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Help me pick a spectrum analyzer...

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Mr Simpleton:
I'm looking to get a spectrum analyzer for my home lab, should do fine with <1.5GHz but higher frequency may come in handy later. As I have a long lasting love affair with the HP8568B which I use at day job, the only thing that holds me back is the size (and its age). So I turned to the 856X and 859X series. Looks like the 859X is not liked (I have never used one) and the 856X much preferred. Have spent some time with the 8563E (have one in the lab next door) but cannot say I'm overly impresesd by it's UI. Tried to use an Advantest U3641 and found it user unfriendly (beeing kind here). The R&S FSH3.... oh well that goes into the same class as U3641, not my cup of tea!

Saw on fleabay that newer Agilent analyzers starting to show up at almost affordable prices ($4k), now that support is dropping. Question remains is how hard it will be to keep them running, finding spares etc.

Parameters important to me are: low phase noise, RBW 10 Hz (<30Hz), logical UI, not to big/heavy.
Has anyone made a fair comparason between old HP analyzer vs. new Rigol considering spending the same amount of money?   :-//

eman12:
Hi Mr Simpleton ,

Sorry, I do not know if my response would be helpful or not, But I have got a 20MHz commercial USB scope card. It is connected to a PC/Notebook to work and hence is cheaper than the real ones's. It has got a spectrum analyzer as well, you can try google to find those kinds of scopes and see if it can help you or not,

Mr Simpleton:
Thanks... but these are not up to what I want it to perform...  I currently have a Signal Hound analyzer covering up to 4.4GHz but I would really like to have a stand alone instrument with proven performance  :-+

Fsck:
Shahriar of The Signal Path tests a Rigol DSA1030A-TG3:   

I believe it fulfills your basic requirements. But, there's a whole 1.5 hours of video for you to form your own opinion of it.

olsenn:
Purchase a Rigol DSA815-TG for <$1500 and fully deck it out for free with the key-generator found here on the EEVblog forums. This will give you 1.5GHz and 10Hz RBW, plus all the measurement options, VSWR tools, EMI, etc. It has a MUCH faster sweep time than the SignalHound (albeit with a smaller operating bandwidth). Plus it's fully standalone.

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