EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: Technix sys on April 02, 2019, 09:36:05 pm
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I purchased a Rigol DSA815-TG (1.5GHz) several years ago and have been very satisfied with it. I recently purchased a DSA875-TG just prior to the release of the RSA5000 Series, and have been even happier with it.
The fasted sweep time on the DSA815 is 10 Ms, whereas the DSA875 is 1 Ms, and additionally goes up to 7.5 GHz. The Rigol RSA3000/5000 Series with Real Time display is available. Although I'm very satisfied with the DSA875 that has a higher frequency coverage than the RSA Series, at significantly lower cost. While they both (RSA and DSA875) have a 1 Ms maximum Sweep Time in the conventional sweep spectrum mode. The DSA875 continues to meet my requirements and interest without the Real Time capability of the RSA Series. Yes real time SA is very nice for analyzing PLL lockup, Frequency Hopping, unique modulation formats, etc. Although for most applications it isn't needed for basic RF performance tests, EMC/EMI analysis, or hobbyist activities. And it certainly isn't beneficial enough for me, to justify its additional expense.
I believe that hopefully (and per Rigol comments) the DSA875 will continue to be supported, and in the near future I will report on DSA832/875 Firmware version 00.01.06.00.03 that I have been reviewing (see 'Reply #4' below).
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For 'Rigol DSA875-TG 9kHz - 7.5GHz Spectrum Analyzer Review, Teardown & Experiments' by Shahriar of The Signal Path: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wVlH1lPZdE&feature=youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wVlH1lPZdE&feature=youtube)
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FYI: EEVbloger 'Mad ID' reported that the RSA5000 Real Time SA Internal Spurious Responses are Worse than the DSA875. Ref. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-rigol-real-time-spectrum-analyser/msg1784825/#msg1784825 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-rigol-real-time-spectrum-analyser/msg1784825/#msg1784825)
'Mad ID' said: Hi, we had a demo unit for test. I was surprised to find that internal spurious emission is much worse than on DSA875-TG. e.q. peaks every 10MHz from 0-100MHz, every 100MHz above 1GHz etc. Don't know if this is normal for all spectrum analyzers but we'll stick with the old model as real time is not crucial for us. It's not about the peaks, but there are too much of them. Don't wont to ask myself where is this coming from for every EMC measurement.
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The following EEV link describes Peter Dreisiebner's (EEVblog'er 'PeDre') 'Rigol DSA800 Remote Control program that I have been using with the DSA815-TG, and more recently with my DSA875-TG.
Re: Spectrum Analyzer - Rigol DSA815, « Reply #966 on: January 19, 2019, 05:31:11 am »,
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/spectrum-analyzer-rigol-dsa815/msg2130790/#msg2130790 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/spectrum-analyzer-rigol-dsa815/msg2130790/#msg2130790)
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New Rigol DSA832/875 Firmware version 00.01.06.00.03
1. Corrected the issue with the USB Flash Drive storage of 'JPEG Screen Shots' being upside-down.
2. The Spectrum Analyzer's internal sweep data has been changed to ": FORMat: BORDer NORMal" that starts with MSB and ends with LSB. It's now Big Endian, whereas previously it was Little Endian format. This is the same change that was done with the DSA815 in Firmware version 01.19.00.02. So now the DSA800 series all use the same internal sweep data format (Big Endian).
3. Some other bug(s) solved(?).
Rigol revised their latest Ultra Spectrum (version 00.01.00.27) software to work with this DSA832/875 Firmware.
Peter Dreisiebner ('PeDre') also revised his Rigol DSA800 Remote Control Software to work with this change, and I have been using it without any issues for the past several months. This is my DSA800 Remote Control Software of choice, even though it hasn't been fully completed and officially released.
Edit: I added the referenced Firmware (00.01.06.00.03) Update here. Note that this Firmware is also applicable to the DSA832 as well as the DSA875.
Note: This firmware update was provided directly to me by Rigol NA due to my complaining to them about the 'Screen Shot.jpg' for the DSA875 (and DSA700 Series, DSA815, DSA832) being upside-down for a couple of years. It does work well now without my finding any other issues with it to date. I can not comment on why Rigol hasn't released this to everyone else, except for their apparently being incompetent not keeping their firmware for us up to date. :--
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FYI. I added DSA832/E and DSA875 Firmware Update 00.01.06.00.03, 2018-12-07, zip file for downloading in my previous post here above.
Note: I'm also including the DSA815 firmware here (below) that fixed the spelling of the SSC mode 'SigCapture' (miss-spelled as SigCpature) for the DSA815. This is only for the DSA700 Series and DSA815. This also took them at least a year to fix after my request and reminders.