USB spectrum analyzer

Ouch, that comparison gave the Spectran a black eye. Although it probably would have been more fair if the Spectran was connected to a PC for display.

I've heard from people that it really has a hard time when you must measure inside a crowded bands with dozens of other strong signals, such as the FM band near a large city. Anyhow, I could not live with that sort of noise floor.

Thanks for the comparison, Robert.

--
Regards, Joerg

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Quite expensive. I mostly use a computer-controlled scanner (Icom R1500) for spectrum, about $500-$600 depending on whether you want a standalone feature or just PC-based. For 5000 Euros I could get a nice full-blooded spectrum analyzer off Ebay.

Accuracy is good but I am more concerned about performance in the vicinity of lots of other (legitimate) RF.

--
Regards, Joerg

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@Joerg I think you got me wrong. The 5000 Euros are inluding the antenna, preamp, cables, adapter not only for the analyzer itself. Oh and dont forget: The testsoftware is for free.

I made a little screenhsot with our setup noisefloor (yellow) and a unit under test (green).

Mark

It's still a lot of money. AFAIR the antenna they usually ship is a shark-fin shaped sort, looks like a shortened log-per might be in there but that I dont' know.

That is very commendable of them. Although except for some of the big mfgs that's quite customary these days. When I bought my last DSO I was pleasantly surprised about a note in the accompanying docs saying that free PC-control software could be downloaded for the scope. No more USB stick file ferrying in the lab.

Thanks, Mark. Kind of hard to see because the resolution doesn't allow reading the scale factors. I wonder whether the raised noise floor from your DUT (green) on the left side is really there or analyzer-caused. My common job is that I have to find a really tiny noise peak inside a thicket of other legitimate signals, in order to reduce self-pollution in a system. Other jobs are finding potential EMI issues without having a screen room available. The toughest was a place right next to a busy runway. There, any sort of receiver or analyzer has to be able to swallow all this without a raise in noise floor or intermodulation.

--
Regards, Joerg

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Hmmm, just found out: click on the picture, then its original size will pop up.

Yes the "shark fin" Hyperlog antenna (works from 680MHz to 10GHz) is in the package but for EMC you need a nother antenna, the bicolog

30100 (works from 30MHz to 1GHz) and that one was quite expensive...

Mark

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Yes, indeed. On most sites that's indicated with a zoom marker but not here. Was this taken in a screen room? Reason I ask is that the dynamic range is set very low and the usual FM band spectrum chunk isn't there.

The typos in the menu are kind of funny, like "Bandwith", "Profil" (that's definitely German ...) or "Referenc". But it's the same on my Taiwan-engineered DSO, just a different accent ;-)

A bicone? They aren't all that great above 300MHz unless theirs is special. You can often buy bicones for a few hundred Dollars at auctions but you'd have to make sure the joints aren't too tired or bent. Those things tend to fall over a lot.

--
Regards, Joerg

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Yes thats right but the bicolog versions from aaronia cover the fulll range up to 1GHz. So you only need one antenna for the full EN test. I just noted that they have a new E-version with 10dB more gain

- should have known that earlier :-(

We have no radio at our location thats why there is no "regular" noise shown. Its a real shot at my lab which hase no screening at all so the noise should even be lower in a screened room.

Mark

[...]

You could probably whip up your own amp around an MMIC if the Spectran's sensitivity isn't good enough. Same for antennas, the only challenge is to get them calibrated against a rental with current cal sheets or something.

No FM stations? Wow. Do you live somewhere in the boonies in Nevada or Arizona? At least there is a signal in the airband so you aren't alone out there :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

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I managed to borrow an HP 8558B for a few days. It does more than I need for this problem.

It is a shame it is so heavy.