Rigol DSA875-TG 9kHz - 7.5GHz Spectrum Analyzer Review, Teardown & Experiments

[Hugoneus]

Watch the video here: [1 Hour & 13 Minutes]
youtu.be/0wVlH1lPZdE

More videos at The Signal Path:
http://www.TheSignalPath.com

[JoeN]

Rigol DSA875-TG 9kHz - 7.5GHz Spectrum Analyzer & Tracking Generator Review, Teardown & Experiments
50 views 9 minutes ago

Will be watching that for sure.  Right after The Walking Dead.  A man's gotta have his priorities...   

[AF6LJ]

Good review, thanks

[TheSteve]

Enjoyed the video - I wouldn't say it was really a teardown, lol.

The various measurements and setup were nice to see though and they transfer over to many other spectrum analyzers.

[German_EE]

Nice, but a shame that we didn't get to see the analyzer front end. Were you worried about upsetting the calibration?

[Hugoneus]

Nice, but a shame that we didn't get to see the analyzer front end. Were you worried about upsetting the calibration?

Hi, sorry about that. I have been really stressed for time with a million ideas for new videos! So I have to rush a few things here and there. I thought focusing on experiments in this review would be more valuable.

[Hugoneus]

The various measurements and setup were nice to see though and they transfer over to many other spectrum analyzers.

Yes, these are all the basic measurements you would want to do. Too bad it doesn't have a digital down-conversion stage.

[Hugoneus]

Nice, but a shame that we didn't get to see the analyzer front end. Were you worried about upsetting the calibration?

I don't think that it would have a strong impact on the calibration either way... Once I get some more time, I'll take it apart more.

[uski]

I wonder if a DSA832 can be upgraded into a DSA875...

[Hugoneus]

I wonder if a DSA832 can be upgraded into a DSA875...

99.999% (with a margin of 0.001% error) not possible. 

[_Wim_]

Excellent video as always! Very good information. Keep em comming...

[KE5FX]

Kind of a bummer not to see a real "teardown" on this one (likewise the Signal Hound unit from your other video.)    Glad to hear you're planning a follow-up.

Also, was that IEC power connector just a piece of plastic with contacts embedded in it, or was there a proper line filter?  If the former, all that nice shielding beneath the back cover was a complete waste of time/money on Rigol's part.

[Hugoneus]

Kind of a bummer not to see a real "teardown" on this one (likewise the Signal Hound unit from your other video.)    Glad to hear you're planning a follow-up.

Also, was that IEC power connector just a piece of plastic with contacts embedded in it, or was there a proper line filter?  If the former, all that nice shielding beneath the back cover was a complete waste of time/money on Rigol's part.

Unfortunately no filter as far as I can remember.

[Tobias89]

Hello,

has anybody had any luck with unlocking all options on DSA875?

I would appreciate any help!

[Hugoneus]

I'll check! Hopefully I will remember...

[Wall-E]

I'll check! Hopefully I will remember...

Edit - While your checking something (whatever),
Could you please also do more of a teardown as you previously mentioned you would try to do.  It would be nice to see more of what is in there under the those shielded compartments.  At least pictures, or a video of the top sides of the hidden boards.           Thank you for consideration, Stijn

[KE5FX]

I'll check! Hopefully I will remember...

Edit - While your checking something (whatever),
Could you please also do more of a teardown as you previously mentioned you would try to do.  It would be nice to see more of what is in there under the those shielded compartments.  At least pictures, or a video of the top sides of the hidden boards.           Thank you for consideration, Stijn

Seconded.  You don't have to go into a lengthy dissertation on the low-level details, but at least show closeups of the board so that components and subcircuits can be identified in still frames.     Recent teardowns from all of the major YouTube stars have fallen well short in this respect.

[Hugoneus]

I'll check! Hopefully I will remember...

Edit - While your checking something (whatever),
Could you please also do more of a teardown as you previously mentioned you would try to do.  It would be nice to see more of what is in there under the those shielded compartments.  At least pictures, or a video of the top sides of the hidden boards.           Thank you for consideration, Stijn

Seconded.  You don't have to go into a lengthy dissertation on the low-level details, but at least show closeups of the board so that components and subcircuits can be identified in still frames.     Recent teardowns from all of the major YouTube stars have fallen well short in this respect.

My repairs all do have teardowns!

[technogeeky]

I'll check! Hopefully I will remember...

Edit - While your checking something (whatever),
Could you please also do more of a teardown as you previously mentioned you would try to do.  It would be nice to see more of what is in there under the those shielded compartments.  At least pictures, or a video of the top sides of the hidden boards.           Thank you for consideration, Stijn

Seconded.  You don't have to go into a lengthy dissertation on the low-level details, but at least show closeups of the board so that components and subcircuits can be identified in still frames.     Recent teardowns from all of the major YouTube stars have fallen well short in this respect.

My repairs all do have teardowns!

while your videos are always of 5 stars class in term of knowledge etc, while the thing is taken apart naked it should take minimum time just to setup macro camera to capture all important sections of the boards. when the thing is assembled, it will take much more time if you have to re-open and then no interest anymore... captured pictures can be used for:

1) post in your website, not just for education and help people learn and make it as reference while in repair or design mode
2) but also to increase traffic to your website. or forum..
3) you can use for yourself later as reference or materials to include in your future videos.
4) no need to tear apart again in case any discussion about the device rise again in the future. and many more...

you have multi thousands devices on your desk it should be no problem for you like getting one Canon EOS 1Dx and a macro/close-up lens and a good tripod for the job right?. besides, the 1Dx you can bring along when walking the town or park and then people will start staring, and you just say you are journalist or whatever doing documentary and survey on fame and famous magazine or science discovery or whatever, then it should be easier for you to score some chickens now the later part is just a joke...

I agree with your sentiment (and I suspect Hugoneus does too), but he's a busy man and he's already using a lot of his free time for TSP. If this isn't a strong enough argument, then an easier argument are the combined facts that:

• he often repairs things whose calibration can be disturbed (or ruined!) by opening internally shielded parts
• he often doesn't need to open every shielded part in order to do the repair

I think it would be silly to request that he do things which could damage the calibration of his own equipment for the sake of our educational (or equipment repair) opportunities.

In any case, it is not our role to tell him what to do. One does not walk into one's classroom and start making demands of the teacher.

[Hugoneus]

I certainly agree with the sentiment, but of course time is limited.

[AF6LJ]

There is too much at risk, this stuff costs money..
Take it from someone who has spent her career repairing expencive gear, and taking chances at home on broken items and thinking of it as an investment on one's career.

Those days are past.

[tmbinc]

I will second the suggestion to provide high quality teardown _pictures_ - Hugoneus, I _love_ TSP, mostly for the fact that it allows me to peek into devices that are too expensive for most other people to open up. And I'm very thankful for your work! I know TSP must be an even larger time sink than it is a money sink, so it feels really bad to give a suggestion that would require you to spend even more time on it.

For example in the MDO4000C review, you did a full teardown, but then the resolution of the video wasn't good enough to identify a few parts that I always wanted to know what they are ("unpopulated mystery device" in https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO476qh31x8zEEjAioZGXwLE8N_c5yuo6B3rg4k55-MQk-gu35gzyiasX5_aQCPfw/photo/AF1QipNmGJ5eG6rrdl6JyVaks7f8WoFbTegYycS1BEzu?key=OXR1c0VUdEdEOU45aG5QdmdId1hLejNCOWRqS3ln - based on the housing I suspect it to be a clock generator?).

Pretty likely a photo of the board in the same setup would have been sufficient (and would provide an excellence archive for repairs), as I failed really hard to image-process this from the video - the resolution just isn't there.

But then, if I had to chose between better teardown pictures at the cost of fewer TSP episodes (or Hugoneus becoming pissed at us because eevblog forum people behaving as ungrateful pricks ) - let's not focus on this too much.

[cat87]

Thank you for the video. As always, top notch    There's  always a lot to learn from your videos