This is best RF beginner's tutorial I have found up to this point!! ... ironically, it is a review! :D If You get to keep this spectrum analyzer, could You make a tutorial series in RF measuring/testing... please? :) Like, every detail You described here but in bit more depth and every little thing in it's own video.

Just started working on my first rf controlled project and I'm contemplating buying a spectrum analyzer. As I have no experience with them it's hard to know what to look for but you've remedied that quite a bit! The VSWR part especially was very practical and useful! Thanks a lot for the great video!

This is my longest video ever and it is extremely information dense. Please use the table of contents to navigate and watch in multiple sessions as needed. 0:00 Intro 0:33 Unboxing and discussion of inputs 1:24 Screen 1:59 Build quality, fan noise, user interface 5:35 AM and FM demodulation 6:18 Average noise measurements 9:11 Phase noise 9:46 Spurious readings and possible shielding issue 12:25 Amplitude accuracy 12:40 Tracking generator evaluation and experiments 15:35 Advanced measurement kit option 16:13 EasySpectrum software and EMI measurement option 17:47 Introduction to measuring antenna performance 19:30 Reflection measurement software and hardware experiment 21:35 Reflection bridge hardware directivity discussion 22:36 Limitations of directivity experiment 24:18 Final judgement and conclusion

Afrotechmods, a big thank you from a hobbyist for posting such a detailed review - I learned a lot! No apologies on the technical aspects, on the contrary, way to go!

Thank you for the excellent video! The quality of the video and audio was outstanding and the information presented was relevant and easy to understand. I have had my SSA3021X for just a week and did all the same tests that you did to help familiarize myself with my new "toy". I hope you will do more videos for this SA. Thanks again!

Nice detailed look at this instrument. Thanks!

Please please please keep doing more vids like this. It servers as a good tutorial as well!

This video is amazing. Yes there was a lot of detail but that is a good thing.. You want to know the issues and why they are issues. I wish more reviews of anything were like how you did this one..

Thanks for the review you did a very nice job, as a EE who is now in management but still enjoys electronics as a home hobby I was considering the Signal hound, Rigol and the Siglent SA.... I have been leaning towards the Siglent and this review really helped. Thanks again and keep up the great work.

loved your video, and I just subscribed to your channel, also I'm commenting to vote up for the (RF tutorials) I'd absolutely watch every single one of them

I thought I'd only watch a few minutes of it but kept watching til the end. Great video, really informative with good explanations! I'd love to see some separate RF tutorials like somebody else suggested! Edit: This actually makes me reconsider studying RF electronics for my masters degree!

Great video. Really enjoyed it and most importantly I've learned some really useful information. Thank you.

thanks a lot for the detailled review !

Great introduction! Thank you.

nice review and informative, on the usage of it.

excellent video, thanks for sharing your experience with this analyser !

Great video and very well explained. Would love some RF tutorials and how to use a spectrum analyser such as this. Keep up the good work :-)

Excellent job!

8:57 the noisiest end of the spectrum at exactly Pi GHz

I got one of these and a new benchtop power supply about a month ago and love it so far. The wheel on mine seems decidedly more solid than you show, however there still isn't any progressive speed enhancement. My needs for an analyzer are drastically more primitive than you covered so it fits the bill really well. Thanks for doing a good walkthrough on it, I learned a thing or two.

Great review. thank you .

20:40 "We get this wonky line onscreen that's completely meaningless because of all the losses associated with the connectors and stuff". Cracked me up! Great vid, thankyou.

excellent presentation. Not too long. Just right. Learned a lot. thanks.

Excellent intro video!

More technical videos like this, please! ;)

Great video. Good Job!

I don't know why I watched this. I'm not the target audience. It was extremely soothing.

thank you for share. good video

impressive review ..

Would love to see a series of tutorials using this instrument to teach how to quantify our RF world. I am pretty much clueless how to operate my SSA-3021x , I have noted theres all the help in the world for an oscilloscope but when you want to measure the RF world and really look at the building blocks of radio and antennas, you find yourself with a beautiful new spectrum analyzer and not a book one to help you understand how to use it! I want to learn proper ways to couple the device to the various stages of a radio, like doing an alignment on a rig, or tuning a filter network to pass a certain frequency. Or even tuning duplexer cavity on a repeater system. I took the very rare opportunity to fund the purchase this last May and the device has less than 2hrs powered on time. Now I spend a lot of time Googling and Youtubing looking for fragments of help. Thank You for this video and any others on this subject! 73 de Seth - W8FG

Regarding spurs I have always wondered why the manufacturers do not implement a feature where you can save a list of them and whenever there is a signal at that frequency, you have a message somewhere telling you there was a spur. Working with different devices it is nearly impossible to keep track of where they are, and you are fooled by them often enough that some workflows include a "check if the signal is real" section.

Great video. I've got the 3021x+. I ran into this issue that you might not have seen. Start by putting in, say 100KHz signal from a good signal generator. Set the SA to center peak at 100KHz. Now go to span and while zoomed into the peak at center, rotate your knob and step through spans in one direction or another. You'll note the the peak will sit on center and then go off the center and the peak will be read as off 100KHz. Keep turning and the peak will go back to center span and accurate. Using different freqs and different spans, you will get different errors. Some over 1KHz. I'd be interested to know what you think about this. Thanks again for a great video.

Thanks for the thorough video, but I didn't see a link to the kit. Small thing but I was interested enough to research the baby brother for work. Siglent kit seems to be great value (liked your review of the Siglent arbitrary signal generator too)

I really appreciate reviews that go into this kind of depth. If it was a $50 antenna analyzer, a 10 minute review would suffice. When I'm looking at a multi-thousand dollar purchase, I really want to see the tires get kicked. I'm trying to decide between this analyzer and the Rigol 832. This seems like a much better deal, but I want something that will perform well and give me several years of service. The range on that directional coupler is shameful. A little more effort would have made it reach the specs across the entire 2GHz. Also, why don't they offer, at least, a 3GHz coupler? If people are willing to spend the extra money for a 3.2GHz analyzer, they will probably be using it for the 2.4 - 2.5 GHz band. I checked the price for that Marki bridge. It will cost an additional $695!!! Yikes!!! That wonky dial worries me. Dave Jones (EEV Blog) did a comparison of the Sigilent and the Rigol. One of his complaints about the Sigilent was the cheap feel of the plastic case. I intend to use this on my bench, as well as in the field. I'm very careful with my test equipment, but accidents happen. (An 'accident' is why I'm replacing my old analyzer.) I need something that can take a few bumps before it goes down. Thanks for the great video. I'll be ordering my analyzer today and you've helped with the decision process! :-)

I see it is an old review, but well done. And very nice Siglent equipment.

I am getting delivery of mine tomorrow. ....yipeeeee

What a beautiful piece of test equipment right there. Would love one of these but even the cheapest analyzer is out of my price range. Maybe in another 10 years when / if the prices come down I'll be able to afford one hehe

Very good.

Sweet!

Nice video, but a couple of comments. Return loss does not indicate how well an antenna radiates. A fifty ohm resistor will have a great return loss, but it'll radiate almost all the RF power as heat. In 40 years I've never heard of VSWR being pronounced as Vizwar before, it's usually just the four letters, and often just three, S.W.R. pronounced separately as letters. Also take care trying to measure antennas at the end of a length coax, the coax will often have confusing effects that don't reflect the actual case. Finally it's quite common to use attenuators, aka pads, of a few dB on the instrument's ports to minimise the effects of port mismatch on any device under test. Having said that this was the most useful video I've seen on your channel.

This concise, scripted video is a pleasant contrast to much youtube content that dribbles along for twice the time with half the information.

Nice video. While there've been teardowns of this spectrum analyzer, maybe you could do a teardown of reflection bridge? I'm curious what's inside :)

Interesting!

You brought out some good suggestions for changes in button layout, specifically moving the BW to that mostly unnecessary 'Auto Tune' position. I use the BW all the time and never had use for that AT. While there may have it uses, it surely doesn't desire a prominent location. Same goes for not showing the start & stop frequencies of the span. I have asked that that unnecessary 2nd page for the TG functions be moved to the 1st page where there is ample room for those four functions. There would still be one 'open' position available. Their Reflection Bridge is a waste. Why have a option that is only (truly) good to 1/2 the bandwidth of the instrument (1.5GHz vs the full 3 GHz) other than cost? At least offer a step-up RB that covers the full capability of the SA. Lastly, no you surely weren't too technical in you description.

Great review! I am, however, having difficulty in channeling your review results to my application. I am interested in providing Pre-Compliance EMC and EMI services for Clients, and I am wondering if this unit can do the job. My application centers around Automotive Electronics for now. I had specified the SSA3021X unit, with TG, EMI Pre-Compliance Kit, and the Near Field Kit. I also know I need other hardware for the EMC testing not yet identified. Would you recommend the SSA3021X, the SSA3032X or something else? I have determined, from other reviews, that the Siglent units perform better than equivalently-priced Rigol units. Thoughts?

I sure miss you posting vids... Hope you come back.

WE WANT MORE, DAMN YOU!... pleeeeease? :D

I thought that reflection tests are only possible in expensive VNAs. The reflection bridge is very useful add-on.

Hi I'm using the SSA3021X at the moment, what model is the antenna you were using in the video?

Can this spectrum analyzer plot VSWR vs frequency rather than return loss vs frequency? Most hams think in terms of VSWR and don't want to have to convert RL to VSWR on a point by point basis.

Great video. Seems like it would be soooo much easier to just buy a good VNA for making direct S11 RL/VSWR measurements (rather than dealing with bridges/tracking generators on a spec analyzer).

Hello there, I am currently using an app for audio frequency analysis since I cannot find a standalone spectrum analyzer that goes down to 20Hz. Do you know of any products that exist for audio folks like myself?

Is this the -R series? Or spectrogram is also an option in the normal ssa30 32x analyzer?

If you want a cheap spectrum analyzer ($20) then lookup Rtl-Sdr. It is an see radio receiver. There are a few different software options, I use had sdr.

It didn't feel long. It got more and more interesting as it went along. I figured out that a tracking generator outputs a sine wave with a frequency that sweeps across some range. Funny name for a signal generator.

I can't unhear that you have a similar voice/accent to Brent Spiner. Did you both grow up in the same place by chance?

At the end of the noise checks at various frequencies, you let it choose its maximum frequency, not exactly 3.2GHz, But did you note the actual frequency it displays? Exactly the fundamental constant Pi. 3.14159..., to the number of digits available. Is a software guy at Siglent having some fun with us? (While Pi does come up in surprising places, I don't see any reason for it coming up here!)

is ssa3021x upgradeable to 3.2 ghz ? i mean they have same hardware ?

For $170, I don't know why the TG isn't included with both models. That's the same as having a spare tire as an option. It gets me that 90% or more of the used SA's do NOT have TG's. Unbelievable considering all the uses.

it cannot use fft for analysis?

So the tracking generator is included ( and paid for! ) but you have to pay extra to enable it! That is a bad thing . Which kind of marketing guru sorted this out ? I know others do it as well. I just like to mention this so people and technicians start thinking about it. If you buy one just mention it to the seller, so they know you disagree. Thanks for a very nice tutorial. Nice filming and good sound. Well done.

great video! I just bought a SSA3021X a few days ago with the beehive 101A probe set. I'm a beginner when it comes to spectrum analyzers, but I mainly want to use it for EMI pre-compliance measurements and fixing leaks. as other people already asked: a series about RF measuring/test would be nice! Also, if possible, about hunting and fixing EMI/EMC leaks, using different kind of probes (H field, E field) and how the probes' specs are related to the measurements. it looks like the EMI tests should be made with the EasySpectrum software. Currently I try to find out how to have correct ways to get some usable results. There's dwell time for the QPD and it should measure in frequency steps (for example 50kHz). I've tested some settings on the SSA and the tests would have taken a several thousand seconds ... I guess that's not a good way to measure :D Beside a few app notes I've never found anything else about lowering/preventing radiation levels of buck converters and other DC/DC converters, but that would be really interesting, especially if it would show the influence of filters and correct placement ... :)

The 'jog' dial on your sample must be a unit defect. My 'jog' dial works fine, it doesn't react the way yours did.

9:50 The process bar shows up then the sweep time is 500Ms...

Please note VSWR is nothing to do with how well an antenna radiates at all. It is actually to do with impedance match. A 50 Ohm dummy load will show a prefect VSWR. Also calibration should be done with everything attached except the DUT, calibrated to open, short and load

You should try probing the DSMX sat signal to the oscilloscope so we can see how DSMX works 😂

te amo :'V

, why do they keep making new SAs that don't accept a 5.8ghz signal. I mean, ok fair enough, it's expensive to have native 5.8ghz support. So stick a simple down-converter inside and have an option to enable it. It's not going to do a lot to the price and makes the SA so much more useful for todays signals.

aaaand ive watched every video

What is the difference between this and an oscilloscope?

at 23:44 you have a peak at 1.54 GHz, then you switch couplers and the peak is gone, or it shifted by 100 MHz. That's a big difference, so basically you can't trust anything.

I really want this... too bad I can't afford it xD

Pretty dam sad that it doesn't go all the way up to 7 Ghz... ;-(

now i know what ill buy when i have 3k $ :D

Just noticed you did 3.14159265GHz haha

These measurements of spurs are more harmonics spurs...

I'm a poor enthusiast, no scope for a scope, but initial viewing of this design doesn't fill me with the "omg I neeeed this" like some stuff did years ago. £3k in UK pesos, membrane keys - like everything these days (keyboards for PC's have backlit tactiles for not a huge impact on cost) are shit. A wobbly knob that even a cheap audio amp these days wouldn't even suffer with... apart from engineering porn inside the box, I dunno how they get away with it. YES it's fast, and accurate on the floor, but that £3k could go a lot further in my opinion. Thanks for the review Afro - long time "viewer" - the site that shall not be mentioned is still one of my favs.

Why test equipment all come with garbage screens is still a wonder to me >.> You would think for the price of all this stuff, they could spend a few more dollars to throw in an IPS screen....

almost π Ghz @8:58 lol

A 50 ohm resistor will have an excellent return loss (or VSWR) and be an absolutely lousy antenna.

You pay a fortune for this but no acessories??? you gotta be kidding me -.-