#761 

Danke

What did you buy

@@IMSAIGuy Nothing! We just looked around. But I'll probably be coming back when it's time for my next project.

Thank you!

Yes that's true. If you don't have a sine wave then you have harmonics and you will need a true power meter.

Well, that depends on your budget. Most good generators have calibrated outputs. You don't need calibrated output power to do a receiver alignment. You are just maximizing things so it is all relative. The only time you need calibrated input to a receiver is to measure the sensitivity or Sinad. The most useful tool will be a good stepped attenuator. this can be part of the generator or external. the lowest signal for a receiver will be around -80dBm. You are worried about damaging the SA. You never connect the generator to the SA so it will not be the problem anyway. You can use non-contact probes on the SA to do the alignment so you should not have any issues damaging the SA.

@@IMSAIGuy So, using a near probe with the SA I can probe the if transformers and maximize my alignment Making adjustments as I go? Am I understanding what you are saying here? Thanks for your time on this.

@@jdmccorful yes

@@IMSAIGuy 10-4, thanks!

they might be fine used as a snitch. I have not tested any.

actually the Power Snitch also outputs a voltage which could be translated into a measurement by for instance an arduino or something simular which then displays the power on a display. Actually this is on my todo list to experiment with my Power Snitch on this feature ;-)

@@mrbambix I had ordered the "Power Snitch" and had already played around with it. The volt output is ok, and I also had the idea of reading it out with an Arduino Nano and an LCD. But the whole thing then becomes much too unwieldy and the character of fast testing for the TinySA is lost. I don't have a lot of experience with HF and spectrum analyzer. The Arduino only has a 10 bit A/D and no good ref voltage. That will probably be less accurate than the china "RF Power Meter" for 20 EUR, which internally is probably just a diode detector, a microcontroller and a display.

@@wernerpeter9706 my idea was to input from my calibrated r&s cmt 52 different power levels and then use those measured voltages then I would not need any ref voltage in de Arduino pic or what ever you get a reasonable reading. Why not use the cmt directly I hear you asking? Well big and needs to warm op for a quick measurement my idea would be sufficient I believe.

@@mrbambix We're probably talking about different things. I mean the voltage reference of the Ardunio's AD converter. With oversampling and the lowest possible noise, the measurement result will probably be very imprecise. Especially without the possibility of comparison with a real measuring device (which I unfortunately do not have available). If I then compare this structure of different modules with the 20 Euro module with a likely similar measurement error, then it's not worth it. Sorry, hope my English is understandable :-)

I've never heard of that.

@@IMSAIGuy With my oscilloscope I get some reliable reading on RMS 65 Mhz in comparison with the TinySA the two reading luck +/- similar less of one dBm. I think with your particular experience in this field some solution for one reliable cheap option with the chino board "AD8317 / AD8318 Module RF Power Meter Detector Logarithmic Detector 1-10000MHz" the question is some source of calibration to compare.

@@frankreal2258 calibration is difficult. I will be building my own power meter sometime in the future. Not sure when

software hack opens it up to 100mhz

@@IMSAIGuy Ahaa!

www.instructables.com/How-to-Hack-Upgrade-a-Rigol-DS1054Z-Digital-Oscill/

@@IMSAIGuy Yeah, was aware of all the hacks...I have the 4054 scope.

@@PapasDino us poor folk have to grovel in the 1000 series