the matching S parameter test set isn't; won't do anything over 3Ghz. Doesn't bother me, though, as I don't look at anything much over
1300Mhz. In fact anything over half a gig is rocket science to me.
The 35676A goes to 5Hz, and it's easy to build a DIY version.
For the frequency band you seem to work in (up to a few 10s of MHz) I'd give serious thought to a 4194A. I have the 4191A, 4192A, 4194A, 4195A and 3577A and the 4194A is pretty much used all the time. It's also maintainable (it's replacement isn't).
That looks like a nice one. at $5k for a refurb my wallet will have to give it serious consideration also :)
This one is interesting:
There's a discussion of the double conversion receiver in Github issue2 , and also about additional channels. I agree, the author seems to know what he's doing.
CH
50kHz-900MHz
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