Products > Test Equipment
Used spectrum analyzer buyer's guide
usagi:
Lots of spectrum analzyers can be found on the used market for great prices, especially if you know what to look for! A lot of test equipment such as "communication tester", "transmitter tester", "base station test set", "vector signal analyzer", or other similar description have quite decent basic spectrum analyzer functionality. This guide is intended for hobbyists looking for spectrum analzyers that can be found on the used market for around US$1000 or less.
Use "undesirable" options such as 75ohm input impedance as leverage for negotiating price.
Make/ModelFreq RangeSpanRBWAvg PriceNotesAdvantest R3131A9khz-3GhzZero,50khz-Full300hz-1Mhz$700-$1600TG is option 74Advantest R3261A9khz-2.6GhzZero,1khz-Full30hz-1Mhz$900-$2000Advantest R3361A9khz-2.6GhzZero,1khz-Full30hz-1Mhz$900-$2000Advantest R34659khz-8Ghz300hz-5mhz$1000-$2000Advantest R4131A10khz-3.5GhzZero,100khz-Full1khz-1Mhz$900-$2000Agilent E4406A10Mhz-4Ghz10hz-10Mhz0.1hz-1Mhz$400-$1000100M span with W-CDMA option.
Pay attention to ser# for 12bit vs 14bit modelsAgilent E4411B9khz-1.5Ghz1khz-5Mhz0.1hz-1Mhz$600-$1200"undesirable" Option 1DP 75ohm input impedance.
Option 1DR adds 100hz, 300hz RBWAgilent E6380E400khz-1Ghz,1.4-2Ghz300hz,1khz,3khz,30khz,300khzFull Span$800-$1300Agilent E7495A10Mhz-2.5Ghz
(usable to 500khz)1khz-Full10hz-1Mhz$400-$1000Portable, 18650 battery packAgilent E7495B10Mhz-2.7Ghz
(usable to 500khz)1khz-Full10hz-1Mhz$400-$1000Portable, 18650 battery packAgilent E8285A800Mhz-1Ghz,1.7-2Ghz300hz,1khz,3khz,30khz,300khzFull Span$350-$700Option 102 required for Spectrum AnalyzerAgilent N9020A-503 MXA10hz-3.6ghz1Hz-8MhzFull Span$1800+30 dBm (1W) max inputAnritsu MS2711D100khz-3ghzZero,10hz-Full100hz-1Mhz$900-$1600Up to +43dbm inputAnritsu MS8604A100hz-8.5GhzZero,100hz-Full10hz-3Mhz$500-$1000Anritsu MS8608A9khz-7.8GhzZero,1khz-Full300hz-20Mhz$1000-$1200Option 02 adds 1hz-1khz RBW
Option 04 adds 10hz-1Mhz RBWAnritsu MS8609A9khz-13.2GhzZero,1khz-Full300hz-20Mhz$1500-$2500Option 02 adds 1hz-1khz RBW
Option 04 adds 10hz-1Mhz RBW
Option 32 adds +30dbm inputAnritsu MT8802A10Mhz-3GhzZero-Full300hz$600-$800ISTR option 7 required for spectrum analyzerGW Instek GSP-810150khz-1GhzZero,2khz-100mhz3khz,30khz,220khz,4Mhz$300-$700Unimpressive specs, probably best for classrooms.
RBW limitations would hamper HF use.HP/Keysight 8562A1khz-22GhzZero,2.5khz-Full100hz-1Mhz$100-$2000HP/Keysight 8566B100hz-22GhzZero,100hz-Full10hz-3Mhz$700-$1400140lbs!HP/Keysight 8568B100hz-1.5GhzZero,100hz-Full10hz-3Mhz$700-$1400140lbs!HP/Keysight 8590A10khz-1.5GhzZero,50khz-Full1khz-3Mhz$800-$1200Portable. Be wary of Option 001 (75ohm)HP/Keysight 8591A9khz-1.8GhzZero,10khz-Full1khz-3Mhz$800-$1200Option 130 adds 30,100,300hz RBWHP/Keysight 8594E9khz-2.9GhzZero,10khz-Full1khz-3Mhz$1000-$1200Portable. Option 130 and 140 adds 30,100,300hz RBW.
Option 140 also adds internal OCXO.Nex1 NS-309khz-3Ghz100Hz/div-Full300,1k,3k,10k,30k,100k,300k,1M,3M$UNKNOWNRodhe & Schwarz CMU20010Mhz-2.7GhzZero-Full10hz-1Mhz$800-$1200Up to +47dbm (50W) on RF1 input.
Options CMU-B95 and CMU-B96 reduce this to 2WRodhe & Schwarz FSH3100khz-3GhzZero-Full1khz-1Mhz$1000-$1800Portable. RBW 100hz, 300hz with optionRodhe & Schwarz FSH6100khz-6GhzZero-Full1khz-1Mhz$1500-$2000Portable. RBW 100hz, 300hz with option
See also: Used multimeter buyer's guide
usagi:
Keysight Product page: E4406A VSA Transmitter Tester, 7 MHz to 4 GHz
image courtesy of sglabs.it
Models with 14-bit IF appear to have better performance
Does my E4406A VSA Series Analyzer have a 14-bit digital IF or a 12-bit digital IF? (archive.is)
--- Quote --- All instruments that were manufactured in Malaysia were originally built with 14-bit Digital IF assemblies. Instruments manufactured in the US that have Serial numbers US41513009 and later were also originally built with 14-bit Digital IF assemblies. Also, U.S. instruments that have serial numbers that start with US4136 and have the following suffixes were also originally built with 14-bit Digital IF assemblies: 2964, 2977, 2982, 2986, 2987, 2988, 2989, 2990, 2991, 2992, 2993, 2998, 3000, 3003, 3004, 3005, 3006, 3007. All other instruments with serial numbers US41362959 and prior were originally built with 12-bit digital IF assemblies. The date at which instruments started to be manufactured with the 14-bit Digital IF was approximately January 15, 2002.
You can also determine which digital IF assembly you have by looking at the Show System menu which is accessible by pressing the following key sequence on your instrument: . The part numbers of the major assemblies in the instrument will be given shown under this menu. The part numbers of the two revisions of the 14 bit Digital IF assembly are E4440-60025 and E4440-60195. The 12-bit Digital IF assembly is part number E4406-60006.
--- End quote ---
Option B7C IQ baseband option is highly desirable but rare.
Option BAF W-CDMA option allows for span up to 100mhz
agilent e4406a span concatenator
http://ve2zaz.net/InstrCtl/InstrCtl.htm
HP E4406A remote control
Topic: Agilent E4406A Vector Signal Analyser
usagi:
Product Page: R&S®CMU200 Universal Radio Communication Tester
Be aware of the following options. If installed, they reduce the max input power on RF 1, which may be undesirable:
if R&S CMU-B95 is installed, RF 1 continuous input power = max 2 W
if R&S CMU-B96 is installed, RF 1 continuous input power = max 2 W
Topic: Enabling options for R&S test equipment
Topic: Rohde & Schwarz CMU200
Topic: CMU200 almost tracking generator
Controller is a standard PC architecture running MS-DOS. CPU upgrades and SSD conversions are possible.
FMR5 motherboard uses AMD K6-2/300 CPU (Socket 7).
FMR6 motherboard uses Celeron Mobile CPU
FMR6Plus motherboard uses Celeron Mobile CPU (socket 495), BIOS 1.00 supports Pentium III 933
usagi:
Anritsu MT8802a Product Page
Anritsu MT8802A (MT8801C) service tips
Topic: Anritsu MT8801A/B/C & MT8802A
ISTR Option 7 required for spectrum analyzer functionality
usagi:
True spectrum analyzer. Vector display. Introduced in 1980!
Huge and heavy - 140lbs. Shipping can easily run several hundred $ even in the US.
Keysight Product Page: 8566B Spectrum Analyzer, 100 Hz to 22 GHz
Keysight Product Page: 8568B Spectrum Analyzer, 100 Hz to 1500 MHz
image courtesy of sglabs.it
HP 8568 Resources (also covers HP 8566B) @ hpmemoryproject.org
HP 8566B User's Manual
HP 8568B User's Manual
EB5AGV's Workbench: HP-8566A repair
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