RF Explorer Signal Generator - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 10:52:00 pm
content: Just picked up the new RF Explorer Signal Generator. This is a small handheld RF frequency generator capable of 24MHz to 6GHz with a .5ppm frequency stability! It is temperature compensated 0-45C with both frequency and amplitude sweep functions and a 1Khz step resolution. The firmware and software are still in late beta but seem to work well. So far the testing I have done is impressive for the $200 price tag. If you couple this with the RF Explorer spectrum analyzer using the latest build of the software you can get a nice tracking generator setup which seems to work very well.I had already purchased the RF Explorer Spectrum Analyzer prior to this which makes this RF Generator a very nice companion to the SA. I have provided links to the Arocholl website and also seeed. Even though seeed is out of stock Amazon has quite a few.http://micro.arocholl.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=124:rf-explorer-signal-generator&catid=40:articlehttp://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/RF-Explorer-Signal-Generator-RFE6GEN-p-2074.html

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 11:08:57 pm
content: So is this a sine wave or a square(-ish) wave generator?

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 12:44:24 am
content: I also own one of theseA very handy tool especially as I aready have the Explorer. Not a replacement for a bench RF sig gen though.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 02:37:30 am
content: Quote from: Marco on November 22, 2014, 11:08:57 pmThis was snapped at about 43MHz. I will check the higher frequencies tomorrow. It's square(-ish), at least at the lower frequencies.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 11:41:03 am
content: It will output a square wave in the GHz region as well.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 01:51:23 pm
content: Quote from: Aurora on November 23, 2014, 12:44:24 amAbsolutely. I have a decent Rigol bench SA which can run circles around this RF Explorer, but for a small quick portable signal source it's well worth the money. I used it to check the carrier on a few radio's the other night, connected my 50 Ohm antenna and worked like a champ!

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 01:52:56 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 23, 2014, 11:41:03 amThanks, the wife was yelling at to last night to hurry up so I only had time to check and grab the lower end of the range.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 02:47:02 pm
content: Please don't connect the RF explorer to an antenna! You'll most likely cause interference in many frequency bands!

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 02:52:36 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 23, 2014, 02:47:02 pmThese were quick isolated tests. Please explain, the spectrum on both my Rigol and PC based SA did not show any other spurious frequencies outside the selected generated frequency. I would be interested to know more about your post.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 03:00:23 pm
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on November 23, 2014, 02:52:36 pmThe RF explorer is based on the ADF4351 chip. I have experimented with the ADF4351 a lot; because the ADF4351 outputs a square-ish wave it has a lot of energy in the harmonics starting from the second harmonic. If you output a 90MHz signal it will also have a considerable amount of energy at 180MHz, 270MHz, 360MHz, etc. This should be visible on the spectrum analyser.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2014, 03:05:43 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 23, 2014, 03:00:23 pmOk, now that makes sense. Thanks for the input. I have had very little time to play with this unit so far. Thanks again!

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2014, 04:30:22 pm
content: The higher harmonics don't really matter for a tracking generator I guess.

author: Mr Simpleton
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 25, 2014, 11:09:43 pm
content: I have yet to do a teardown of a RF Explorer sig gen but looking at the specs, I highly doubt you will find an Analog ADF chip there!It's much more likely to be a Maxim 2870 (or 2871) which seems to match the numbers dead on!Not that it makes a big difference they both do offer good performance on lower frequencies but pretty poor above 1 GHZ, and the square-ish wave output.Still, nice implementation and I can see with some simple add-ons this may be a useful little gadget!

author: SNGLinks
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2014, 03:13:06 pm
content: Here are pics of 3 of the chips in my RFExplorer Sig Gen.Ashley