Hack of Sigllent spectrum analyzer ssa3021X?

[davebb]

Hi Looking at the Photo above, i see that there is a 3v battery inside, why are they still using one,
Thanks Dave

[tautech]

Hi Looking at the Photo above, i see that there is a 3v battery inside, why are they still using one,
Thanks Dave

RTC

[davebb]

Thanks, i did not think of that,
i just can not get over how good the key gen is,
Thanks Dave

[davebb]

Hi , i do not know how they charge £1100 extra for the 3.2ghz spec an, i think they would sell more if they had only asked £200-300 more, not £1100, a big thank you to the cleaver lock smiths 
Thanks Dave

[DrKnow65]

Navigation Alert

This new SSA3021X Plus has additional things missing, so beware when buying one to convert to SVA.

Yesterday I received my SSA3021x Plus, which I opened to find similar SMA connectors missing as I see in the photo you posted.
I have searched for hardware photo's of the previous model to compare but do not find a clear example.

The example of 2016 hardware I have found was in the EEVBlog #892 teardown which has several differences in shielding, but a similar count of SMA interconnects.

Can you please post a photo of the internals of a modifiable  to SVA SSA3021x Plus?
I would like to know better if I am looking at a non-SVA compatible unit.

Thank you for all the effort you have put into the project and all the help you have been here on the forum.

[DrKnow65]

Please disregard my previous post. I am daft.

It seems I have managed to buy the non-Plus version from Amazon. I cannot explain how it was done other than too much shopping and research dulling my faculties.

I am returning the unit and looking to do this correctly with my next attempt.

[davebb]

Hi Drknow
have you now got the Plus model ?
and have you moded it to the sva,
if so what was your system info displaying for SW/HW
was there anything missing,
Thanks Dave

[DrKnow65]

@davebb I think I am going to head off in a different direction for now and return to this later. I have decided that a new oscilloscope is probably sufficient for my SA needs if I commit to one with a 2Mpts FFT and a low noise floor.

It is my intent to get the SSA3021x Plus when the funds allow. Sorry I cannot answer your hardware questions today.
I had resolved that even if I could not hack in the VNA functions, that I would be content with the spectrum analyzer alone for my needs.
I have a nano-vna V2 plus that is useful for filter and antenna testing. 

I might add that I was considering just getting the 1.5Ghz SVA, because right now it is in the clearance sales on the Siglent website... I do not actually do any "work" above even 500Mhz, I don't know I would miss the ability to go any higher.

[davebb]

Hi Dr Know
thanks for getting back to me,
good luck with what you decide to do, and please post if you get anything that you will mod/update
Good luck
Dave 2E0DMB

[mandor]

Navigation Alert

This new SSA3021X Plus has additional things missing, so beware when buying one to convert to SVA.

Damn I just bought one to convert without checking the forum thread.
What does this mean? We don't know if newer iteration HW will work or it wont, or it will be bad at measuring or something else?
Thanks.

[mandor]

You can't find the description because all new users that want to do the cross flash will ask for instructions, do it and disappear again.

Few are willing to contribute some time with compiling the lastest instructions.

Even less are willing to spend some time searching them...

Read this post and the following ones:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hack-of-sigllent-spectrum-analyzer-ssa3021x/msg5528557/#msg5528557

Once you get everything up and running, write a better guide and publish it!

I'll do it if I succeed. Just bought one, but I had it delivered to Germany, so when I get there probably this month.

[Bicurico]

Possibly you will lack one internal cable, as happened before.
Plus, it seems that the respective connectors might be missing.
While I am not certain of any of this due to lack of such a device, I would say that it should be possible to retrofit said connectors and cable.

[mandor]

Could you point me to info how to recognize if I have this problem and what should be connected? Is it some SMA connector and coax?

[Bicurico]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-ssa3000x-spectrum-analyzers/msg3412882/#msg3412882

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hack-of-sigllent-spectrum-analyzer-ssa3021x/msg5667983/#msg5667983

[Roy D. Mercer]

Before I spend too much time reading through this, will someone please tell me if the procedure for enabling all of the options work with the latest SSA3021X Plus machines? Does it work with the latest firmware? If so, I'll order one. Otherwise, I'll stick with my Signal Hound SA44B.

[Battle]

Seems enabling features like addons is still possible from what I read. Likely some frequency expansion as well. As for SSA to SVA..Im not certain from some of what Ive read here. Possible cables inside need to be added. Then it looked like you had to hex edit the firmware from another post I seen. So all that sounded sketch. Especially from most of the post being older dates. So its hard to know if newer hardware updates makes that possible.

[Bicurico]

Siglent can do nothing against the fact that a public keygen exists for already launched products. It would require to release a whole new licensing system, which would be incompatible with the existing customer base and, more importantly, a new FW encryption process, since the current one is known (but not public).

This, however, would require an update of the existing FW, which could be decrypted - a classic catch-22.

What Siglent can do (and is doing, apparently) is to provide new FW encryption and licensing method to NEW models.

Also, it seems that they are making it more difficult to cross-grade an SSA30xxPlus into an SVA10XX, by not only leaving out one RF cable, but now leaving out the two connectors, too. Of course you can just purchase the cable and the two connectors and solder them in. However, this is basically not reversible and void waranty.

But buying a SSA3021Plus and upgrading it to SSA3032Plus with full options is easily done with the keygen and could be undone by means of a backup of the relevant files (that store the licenses, I don't remember the names).

Hope this makes it clear.

Side note: this "upgrade" route easily saves thousands of Euro to the user, so there is no excuse to not spend some time reading the massive threads about the SSA/SVA.

[Roy D. Mercer]

I saw this shortly after you sent your reply. I meant to reply the next day but have been so busy at work I completely forgot about it until I received my SSA 3021X Plus today. Now, I just need to find the the time to read through this thread and give it a a try. Thank you so much for taking the time. If not for your reply I wouldn't have spent the funds.

[nike75]

I doubt that only the RF cable and RF connectors are missing in the new batches of SSA3021XPlus. If the RF cable installation is only the final stage in the assembly, then the lack of connectors on the board suggests a BOM change (eventually different SMT assembly).

[Attenbach]

Since noone has taken stance, I would like to ask whether it hasn't always been like this?

Both in Shahriar's teardown of the 3032X from August 2017 (min. 4:49), as well as in Dave's teardown of the SSA3021X Plus (min. 3:55), the top SMA connector and any cabling there have not been populated (11:51 and 30:56 respectively).

The differences I notice from your picture compared to those teardowns are that they unified the shielding into one cover, instead of the original two separate ones, which makes total sense to me. (I guess that explains why the TG comes as standard nowadays?).
Interestingly, the unpopulated SMA on the TG seems to be new? At least it wasn#t there in those tear downs.

The new cover has those cutouts for these unpopulated pins, but I doubt that makes any difference in crossflashing. I will soon attempt the approach outlined by ozkarah on my brand new SSA3021X Plus (already a 3032X Plus with all options, factory calibrated on the 31st Oct. 2024) to get a SVA1032X and use it as an LCR Meter as recommended by tautech. I will report on the procedure if everything goes well.
If anyone found out why the Model number doesn't change in the System Information, I'd be glad to try a new solution.

[Attenbach]

Update: TLDR: Still works great

I exactly followed the steps as written by ozkarad in Reply #1220 on page 49, with the following differences:

- His step 3: Changed "<upgrade_static_id>11411</upgrade_static_id>" to "<upgrade_static_id>11410</upgrade_static_id>" as outlined in the comments afterwards
- donwloaded the https://int.siglent.com/upload_file/zip/firmware/Spectrum_analyzer/SVA1000X_V3.2.2.6.2R5_EN.zip]newest SVA1000X firmware[/url], clicking on the link should start the roughly 27MB download.

I didn't continue after step 4 from the original message yet.
All options under System Info are still Permanent, but DTP is not activated yet (I don't think I will ever needed, heck I have issues finding out where to learn how to use this thing as an LCR meter lol)
I can confirm that the device still identifies as a SSA3032X Plus, although VNA (and DTF but greyed out) appear when pressing mode.

If you cannot navigate through cmd like me, use Chatgpt, it is super kind and helpful at guiding you though all steps (just copy the original message into chatgpt, for example after this basic prompt: please help me through this sparsely documented tutorial).

PS: I noticed that after my initial mod to a 3032X, somehow my LAN COnfig was reset to 0.0.0.0. If that also happens to you AND you connected your SSA directly to your PC through a LAN cable, follow these steps. On windows, open your control panel and navigate to your LAN network properties, then note your IP address and Subnet mask. Then,

1. Set a Static IP Configuration on your SSA:

Use a Static IP if you are directly connecting the SA to your PC via a LAN cable.
Assign an IP address that is compatible with your PC's LAN network.

2. How to Choose IP Settings:

IP Address: Pick an unused IP in the same subnet as your PC. For example:
PC IP: 192.168.1.1
SA IP: 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask: Use 255.255.255.0 (a common default).
Default Gateway: Set this to your PC's IP (192.168.1.1 in the example above).

Hope this helps. Again, just ask chatgpt or similar.

[mandor]

Hello.
Got SSA3021X Plus.
Entered ALL and 3032 options codes with keygen.
Connected telnet and backed up files.
Didn't change any files except added telnet to startup.
Flashed SVA1032X_V3.2.2.4.0_11411 downloaded here.
Entered ALL options code for SVA with keygen.
Changed /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_trends_config_info.xml to display SVA1032X in system info.

I didn't change or rename any other files.
Is this ok?

Is it now safe to flash latest SVA firmware SVA1000X_V3.2.2.6.2R5 ?

I didn't open it to check for missing cable. Can I without opening the unit?
I connected cable between port 1 and 2. I don't have any not even the cheapest cal kit at the moment (open, short, load)
SWR shows 1 that should be ok, but there's no variation at all.
LogMag is +alot. Shouldn't it be 0?
Smith chart is a big X

I know a little from being a Ham, but please excuse me if I'm talking nonsense.

[RoV]

S21 is transmission, no sense to use the Smith chart display or the SWR. They make sense, instead, for S11.
If the internal cable and/or connector are missing, they should affect S11, not S21, because S21 uses the same hardware of the tracking generator + SA included in the base model. S11 requires the capability to receive from port 1, which is the tracking generator output port: in my understanding the additional internal cable reroutes the reflected signal to the SA receiver to enable the S11 measurement.
The anomalous value for S21 in log mag display may be due to a missing default calibration. You can try an approximate calibration using a shorted connector for short, no connector for open and a standard 50 ohm load for load: it will be far from perfect, but should work acceptably well below 100 MHz. The simple transmission calibration required for S21 only requires an adapter to directly connect the two ports.

[mandor]

Sure. Yes, S11 is obviously 1 port, you're correct. Although what are vswr reflection bridges for? Looking at user manuals, bridge is mentioned in SSA, and not in SVA. So SVA should have that built in, as you mention with internal cable?
I'll have a closer look at calibration when I get the little nanovna cal set.
Right now i'm interested if It's safe to upgrade firmware and do I open it up and add the cable :-D

[Attenbach]

Hi mandor,

great to see you going through the same process and I am looking forward to following your progress.

Even though I haven't tried S21 mode, as I currently don't have the cable to connect port 1 to 2, I can also see the smith chart as a box, rather than a single point.

Unlike you, I do have 3.2.2.6.2R5 installed and I cannot use my SVA in VNA mode. I have tried simply "updating" down to the 3.2.2.4 firmware from the USB stick, but the downgrade fails. I am certain there are smart ways to force downgrade, but I didn't try them. I haven't opened my device up yet to see what's changed.
If you have other questions, let me know. You can see my current state in the other threads.

Good luck!