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Spectrum analyzer
- Thread starter kaos513
- Start date
Apologies! I missed the question wrapped up in there!
Short answer: Yes! Absolutely.
Longer answer: A lot depends on how you are going to use your SA.
If all you are going to do is get a display of the spectrum going, observe the cleanliness, go look at the 54 MHz trap setting.... it will absolutely work fine.
If, however, you are going to do more "value based" testing and measurement, the thing that you have to keep in mind is: everything you put in line has an insertion loss. That loss is ADDITIVE. So when you are looking at the display and actually measuring dB levels you have to take those insertion losses into account if you want to be more accurate. SO yes...it will all work.... but if you are counting on accurate measurements you have to take the individual losses of the adapter, the block, even the cables if you want to be spot on... into account.
[edited to add]
For instance if you have a 10 watt radio and your RF tap attenuates the sample tap by 40 dB, then 40 dBm - 40 db = 0dBm reaching the SA which is pretty good. However, if your DC block has 0.5 dB insertion loss and your pad adapter (number from thin air!) has 1.2 then you will actually be getting less signal at the SA.... - 1.7 dBm. You have to take that extra loss into account for the measurements to be precise.
Short answer: Yes! Absolutely.
Longer answer: A lot depends on how you are going to use your SA.
If all you are going to do is get a display of the spectrum going, observe the cleanliness, go look at the 54 MHz trap setting.... it will absolutely work fine.
If, however, you are going to do more "value based" testing and measurement, the thing that you have to keep in mind is: everything you put in line has an insertion loss. That loss is ADDITIVE. So when you are looking at the display and actually measuring dB levels you have to take those insertion losses into account if you want to be more accurate. SO yes...it will all work.... but if you are counting on accurate measurements you have to take the individual losses of the adapter, the block, even the cables if you want to be spot on... into account.
[edited to add]
For instance if you have a 10 watt radio and your RF tap attenuates the sample tap by 40 dB, then 40 dBm - 40 db = 0dBm reaching the SA which is pretty good. However, if your DC block has 0.5 dB insertion loss and your pad adapter (number from thin air!) has 1.2 then you will actually be getting less signal at the SA.... - 1.7 dBm. You have to take that extra loss into account for the measurements to be precise.
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kaos513 - I had an afterthought..... Your SA is certainly different than mine....but I wanted to leave a suggestion for when you are FIRST hooking up the sample tap to your dummy load and your SA..... take a look at the pic of mine. Right there by the input is has 4 little push in/push out switches. Each one switches in 10 dB of attenuation. When I first started messing with mine....for SAFETY (because I AM prone to doing dumb things!)..I pushed all 4 of them in....for 40 dB of attenuation right up front.
See if your HP has a feature like that...where you can apply selective attenuation on the input...and MAX it.
As long as you take the actual sample tap to the SA and the output to the dummy load...you should be good.....but JUST IN CASE.....that attenuation on the input of the SA might save you some headaches. Once you know you are hooked up right and seeing something on the screen that "fits"... you can turn it off as you need to.
Oopsies on these things can get expensive!
See if your HP has a feature like that...where you can apply selective attenuation on the input...and MAX it.
As long as you take the actual sample tap to the SA and the output to the dummy load...you should be good.....but JUST IN CASE.....that attenuation on the input of the SA might save you some headaches. Once you know you are hooked up right and seeing something on the screen that "fits"... you can turn it off as you need to.
Oopsies on these things can get expensive!
And, again... not to be insulting.... but I don't know what you know and don't know.....
It helps to have a good understanding of dB and dBm, what each is, how to convert between power/watts and dBm, and how dB of attenuation applies to dBm to reduce the power fed to the SA.
If you do, you are pretty well good to go!
Sorry I keep thinking things up, I'm just trying to make sure that SA front end doesn't get damaged.
It helps to have a good understanding of dB and dBm, what each is, how to convert between power/watts and dBm, and how dB of attenuation applies to dBm to reduce the power fed to the SA.
If you do, you are pretty well good to go!
Sorry I keep thinking things up, I'm just trying to make sure that SA front end doesn't get damaged.
Thanks , I'm waiting on the dc block no way I'm ruining this bad boy lol, for one thing it did pass calibration and self test.