[TowerTalk] an antenna analyzer to drool over

[Jim Brown]

On 7/10/2012 9:11 AM, Paul Christensen wrote:
> I'm interested in the VNWA's 160m performance in the presence of local
> broadcast stations.

I suggest that you join the Yahoo Group and post your question there.  I 
have virtually no AM broadcast QRM out here in the Santa Cruz Mountains. :)

> For folks looking for a spectrum analyzer and who can live with res.
> bandwidth to 100 Hz, take a look at the new Rigol DS815.  Without TG, price
> is about USD $1300 new.  With TG, it's USD $1500.  Looks like a great value
> although I know nothing of Rigol's after-sale support.

I have one, thanks to a group purchase, with the TG.  The spectrum 
analyzer is quite nice. TG is a bit lame, but quite functional. TG 
shortcomings are badly segmented sweep levels (jumps of a dB or two) and 
a limited range of output voltage (-20dBm to 0 dBm). I'm told by another 
engineer who bought in the same group that there's a "normalize" 
function that gets around the segmentation issue.  Last I heard, 
Elecraft is likely to move to these units for production test.  I share 
your concerns re: support.

73, Jim K9YC