Cheap Spectrum Analyzer

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Hi all,

As I know there is RF expert here, I risk a little question about
equipment.
As we have only little budget for new equipment now, I try to find a
good spectrum analyzer with atleast 1 GHz bandwidth that I could buy
for about 2000 US$ (or least) on Ebay or other used equipment sellers.
We work with standard FHSS in the 900 MHz ISM band and I principally
need a tool to measure signal power and signal purity (in band and out
band noise) at different points. I don't need all new functions to
demodulate WCDMA, WLAN or Zigbee for which you pay 30000$ new. Is it
better to have a digital analyzer or an analog one can do the job? In
the past, I used a HP8590B which do all I need but it is a little bit
expensive. Is it a good choice or do you know a better model which you
could referred to me?

All your feedback will be very appreciated!

Thanks,

Fred

 

[Paul]

As we have only little budget for new equipment now, I try to find a
good spectrum analyzer with atleast 1 GHz bandwidth that I could buy
for about 2000 US$ (or least) on Ebay or other used equipment sellers.
We work with standard FHSS in the 900 MHz ISM band and I principally
need a tool to measure signal power and signal purity (in band and out
band noise) at different points.

You're not going to measure a lot of harmonics this way...

Paul

 

[John Miles]

Hi all,

As I know there is RF expert here, I risk a little question about
equipment.
As we have only little budget for new equipment now, I try to find a
good spectrum analyzer with atleast 1 GHz bandwidth that I could buy
for about 2000 US$ (or least) on Ebay or other used equipment sellers.
We work with standard FHSS in the 900 MHz ISM band and I principally
need a tool to measure signal power and signal purity (in band and out
band noise) at different points. I don't need all new functions to
demodulate WCDMA, WLAN or Zigbee for which you pay 30000$ new. Is it
better to have a digital analyzer or an analog one can do the job? In
the past, I used a HP8590B which do all I need but it is a little bit
expensive. Is it a good choice or do you know a better model which you
could referred to me?

All your feedback will be very appreciated!

Thanks,

Fred

There have been a lot of late-model Tektronix 495Ps on eBay lately in
that price range (and below). If you can find one with a good return
policy, it would probably be an excellent fit for your needs... except,
as the other person noted, for the fact that you won't be able to view
harmonic content without an external downconverter of some sort.

-- jm