[time-nuts] Spectrum Analyzer Suggestions

Orin Eman orin.eman at gmail.com
Mon Jul 15 12:49:58 EDT 2013


On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 7:37 AM, David Kirkby <david.kirkby at onetel.net>wrote:

> On 15 July 2013 14:19, Robert LaJeunesse <rlajeunesse at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
> > Rigol, unlike most of the Asian based manufacturers, does have a support
> office in the States. They have also had a noticeable presence at the
> Dayton Hamvention. I'm rather pleased with the low-end Rigol scope I bought
> at Dayton two years ago.
> >
> > Bob LaJeunesse
>
> I don't know if it is true, but I read somewhere that some of the
> low-end Agilent scopes are made by Rigol. Personally I'd try to work
> around the weight issues of the HP. At least the HP will be fixable,
> whereas the Rigol will most likely be unrepairable in a few years
> time.
>


That was true, but I'm not sure it's true any more.

The new Rigol 2000 series scopes look very nice, but I just paid Tektronix
to tell me my 15 year old TDS210 is still in calibration, so no new scope
for me.

Back to spectrum analyzers.  The Rigol is very nice, but as far as I can
tell, an HP 8568A/B is going to beat it handily in terms of phase noise and
resolution bandwidth and you can pick up a good example of the HP for about
the same price.  But you do have the weight issue.  You need a GPIB
controller if you want to capture screenshots etc. from the HP, but the
Prologix USB controller at $150 will do that nicely.

If you want new and a warranty, I think the Rigol is the way to go.  There
is also the Signalhound, but it has software issues and needs a PC to drive
it.  I got a broken 8568B with the intent of fixing it, selling it and
getting a Signalhound.  The 8568B, though marginal on its log fidelity test
(an in-spec Rigol would be no better) is staying.

If you want to know what's in a Rigol SA, Dave Jones has a teardown here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY0acWrCYjw


Orin.


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