What is good spectrum analyser Agilent ESA E4403B or Agilent CSA N1996A ?

[Cooperhop]

Hello,

Please help me to choose a good second hand spectrum analyser ? I have decided on Agilent ESA-E series one for a long time now, but Agilent CSA N1996A also seems a good choice. But don't know which one is better in performance.

Edit:
Actually I need a professional grade spectrum analyzer. I’m not a new to RF. But I’m not experienced either. I already have a cmu200. But need something professional level so I can move to that kind of phase. I’m looking for testing amplifiers and filters. Also intend to start with designing antennas too. Probably a VNA is a better choice for me as I already have a cmu200. But VNAs are crazy expensive. So I wonder if SA with tracking generator would suffice my need until I get at least a nanoVNA.

Thank you.

[Kean]

What are your needs?  What are you planning to use it for?

If you are learning, then maybe start with something cheaper that won't be too big a loss if damaged.

The TinySA Ultra is low cost and very handy device to own and experiment with, and still useful if you later buy a bench top device.
https://www.tinysa.org/wiki/

[Cooperhop]

I have updated my question with the requirements.

[tautech]

I have updated my question with the requirements.

That's missing a budget.

[nctnico]

For antenna tuning, a VNA is a better tool because it will show you what kind of matching network you'll need.

[Cooperhop]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I also think if I could afford a VNA that would be really great. I’ll keep looking for one until someone sells it for considerably reasonable amount.

If we just compare the two models for their performance, what would be the one you’d recommend? I can buy around 1500 USD.

[TheSteve]

The N1996A does have a return loss bridge built in which is handy. It will read SWR/return loss directly with no additional hardware. Still an older used VNA may be a better choice.

[nctnico]

US $1500 would buy one of the newer JDSU / Viavi 700 series base  station analysers on the used market. These do have smith chart plotting but (AFAIK) no cursor to show capacitance / inductance. Maybe a NanoVNA is a good option but be sure to buy the right one. There is quite a bit of software available for the NanoVNA to control & read them from a PC. IMHO these should be all you need for antenna tuning. There is also a PC based USB VNA called LibreVNA at around US $700 but I have no hands-on experience with it.

[Cooperhop]

Does the Agilent ESA series spectrum analyzers have faster refresh rate ?

How important is to have faster refresh rate when it comes to spectrum analyzers ?

[tautech]

Does the Agilent ESA series spectrum analyzers have faster refresh rate ?

How important is to have faster refresh rate when it comes to spectrum analyzers ?

Sweep time is directly related to operator settings.

Span and RBW settings have the greatest influence and high precision settings (data points) can add further time to the sweep.

[zrq]

These days you may consider these retired 3.6G N9020As coming from China. I heard some might be dodgy but some are simply of excellent value. Some have the flexnet license manager cracked so comes with all possible software options.
If I'm still in China I'll certainly get one, the resellers on ebay are asking much more than the Xianyu price even considering shipping (althogh still way less than westen sellers).

[pdenisowski]

How important is to have faster refresh rate when it comes to spectrum analyzers ?

Are you referring to sweep time?  That's basically a function of span and resolution bandwidth, both of which are user configurable.

As a practical (and somewhat oversimplified) matter: sweep time is important when you're measuring something that changes during the time it takes to make a sweep  

If you're measuring the passband of a filter, etc. then it's mostly a function of your patience.  Given that the "interesting" part of most filters is the upper and/or lower edges and attenuation in and out of the pass band, you don't need a terribly small RBW to get acceptable results measuring them*

(*unless you care about things like "ripple" in the passband, etc.)

The same could also be said for an amplifier that's being measured with a CW input, in which case the output signal is (or should be) constant and relatively narrow in spectrum.

The biggest reason to reduce RBW in both cases would be to lower the noise floor (DANL).

Yes, different spec ans will have different sweep times even given the same RBW and span, but for the tests you are describing I don't think the difference is terribly important.

[Electro Fan]

What is the highest frequency you will be working with and how much bandwidth do you need to see at one time?

[usagi]

i do have a used SA buyer's guide:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/used-spectrum-analyzer-buyer_s-guide/