Products > Test Equipment
OWON XSA1032-TG 3.2G Spectrum Analyzer
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TomC:
These went on sale a few months ago at Walmart's marketplace from several Chinese vendors. I've been wanting a spectrum analyzer to play with for years, but couldn't afford the $2500 and up price just for my electronics hobby. So when I saw these I snatched a brand new one for under $600, delivered. Its been a couple months but I haven't had much time to play with it, and truthfully, I'm very new to this devices since I've never owned one before. If any one is familiar with these any comments will be appreciated! I may post more of my experiences with this new toy in the future if there is any interest.
nenea dani:
    Hi, I don't have this device, only a similar one from the competition. I want to give you a piece of advice, namely to start by purchasing a set of attenuators at least 10db and 6db, but 3db and 1db would also be good. You always have to have an external attenuator when testing something new or something you don't know everything about. Similarly, after any modification in the DUT, you must start with an external attenuator of 10db or 6db. Any connection or disconnection from the power supply or a sudden abnormal regime can exceed the strength of the signal entering the analyzer. You have to be very careful with the first mixer, even if it has some protection that displays a warning message on some analyzers.
    After everything is under control, you can remove the external attenuator and continue the measurements.
    An old military technician told me that whoever has an analyzer and his first mixer didn't burn means that either he didn't work enough or he was very lucky. From my not very big experience, I say that he is right. I recommend attenuators from Minicircuits FW-10+ and so on which are at 1W and 12gHz. And one more thing, do not connect the input of the analyzer to the DUT until the latter is not in a stable regime. :)
TomC:
Hi nenea dani

Thanks for the hint! I did read about the mishaps with mixers and bought a 20dB 25 W at the same time I got the analyzer. I also have an old variable that has 1, 3, 6, 10, 10, 20, 20 dB switches.

Currently I'm comparing the specs of the Owon XSA1032-TG that I have with what appears to be a similar unit from Rigol, the DSA832E-TG. It's taking longer than I expected because they use different names for the same spec in some cases.
pdenisowski:

--- Quote from: nenea dani on May 05, 2023, 07:01:12 am ---An old military technician told me that whoever has an analyzer and his first mixer didn't burn means that either he didn't work enough or he was very lucky.

--- End quote ---

Don't tell my manager that - I've been using lab and portable spectrum analyzers for over 15 years and have yet to damage one (knock on wood) :)

Our service center does occasionally get spec ans where someone has burned out the front end by connecting to something they shouldn't have, but it's not as common as one might think.

But you're absolutely right, it doesn't hurt to connect an attenuator if you're not sure what you're looking at.  I sometimes even start with the bigger one :)


--- End quote ---
nenea dani:
I worked for a while with a Systron Donner 809-1 which is a heavy tank in the field and I never protect it. However, with a small amplifier I managed to fry his first mixer. It took 30 seconds to change the mixer diode, but in some analyzers the mixer is molded together with many other parts. All evil leads to good because I later managed to build a cartridge type mixer with Schottky diode. What can I say, each with his own stories. :)
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