Exclusive! Video Tektronix RSA306 USB Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer Review - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Hugoneus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 02:11:18 pm
content: In this world exclusive episode, Shahriar takes a close look at the all new Tektronix Real-Time USB Spectrum Analyzer. The RSA306 has an RF bandwidth from 9kHz to 6.2GHz with a real-time analysis window of 40MHz. While being entirely powered form a single USB 3.0 interface, it provides a 100% Probably of Intercept for any signal event of at least 100us in duration. The RSA306 is compact, lightweight and shock resistant. At the same time Tektronix has made its Signal-Vu PC software with 17 measurement capabilities free and significantly reduced the price of other Signal-Vu advanced applications!The SFDR, linearity, noise floor and phase noise of the instrument are all measured and presented. The unit is then used to capture and analyze an intermittent RF interference, analyze and demodulate an RF FM signal using an antenna as well as demodulation a 256-QAM signal with -65Bm of total power.Watch it here [1 Hour]:http://youtu.be/GDcuRTOCj_sMore videos at The Signal Path:http://www.TheSignalPath.com

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 03:56:49 pm
content: I know I'm going to be disappointed, but what is the price?

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 04:13:56 pm
content: Wow, in total, price disruptive might be an understatement!Excellent video once again.

author: ronaldlijs
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 04:28:17 pm
content: RRP of £2,340.00 showing on Farnell's website. I think this is a great price for such a fantastic piece of kit. I've got a cheapo Rigol SA with tracking gen, but would rather prefer a small factor like this for the occasional work I do on FCC/EC compliance, of course would be double the price... but will think about it no doubt!

author: fcb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 05:20:34 pm
content: Just watched the first 25mins of The Signal Path's review - I don't think Tek have finished the unit yet and have released it prematurely, those -55dB spurious tones put me off - I don't think even the Rigol SA is that bad.

author: Hugoneus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 05:34:27 pm
content: Quote from: fcb on November 04, 2014, 05:20:34 pmThe tones at -55dBm were certainly an issue. However, keep in mind that they scale down with the reference, so the worst case SFDR is -55dB. During most of the band, you can get even better than that.I do wish they weren't there though.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 06:41:26 pm
content: K5OBS also has a "World Exclusive" review of this device on his YouTube channel although the review on The Signal Path is more extensive. I would like a new spectrum Analyzer, I really would, but when you consider the cost of this device plus the cost of the new laptop that would be needed to drive it the stand-alone units from Rigol are still a viable option.I would be interested to see a side by side review of this unit together with the Signal Hound and (say) a $3000 Rigol device.

author: es
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 06:42:59 pm
content: Quote from: Hugoneus on November 04, 2014, 05:34:27 pmTheoretically speaking, as a selectable option, would it be possible for the software to do one (or more and average) capture with the RF input off and use that to subtract the spurious tones from a capture with the RF input on? Would that technique be effective?Thanks for the very nice video btw.

author: fcb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 06:46:17 pm
content: Quote from: Hugoneus on November 04, 2014, 05:34:27 pmGreat review as usual Shahriar, love to see a tear-down of that unit.What worries me isn't so much the annoyance of having those tones there, but the mixed product of those tones with the signal under examination, even more so if you were to use that device for spectrum monitoring. I would find it unnerving/annoying having to constantly check if what I was seeing was really there.Also 914MHz is smack in the middle of the 902-928MHz ISM band...

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 09:45:43 pm
content: Thanks for a great review on this SA.One of the reasons why Tektronix has to be aggressive in the price structure for a USB based SA, is probably the German based company AARONIA. They have USB based SP for many years and very aggressive pricing.http://www.aaronia.de/

author: Lukas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 10:13:53 pm
content: I'm wondering how this compares to the midrange SDRs floating around. Take the USRP B210 for example: It's also up to 6GHz, has more capture bandwidth (although lower sampling rate) and costs around $1100. Does tek provide an API to stream the data out of their application? This would put their device into the SDR market.Great video btw, can't wait for the teardown!

author: es
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 11:02:55 pm
content: Quote from: Lukas on November 04, 2014, 10:13:53 pmLooks like they got that covered, search for "RSA306 API" on Tek site. By looking at the Dll and C headers files, there are functions for data streaming and audio demodulation.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 11:29:58 pm
content: Quote from: es on November 04, 2014, 06:42:59 pmyou would still get mixing product between those ghost signals and your real signalas a total noob I dont see the value of this tek product, like Lukas said there are plenty of SDRs that are many times cheaper, as soon as you stop caring about accurate signal power measurement and can accept relative levels any SDR will deliver similar or superior experience at a fraction of a price.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2014, 11:59:59 pm
content: I didn't watch all of the video but my impression is that the software is not really 'free' because the RF performance of the analyser front end is so poor.Therefore, my interpretation of this product package is that you are paying for the very versatile software and getting a fairly ropey 6GHz USB signal analyser (with 40MHz RT BW) thrown in for free. The analyser is probably going to perform best as a learning tool when looking at modern digital transmissions and is better described as a signal analyser rather than a conventional spectrum analyser for this reason.The phase noise of the analyser at 25:55 when set to a 1MHz span is amazingly poor. It looks like it is about -92dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset. That's about 35dB worse than my old japanese made analyser model that was first introduced back in 1981. The other spurious terms it produces look very poor indeed.Maybe they will improve all this with future hardware revisions of this analyser but it looks like this hardware platform is a cheap educational gateway to Tek's powerful DSP/software engine.

author: Hugoneus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2014, 12:42:32 am
content: Just to answer a few questions:Yes, there is an API where you can grab data and do what you please with the data. It is part of the driver installation and is free.The spurs that you see limit you to -55dB SFDR. The absolute power of the spurs shrinks with reference level as I have shown in the video.The phase noise at 100kHz offset is -92dBc/Hz (at 1GHz), which of course is not amazing. But as you can see, you can demodulate 256QAM signals with it without any issues.Whether all this fits your needs, is of course up to you. O0

author: Hugoneus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2014, 12:43:08 am
content: Quote from: G0HZU on November 04, 2014, 11:59:59 pmWhat analyzer is this?

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2014, 01:12:40 am
content: It's an old Takeda Riken (Advantest) TR4172. At 1GHz it measures -128dBc/Hz at 100kHz offsetOf course, it isn't a 6GHz analyser (only 1800MHz) but I also have an old (1982?) HP analyser here that goes to 22GHz and it shows a typical -120dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset at 1GHz input.The point here is that some people on this thread will be looking to use this new Tek USB analyser as an all round spectrum analyser and the noise and spurious performance is really quite poor compared to other options. Even the modern and cheap Rigol analysers manage about -106dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset at a similar input frequency and they aren't dogged with all those -55dBc spurious terms either.Maybe try sticking an antenna on it and see what happens. I think a lot of hobbyists will want to play with antennas on a spectrum analyser and I suspect that this new Tek analyser could perform very badly with a common task like this. That's why I think it is really better described a signal analyser where the range and qty of signal inputs can be controlled by the user.

author: Hugoneus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2014, 03:02:41 pm
content: Quote from: G0HZU on November 05, 2014, 01:12:40 amYou just can't beat a good YIG...

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2014, 03:26:41 pm
content: Quote from: Hugoneus on November 05, 2014, 03:02:41 pmYeah, there are a lot of things you simply can't do when you've got a total power budget of 4.5W.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2014, 07:28:54 pm
content: QuoteThat's why I think it would be better described as a signal analyser because it will perform very well when demodulating/displaying complex signals within its 40MHz RTBW. Especially under controlled conditions such as in a test lab. So I would see this as its main role. It looks like the key design driver was to be able to cover the wifi bands up to 5.6GHz.But because of the poor spurious and phase noise performance it would struggle if used with an antenna on a busy band elsewhere. So it wouldn't perform well as a spectrum analyser when trying to display numerous signals over a wide frequency span and over a fairly wide spurious free range.Is there a block diagram of the signal path? I'm guessing that it uses a simple up/down dual or triple conversion for the whole range (apart from the direct baseband range?). This would need a very wide tuning range VCO and mixer at the front end and would go some way to explain the high phase noise.Have you checked to see if the phase noise is a lot better down at baseband? eg at 20MHz?In recent years there have been various lowcost wideband VCOs and mixers available from the main manufacturers like Hittite. The specs on these wideband devices get better and better from the various manufacturers over the years so maybe it uses the latest generation of these wideband devices from someone like Hittite.

author: Hugoneus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2014, 06:04:10 pm
content: I intend to do a teardown video of it, I am sure we will learn more about it. The phase noise is much better at 20MHz, I'll check what it is.

author: wn1fju
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2014, 06:49:42 pm
content: Personally, I would be a little hesitant about this new Tek product. I buy most of the test equipment for our company and had the pleasure of spending $90,000 to buy the Tek RSA6106 spectrum analyzer some years ago. The RSA6106 software has a similar look and feel to this new RSA306. Let me say, in my opinion, the software was without question the worst implementation of a piece of test equipment I have ever used. Even after a few software updates, the RSA6106 was extremely frustrating to use and had many things that did not work properly. Sure, the 110 MHz instantaneous BW and the DPX spectrum (which has something like a 23 usec update interval) was nice, but once you were beyond the faulty software, the basic spectrum analyzer wasn't even anywhere near a mid-range Agilent or Rohde&Schwarz analyzer. So I probably only used the thing a total of 10 hours in a couple of years (certainly got my ninety grand dollar's worth, didn't I). Then I turned it on one day only to have it fail. Tek wanted $11,000 for a one-incident fix.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2014, 08:19:28 pm
content: At work we have several of the big Tek RSAs and they are quite popular with the engineers involved in custom RF waveform development. So for stuff like this they seem to be very capable and powerful. However, I don't think I've ever seen an RF engineer use one of our Tek RSAs for general RF design work as they are not really optimised for this. So I guess it's a case of horses for courses.Note:It would be interesting to see how well the little USB analyser performs at baseband. eg up to 40MHz? Because it would presumably connect direct to the ADC via buffering and a LPF the spurious free dynamic range and phase noise would hopefully be a lot better and it may prove to be a very useful tool up to 40MHz.I wonder how it would perform if connected to the IF port of a conventional spectrum analyser? If it has a 14bit ADC it may prove to be a usefull addon to something like my old 1500MHz HP8568B or 22GHz HP8566B analysers at the 21.4MHz IF output.I'd certainly like to try one here if it proved useful. Especially if the Tek SW allowed user offsets to be entered (eg 21.4MHz IF to true RF). If the controlling/display PC could also steer and control the analyser via a USB to GPIB interface it would be really neat. I keep meaning to make my own modern digital IF back end for these analysers but never get around to it.

author: Mr Simpleton
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 10, 2014, 11:48:16 pm
content: We had Tek showing this little marvel at the office during a training course for the bigger RSA6000 that we have. But unfortunately I was away on a field trial, bugger!Pretty cool it uses basically the same s/w as the bigger brother, i.e. signalvuUsing real time spectrum analyzers, I prefer NOT to use the RSA6000 for anything that our "normal" SA's can do. I find the user interface not the best for just watching the spectrum, but that might just be that I doesn't feel comfortable with the UI.And do not forget that the RSA306 is a lot slower than it's bigger brother in capturing signals, it's not a replacement for the RSA6000, but a compliment (but it IS ~25-50 times cheaper) Tek even got slapped on its fingers by governement agencies for selling too good instrument, forcing them to slow down exsisting instruments in a firmware upgrade and then the user had to apply for an option (free of charge) to bring it back to "normal" if they were worthyNow the RSA306 do have nice speed, size and portability, making it a really cool tool when out in mother nature doing measurements. I love running instruments on USB power!Looking at phase noise data published it is clear that this is not a threat to normal bench-top instruments. Tek has cut some corners when designing this and it shows in the numbers.Still I'll try sqeeze out some fundings for this little box, it sure will be handy when tesing equipment outdoors.

author: macgyver0815
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2014, 08:41:14 am
content: Hey Shahriar,all your Videos are awesome!Maybe you could do a comparision of low cost USB Analyzers, that would be great.(Tek RSA306, Signalhound BB60, Aaronia Spectran V4 and V5)Does not have to be all in the same video, just for example measure the same signals or so andcompare saved results.Cheers!

author: Andy2
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2014, 02:29:28 pm
content: Quote from: macgyver0815 on November 12, 2014, 08:41:14 amAnd just to add to Shahriar's load, it'd be nice if he could include the budget Signal Hound SA44b. The phase noise performance of this analyser is significantly better than the Tek 306 and the BB60 and a truckload better than the Rigol models.https://www.signalhound.com/sigdownloads/SA44B/AppNote-4.pdfAt 1GHz, the figure at 10KHz is -104 dBc and at 100KHz is -110 dBc.At 10 MHz, the figure at 10 KHz and 100 KHz is around -118 dBc.Still a mile away from a decent hardware analyser of Ye Golden Age, but quite respectable and useful, especially at the price. It's a pity the supplied software is so wobbly. Apparently the re-write is almost ready.

author: Laidukas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 12, 2014, 05:19:09 pm
content: Quote from: German_EE on November 04, 2014, 06:41:26 pmIn my opinion the selling point of this device is real time signal analysis + you get bonus spectrum analyzer which appears to be a little bit limited by spurious. I do not think that it is fair to compare this Tek (or Signal Hound) to conventional spectrum analyzer as it is very limited in real time signal analysis and can not compare with all measurements that Tek is capable of doing. With conventional RIGOL spectrum analyzer you can sweep on a signal that is not intermittent and do some basic measurements, that's it. of course Conventional spectrum analyzer has benefit of tracking generator which is very important.At work i use R&S FSL series with tracking gen. Yes FSL is has better specifications but it is so limited in signal analysis and measurements are only basics. At home i have old HP8753B VNA. And now after seeing this Tek analyzer on a review i come up to a conclusion that the best mix is signal analyzer like this Tek + VNA. VNA replaced the need of spectrum analyzer tracking generator and Tek gives impressive real time signal analysis for the price. I now really starting to like the idea of buying this Tek to my home lab and in combination of VNA i will cover all measurements that I need.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2014, 05:42:56 pm
content: QuoteI agree but I do think it's worth comparing these analysers on a hobby forum because some people won't be able to decide which analyser suits their needs.The Tek is the clear winner in terms of being able to do real time signal analysis over a 40MHz wide IF BW (anywhere up to about 6GHz) but it would be a poor choice for someone who wanted to (critically) measure the spurious performance of a ham transmitter or any kind of test signal at V/UHF. The spurious performance is pretty woeful and the phase noise is very high.The appearance of the Tek RSA306 is definitely going to influence what we see appearing in the next few years in terms of small (but powerful) signal analysers at maybe $4000-6000. I'd expect to see similar sized units appearing but with internal battery power possibly charged via USB. This increase in power budget would open the door for respectable performance in the RF section.

author: electronic_eel
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2014, 09:27:09 pm
content: Why didn't they put the frontend from the MDO4000B series into these boxes? They don't have the problem with these spurious tones there.Maybe the box would have become a little bit bigger or they would have needed a snap on battery pack - but I don't think that would hurt the usability.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2014, 01:22:11 am
content: teardown:so it is basically a glorified overengineered SDRjust wow, they packed so much shit into it, so many filters and stages, and at the end got tons of spurious tones? WTF Tek?USRP B200/N200 delivers same(or better quality signal) at fraction of a price.This RSA306 is a good deal only if you-must buy tek-like the software

author: Laidukas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 14, 2014, 03:16:59 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on November 14, 2014, 01:22:11 amDoes USRP B200/N200 allow to measure absolute values? Or just relative? Does it have all in one software solution ready to use after install? Or you need to spend week/month gathering information from bunch of sources? Joining software packages, fetching info between them to achieve one type of signal demodulation?Is there software in general that gives technical parameters usable for electronics engineer? Or it just spits out final result - demodulated data?Can you recommend good introduction/overview source for USRP B200/N200 ?I watched few videos on youtube, indeed it is wonderful piece of equipment but serves not the same purpose as RSA306. And it looked form my that you need to be quite advanced in computers to use USRP B200/N200 in any more advanced way.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2014, 12:47:03 am
content: QuoteThere are various reasons why it has so many spurious terms. It looks like Tek decided to aim for a ballpark 50dB SFDR and for this reason there are numerous aspects to the design that limit it to this level of performance.I definitely wouldn't describe it as an over engineered SDR. It has been engineered to work from USB power and to tune up to 6GHz and also it has been engineered to have a (relatively) low cost layout. The penalty for all this is relatively poor RF converter performance when compared to other options. But it does offer the 40MHz RTBW and the Tek Signal Vu engine in a suitable PC.One thing I noticed in your youtube link image to the KF5OBS video. It is frozen at 14:52 in the video and one of the large inductors in the 140MHz diff filter after the last amp and before the ADC looks to be badly burned. This is best seen at 8:52 in the video.I'm trying to fathom how this could have happened if the analyser is USB powered. To do this with DC would take an extremely high current.It more likely would have been done with RF but I'm not sure how several watts of RF could get to that point in the analyser. Either by the converter path or by the LF bypass mode. Maybe someone fed a huge RF power into it or maybe someone at Tek tried to connect a high power 2m (144MHz) transceiver here to listen to the 140MHz IF and accidentally hit the PTT transmit button? Or maybe Tek did the damage during development because it is a preproduction model and may have been zapped by a big external power supply somehow? Or maybe they spilt something corrosive on it or used a predamaged part? Either way, it would have made a lot of smelly smoke... It may have been in the hands of various Tek and non Tek testers before this review but still seems to work though.

author: Laidukas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 15, 2014, 08:04:52 am
content: Quote from: G0HZU on November 15, 2014, 12:47:03 amNow this is impressiveHow it was possible to fry that thick wire inductor in the end of RF stage and not do damage anything to that point? Even with down conversion bypass...Maybe someone accidentally bumped the inductor and they needed to change it. Then used simple hot air station. It is possible to notice that inductor on the left and resistors on the right has excessive heat signatures. If you do not preheat these type of boards with hot plate and try to solder only with hot air station it ends in fried component that you need to solder in, because this type of boards sucks heat very effectively and soldering pads do not reach melting point so easily. Add RoHS solder with its high melting point and way you go ...

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2014, 01:23:52 pm
content: Yes, it's a weird one isn't it?Perhaps it was predamaged. Maybe the coating on the wire is very prone to heat damage from unskilled use of a poorly set up rework station as you suggest.I would expect it to be fairly easy to remove/rework because it is part of a balanced filter (no direct heat path to the groundplane) so the part should come off easily for a skilled operator. But maybe an impatient tech at Tek had an informal attempt to rework it themseleves and then ignored the subsequent carnage.However, it 'looks' like classic RF damage. but this doesn't add up for the reasons we have already listed.At my place of work we do something called passive immunity testing on a new design where the harshest test we do is to feed RF from a high power sweep generator into each RF port with the equipment in an unpowered state. The sweep is often up to many GHz and the equipment is observed with a thermal camera as the sweep is slowly done and repeated at ever increasing power levels up to quite a few watts. Once you get up into the UHF/uW region it can be surprising how far into the equipment the resonant hotspots develop (and how narrowband the resonances can be) and also how well other parts of the equipment survive this kind of deliberate 'abuse'. Usually this is done under very controlled conditions and I've done this testing myself on my own designs. It is easy to cook individual parts deep within the unitwith this method but I doubt Tek would go to these lengths on a product like this. Also, I wouldn't expect to see that amount of damage. It looks like that part has been exposed to a lot of energy in one form or another...

author: Laidukas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 15, 2014, 01:29:50 pm
content: Quote from: G0HZU on November 15, 2014, 01:23:52 pmYes, you are right, I agree.O.T. It seams that G0HZU is building serious gearat work

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2014, 01:59:07 pm
content: QuoteMaybe some engineer in a lab at Tek hastily took it off (maybe for test access purposes) and then lazily refitted the same rework/heat damaged part. So it saw two lots of overheating. If it's a preproduction unit then all kinds of engineering fudgery may have happened to it in its short lifetime. Damage from unskilled rework seems to be the most likely cause

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 08:04:51 am
content: Quote from: Laidukas on November 14, 2014, 03:16:59 pm-absolute, but probably not in the same ballpark of accuracy compared to dedicated SA?-no software, it spits pure I/Q samples, you can do whatever you like with this data stream, be it Gnuradio, Matlab, LabviewexamplesGnuradio will let you build receivers/test benches for many modulations in minutes (all gui, basically like lego)this can go up all the way to MIMO WIFI transceivers/3G base stations/DVB transceivers, all by simply drag&dropping modules in guiall at 1/5-1/8 of a price.You can even get 120MHz RF BW usrp X300 cheaper than this tek SA, so BW/hardware itself is really not a strong feature of RSA306.RSA306 is tek selling you $5K of software with free hardware dongle as a bonus.

author: videobruce
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 02:31:31 pm
content: The £2,340 equates ti $3664 in the US?

author: Mr Simpleton
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 06:33:39 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on November 18, 2014, 08:04:51 amI had to check Ettus webshop to see for myself! The cheapest X300 is roughly 1.5 times MORE than the Tek RSA306, and then you need all sorts of add-on to get it running (daugher boards, interface boards). I guess it would land at 2x the price for a Tek! Now don't get me wrong, the Ettus is pure magic and is THE thing to have if you develope SDR stuff. The Tek is an instrument intended for measurement, not develope applications.Lets compare apples to apples

author: Lukas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 09:27:19 pm
content: Quote from: Mr Simpleton on November 18, 2014, 06:33:39 pmIMO the comparison isn't that unfair since the RSA306 way more resembles a SDR than a spectrum analyzer. Its just marketing and software that turns this thing into a spectrum analyzer. Someone could come up with some software and call the USRP a spectrum analyzer with integrated RF signal source.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 09:32:17 pm
content: Am I the only one wondering what it would take to feed the software with some otherwise obtained signal?

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2014, 05:40:30 pm
content: Quote from: Mr Simpleton on November 18, 2014, 06:33:39 pmmy bad, I somehow remembered "around 5K" from the review YT clip :/

author: dthung
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 20, 2014, 02:04:26 am
content: Quote from: Rasz on November 19, 2014, 05:40:30 pmThe Ettus B200 is listed around USD $675 in Ettus site. It has driver support for GNURadio and Matlab (I believe).

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2014, 02:58:37 am
content: Quote from: dthung on November 20, 2014, 02:04:26 amI meant the tek. Somehow I forgot the 3 at the beginning, and remembered $4900Btw its not all matlab labview and text based outputs, any SDR can do pretty nice things with gnuradio, for exampleIm scared to think how much you would have to pay for SA that does this at those BW spans at fluid 60 frames per second.

author: dthung
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 20, 2014, 06:59:57 am
content: Honestly SDR + GNURadio, e.g. RTL Dongle/HackRF/BladeRF, is THE actual disruptive product. The Agilent VSA 89600 system: software starts at $10K and 2nd compatible HW starts at another $10K in xBay. They can't even transmit the signal.

author: MySuggestions
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 13, 2015, 09:21:09 pm
content: Quote from: HighVoltage on November 04, 2014, 09:45:43 pmYes i think you got the point.And the Aaronia V5 offers a much higher frequency range (1Hz to20GHz), onboard I/Q signal generator, 40GHz power meter, -170dBm sensitivity...But the main point is that it is a real hand held unit without the need of a PC thanks to the color displayThe only problem: Not on the market (jet)

author: Laidukas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 13, 2015, 10:49:36 pm
content: I never used AARONIA spectrum analyzers, but from one person that did used I hear that they can hardly be called real time spectrum analyzers as they sweep very slowly, especial with bigger spans. This is major disadvantage. Maybe someone working with AARONIA can comment on that?

author: MySuggestions
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 14, 2015, 06:07:26 am
content: I think you are mixing things up. I am speaking about the new SPECTRAN V5. For sure this is a real time analyzer.There is a video from Analog Devices showing the unit in an early development stage at

author: kaz911
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2015, 07:32:37 am
content: Quote from: MySuggestions on March 14, 2015, 06:07:26 amV5r2 is supposed to ship end of march (2015) - r1 never shipped. Preorders started in 2011..... (take THAT kickstarter) But up to 20 GHz - sensitivity -170dBm(Hz) at a wide range (range not published)

author: MySuggestions
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 14, 2015, 08:23:40 am
content: Quote from: kaz911 on March 14, 2015, 07:32:37 amPerfectCan't wait to get my hands on one of those.I have just seen that they show the V5 V2? at the EMV fair in Stuttgart (end of March). I think i will go there. Anybody interested in a review?

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2015, 11:15:38 am
content: Quote from: Laidukas on March 13, 2015, 10:49:36 pmWhen you first take one of their SA in the hand it is like kind of underwhelmingBut the software is making up for it in a big way.Their exhibition booth at the electronica in Munich is always very impressive.A fiend at a large automotive OEM used the Aaronia gear to measure in vehicle EMI and EMC for compliance testing, while driving the vehicle on the road. He liked the system a lot, especially since it was so small.

author: MySuggestions
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 14, 2015, 03:57:17 pm
content: Quote from: HighVoltage on March 14, 2015, 11:15:38 amRight. So far i dont know of any other software that even comes close to the highly sophisticated "MCS" software. And they include it for free with every of those SPECTRAN units. Runs on Linux, MAC OS and Windows.I would even say that they mainly sell there units BECAUSE of that software. Attached some picture i stole fromhttp://www.aaronia.com/products/software/.Just noted that they all seem to be using 4k displays at Aaroniasince all those pics are in Ultra HD resolution so hard to attache because of the 1MB limitationI also found a version running in 8k!!! resolutionas a snapshot on Wikipedia athttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaronia#/media/File:8k_UHD_%287680_%C3%97_2160%29_Demo_picture_showing_a_high_resolution_GSM_frequency_spectrum.jpg(Size 2,4MB, so no way to attache it).Crazy, thats something!