Friday, September 2, 2022

HP Spectrum analyzer vs. Rigol

A comment from Peter VE3POA in my previous posting made me go back and look for the traces I referred to in that posting. Unfortunately, they are lost to the ages...probably saved to my work laptop that is no longer mine.

But I did find the spectrum plots I made of the mcHF transceiver (the Real Deal, not a clone) with an HP-8563 - a 50-pound behemoth good up to 26 GHz (we used to lug that thing up 75-foot towers). The mcHF has a bad reputation for having a "harmonically rich" output, particularly on 17 and 60 meters.

Here is a comparison of the old HP plots with those of my smaller, lighter and (much) cheaper Rigol (the traces are narrower on the Rigol only because I used a narrower RBW than I did on the HP):

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17m band. HP on left; Rigol on right

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60m band. HP on left; Rigol on right

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