Hi,
I'm new here. I haven't seen any discussion of this topic on this forum.
I have recently been using old spectrum analyzers as receivers, and I'm wondering if anyone else has done the same.
There are some advantages. Mt HP 8555a had continuous coverage from about 50 MHz to 18 GHz. I can't find anything over 1 GHz that is analog. My HP 8553 has coverage from about 1 MHz to 110MHz, good for shortwave. To listen to the signal, the vertical output is connected to an audio amp.
They are analog, so I have to tune, adjust band with, and gain, and I can't program frequency's for scanning.
They can sweep the frequency span thousands of times a second and give a display of signal strength. To identify the frequency of a signal, I tune a signal, then tune a HP 8660c signal generator to the same frequency to get 10 digits of accuracy.
It is hard to listen to aircraft,or police, because the transmissions are short, by the time you tune it, it's gone. It is easier to listen to broadcast, am, FM,and shortwave.
Steve
I'm new here. I haven't seen any discussion of this topic on this forum.
I have recently been using old spectrum analyzers as receivers, and I'm wondering if anyone else has done the same.
There are some advantages. Mt HP 8555a had continuous coverage from about 50 MHz to 18 GHz. I can't find anything over 1 GHz that is analog. My HP 8553 has coverage from about 1 MHz to 110MHz, good for shortwave. To listen to the signal, the vertical output is connected to an audio amp.
They are analog, so I have to tune, adjust band with, and gain, and I can't program frequency's for scanning.
They can sweep the frequency span thousands of times a second and give a display of signal strength. To identify the frequency of a signal, I tune a signal, then tune a HP 8660c signal generator to the same frequency to get 10 digits of accuracy.
It is hard to listen to aircraft,or police, because the transmissions are short, by the time you tune it, it's gone. It is easier to listen to broadcast, am, FM,and shortwave.
Steve