[time-nuts] General questions on 8510C network analyzers

Tom Holmes tholmes at woh.rr.com
Tue Jul 5 18:50:42 UTC 2011


Javier...

The 8510 IS a great box, but I would be concerned about the combination of
advancing age and availability of parts, especially CRT's and
attenuators...actually, anything mechanical. You could buy spares at
auction, but those would likely have the same problems. Manuals are fairly
easy to find.

As for the sweeper issue, it may not have been in the earliest models, but
the later ones have a stepped sweep mode that actually does issue specific
frequency commands to the LO for each measurement point. Slows things down a
bit but very accurate and repeatable in frequency. That being said, the old
'lock and roll' scheme was not all that bad for frequency accuracy, unless
you are a time nut ;-). 

And if it has the time-domain option, rejoice!

Agilent also has an ENA line which is less expensive than the PNA line, and
it offers a 20 GHz model which is as capable as the 8510, actually more so
in many ways. The savings in maintenance headaches might be worth the extra
up-front cost. Things like speed, dynamic range, number of points available,
and noise floor are all much improved over the 8510.

I have seen where there is an LCD replacement display for the 8566 series
spec an which might also work in the 8510 if the CRT goes out.

Tom Holmes, N8ZM
Tipp City, OH
EM79


> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
> Behalf Of Javier Herrero
> Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 5:38 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] General questions on 8510C network analyzers
> 
> Hi,
> 
> El 04/07/2011 23:29, Jim Lux escribió:
> >
> > you definitely want phase.  Otherwise a regular old sweeper and a
> > spectrum analyzer would do.  But phase implies a synchronous receiver,
> > which greatly improves the dynamic range, and that's often what you
> > want..
> Right! For my current application, phase measurement is not important,
> but dynamic range is!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Javier
> 
> 
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