Can't choice DSA1030-TG3 versus GSP-930 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Icarus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2014, 10:44:51 am
content: Hi folks;Which spectrum analyzer do you recommend ?Rigol DSA1030-TG3 (+Tracking Gen)http://www.rigolna.com/products/spectrum-analyzers/dsa1000/dsa1030-tg3/VersusGwInstek GSP-930 (+Tracking Gen)http://www.gwinstek.com/en/product/productdetail.aspx?pid=4&mid=61&id=1324

author: Icarus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2014, 06:01:51 pm
content: up

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2014, 01:15:32 am
content: It depends on what you want to do with them and what performance levels you expect.I've not used either of them but here are my thoughts anyway (after looking at the specs and features)These are both modern analysers with a digital IF back end and lots and lots of associated features that exploit the DSP to provide a very powerful environment for post processing the data captured in the digital IF.BUT...Both of them have very poor front end RF performance. This might not be an issue for many users and I suspect that the makers are aware of this. But these are not lab grade instruments in terms of the RF front end performance. Both appear to be as bad as each other in this respect. The phase noise, the IP3 and IP2 performance, the internal and external spurious performance are all quite poor.$6000 is a lot of cash to splash on something like this so I would expect that these would normally be purchased by smallish companies who only want an analyser for occasional and casual use and who don't care (or understand) about the poor RF performance. They will just use it and trust it and accept what the display tells them.I would have either one if it was broken and really cheap (spares/repair) because of the small size and low power, the DSP based features and the nice display. But no way would I (as a private individual/consumer) pay $6000 for such mediocre RF performance.Note: if you want to operate the analyser remotely then there have been a few posters on here who have had issues with Rigol gear and remote control via GPIB etc. So this would put me off the Rigol a bit.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2014, 09:01:06 am
content: For that kind of money you can buy a decent used spectrum analyser (with waranty) from an equipment dealer.

author: Icarus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2014, 10:07:55 am
content: Quote from: G0HZU on January 13, 2014, 01:15:32 amThank you so much brother.Which brand do you recommend ?Our all budget is $6000 for the equipment and the company is going make a microwave doppler motion detector.

author: 1design
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2014, 06:33:32 pm
content: I was looking at the same units some time ago and at the end ended up buying a used Agilent N9340B with TG and preamp for well under 4k€. I think this is a much better bang per buck since the supplier usually give a 6 month warranty on these used units. You must also take into account that the battery is sold separately and that you have to pay for additional measurement kits and so on. This thing are standard in an Agilent without additional charge.Best Regards.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2014, 11:13:47 pm
content: QuoteIf it's being bought for a specific design task (radar) then I would think that the designer of the radar would want to dictate the specs for the analyser.For example: Does your radar require low system phase noise? For some flavours of Doppler radar, phase noise can be key to the system performance. Neither of those analysers will be of much use for measuring (low) phase noise. But you can always measure system phase noise with something else and just use the analyser for basic signal monitoring etc.The problem with buying an older/cheaper Agilent or HP analyser is that you will lose much of the modern connectivity and also the data capture/transfer will be more limited. But the RF performance will be a lot better.So you need to decide which is most relevant to your needs.QuoteThat looks to be a very modern/versatile development platform so assuming that all the above interfaces actually work and aren't buggy then this probably puts it ahead of the Rigol in this respect. But you need to find out if your designer cares about the high phase noise and the limited RF linearity of either analyser