Products > Test Equipment
Making the N1996A CSA Dance
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KE5FX:

--- Quote from: Gandalf_Sr on January 15, 2016, 08:21:29 pm ---The first N1996A I bought had a problem and I returned it. 

I got a different one over the Xmas break and I'm only just getting to play with it - the testing procedure for performing a one port insertion loss measurement requires some calibration up front and the built-in procedure requires a short, an open, and a calibrated 50 Ohm load.  Given that I'm working with SMA I thought I'd look for these 3 items in SMA so I can do tests and I'm looking for advice an what to buy...

Does anyone know of any reasonably-priced stuff that would meet my needs?

Is 3.5 mm stuff way better than SMA and is it compatible? I think it is.

Thanks in advance.

--- End quote ---

SMA is fine unless you know for sure that it isn't. 

3.5mm hardware is compatible with SMA but much more delicate.  It's possible to screw up a 3.5mm female jack by mating it with an SMA cable, if the center pin moves around at all.
radar_macgyver:
If it's a test cable you're after, grab one from Mini-circuits. They make reasonably priced ones, with N-type on one end, and SMA or N on the other. Don't get the quick-disconnect (half-turn) stuff, it's hard to not cross thread them.

http://www.minicircuits.com/products/test_cbl.shtml

For work below about 10 GHz, 3.5mm connectors don't really provide an advantage, unless you need super low VSWR.

I have an N1996A at work. It was basically unusable until I bumped the firmware to 2.0 (this was many years ago - they probably have a new one out now), you may want to do the same.
nctnico:
I'd stick with SMA. You can buy SMA cables with huber&schuner (or something like that) cables from Ebay for decent prices (expect to pay $30 for a 50cm cable) but they have low loss until at least 3GHz.
Gandalf_Sr:
Thanks for all the replies, despite my advancing years, I wasn't even aware that 3.5 mm (basically high falutin' SMA) existed until yesterday.  I'll stick with SMA after all the comments you guys gave as I'm only going up to 6 GHz.  I already bought some cheap SMA adapters and cables (and a few good ones too) plus 3 used 12" Huber+Suhner SMA cables.
TheSteve pointed me to some el cheapo calibration terminators that I ordered from eBay yesterday; their web site claims that they are pretty good, we'll see.
Cooperhop:
Hi,

I know this was posted a long ago. But needed to ask about the experience on using this spectrum analyzer.

How was your experience with the Agilent CSA N1996A ? I find it has some slow refresh rate ? Is it bothersome ?Is it because it’s a portable spectrum analyzer? Would bench top spectrum analyzer of the same era might have better performance?
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