Every amateur radio operator should watch this video (whether owning a SA or not)! For those owning a Siglent SA, it saves reading part of a usually boring manual and additionally explains what can be considered complex things in an easy way. This is also a great example of how SDR and third party software can work together simplifying operation (for measurement purposes in this case). Thank you for this! 73's
Thank you very much for your FB comments. If there is anything at all you would like to see in a future video do not hesitate to e-mail me directly. TU agn es 73 !
Nice presentation on the video. Great content. I most of the time do not like to watch videos that were done hand held but yours are not too bad, good steady hand. Good job.Subscribed!
Hi there and thank you very much for taking the time to watch and to comment. That means a lot. I am a total novice to making videos and I will remember your comments and try to make future videos better.
Interesting lay down of the AMK feature, Rigol has the same set. One thing that could be confusing is that visually the integration area "under the curve" in the display appears to contain more energy than the calculation reports until you remember that the vertical scale is logarithmic and not linear. Would be interesting to follow on with some practical examples of how the energy distributions actually impact on the ability to communicate in the presence of the off-channel signal QRM. Keep up the great work! 73 - Dino KL0S
Great video and thanks for taking the time to put this together. Your videos are much appreciated. I have a question; at around 43:00 you discuss the results of your T power set up is around -33dB. What bearing does that have on the rated power of your transmitter. How does it compare to a transmitter rated pwer of 2Watts or 100watts, for example? I have a Kenwood S530SP and given the power input ratings of the SE, how would I go about looking at the output of the transmitter, rated at 100Watts? I assume I would use an attenuator of some dB but I don't know how to additionally reduce the output of this radio (as you did with your SDR) without compromising the precision and accuracy of the signal. Would I simply manipulate the drive to reduce the output? At what reduction point would the output lose integrity? Any comments on this? Thanks again for your great videos. I just purchased the 3021X plus and am really excited about it coming in and getting put to work on my bench!
Thanks for the comments. So first things first..... you must ensure that the rig will not fry the SA during measurements or by any inadvertent mistakes. The next thing is it would not have made any difference if I had tested a SDR or the TS-2000 sitting next to the flex. Just make sure the power output of the rig cannot be or will not be increased beyond the attenuator you add between the rig & SA. I would keep the RF carrier level into the SA at around -20 dBm or so. That is plenty strong enough yet well below the max rating of the Siglent. Also I am not convinced the video shows the T-Power measurement being set up correctly. During a T-Power measurement the SA should have entered zero span mode (which it did not) and calculated the power within the time domain. That is not what I see now that I looked at it again.
@@w8bya thanks for the great input. You are a great educator that the amateur radio community benefits from. Thanks for the education. Questioning the Tpower setup my self. I haven't purchased or hacked in the advanced measurement upgrade so I'm waiting to do so to be sure I won't brick my SA.
@@w8bya I'll use a DC blocker and the variable attenuators I have and work back to a safe but usable level. Use math to see If I can determine an accurate watt output of my transmitter based on the dB reduction. I'll try to keep things at less than -20dB, probably more like -30 and possibly work up from there. Transients are a concern. Thanks for the sage advice. Looking forward to your next video. 73 KE4CDR
@@microreniassance2929 Don't forget the 1st attenuator after the rig is the one that MUST have the higher power rating. After that any attenuators may be lower power units. I think the SA will serve you well for what you have planned. Also ensure your DC block is rated for the high voltages present in tube radios......all it takes is one slip of a probe onto some B+ and you have an expensive rice-box door stop.
@@w8bya I have 20 and 40dB attenuators for 100 watts on order. Hopefully these will do the trick. I think the DC blocker is 2Watt but with a 20 or 40dB attenuator ahead of it, should be fine I would think. I ran into this problem earlier that attenuators are great, but really worthless if the power they are asked to handle isn't considered first thing. Thanks for the reminder. I simply have to make sure the attenuation doesn't put the signal so far down in the noise, the SN ratio is to low for a proper signal analysis. Thanks again for the great videos and comments.
Very timely, (my 3021 arrives tomorrow). I'd very much like to see the best way to use the SA for IF alignment work. Excellent content and production! 73, N0FR
Hi Rick and TU for watching and taking the time to comment. I suspect you will really love your new SA ! I have a lot of older HP etc SA's, and while nice, the Siglent is usually my #1 go-go piece of TE. Using the SA for IF alignment will be a lot of fun and so much easier. Being able to visually see the frequency & amplitude response of any adjustments of a given stage or filtering will really be helpful. 73
@@w8bya Any interest on putting together a video that covers aligning the IF stages in, say, a tube receiver? Thanks again for the great videos. 73 KE4CDR
@@microreniassance2929 That would be a good video. I must admit while I have about 35 old tube radios I have not dug into them yet as far as restoring and aligning them. ...so many projects so little time. I have made a sticky note to remind me. Tnx
@w8bya 35 tube radios?? That's intimidating I think by anyone's measure! I have 8 in various stages of analysis and repair. I have an SX-101 on the bench right now ready for start-up and alignment. I find alignment to be challenging because of the presence of image or harmonics and think maybe the SA could help sort things out more effectively. That's why I requested your views on this. If you ever have the time, it would be much appreciated. 73 KE4CDR@@w8bya
@@microreniassance2929 What I did was collect old radios while I was employed, saving them for fun when I retired. The problem is now that I am retired I find I have less time than when I was working. Not sure when I will get to them.......so many projects, so little time hi-hi. 73
I will show the most basic way. From the data in the video we measured -53 dBm/Hz for a 10,000 Hz BW. If you want to know the power density for 8,000 Hz just take 10 x Log (10,000/8,000) which equals almost 1 dB. So the SPD for a 8 kHz BW would be approx -52 dBm/Hz.
@@w8bya I figured that if each bin is 1Hz and you have 10,000Hz BW, then the program integrated all power seen and then divided it by 10,000 to show an average per Hz of -53 dBm. I guess I would need to just multiply this by 8000 but I'm so bad at math haha. I used an alternative way which is supposed to be "similar", which was to use trace averaging instead of hold peak. I'm still new to this and there is just so much I need to learn. Thanks for your video and explanation, it has been very helpful.
Every amateur radio operator should watch this video (whether owning a SA or not)! For those owning a Siglent SA, it saves reading part of a usually boring manual and additionally explains what can be considered complex things in an easy way.
This is also a great example of how SDR and third party software can work together simplifying operation (for measurement purposes in this case).
Thank you for this! 73's
Thank you very much for your FB comments. If there is anything at all you would like to see in a future video do not hesitate to e-mail me directly. TU agn es 73 !
I realize I'm pretty off topic but does anyone know a good site to stream new movies online ?
@Dennis Alfred try FlixZone. You can find it by googling :)
@Dennis Alfred i would suggest Flixzone. Just search on google for it =)
Nice presentation on the video. Great content. I most of the time do not like to watch videos that were done hand held but yours are not too bad, good steady hand. Good job.Subscribed!
Hi there and thank you very much for taking the time to watch and to comment. That means a lot. I am a total novice to making videos and I will remember your comments and try to make future videos better.
Interesting lay down of the AMK feature, Rigol has the same set. One thing that could be confusing is that visually the integration area "under the curve" in the display appears to contain more energy than the calculation reports until you remember that the vertical scale is logarithmic and not linear. Would be interesting to follow on with some practical examples of how the energy distributions actually impact on the ability to communicate in the presence of the off-channel signal QRM. Keep up the great work! 73 - Dino KL0S
Thanks for leading me here Dino.
Great video and thanks for taking the time to put this together. Your videos are much appreciated. I have a question; at around 43:00 you discuss the results of your T power set up is around -33dB. What bearing does that have on the rated power of your transmitter. How does it compare to a transmitter rated pwer of 2Watts or 100watts, for example? I have a Kenwood S530SP and given the power input ratings of the SE, how would I go about looking at the output of the transmitter, rated at 100Watts? I assume I would use an attenuator of some dB but I don't know how to additionally reduce the output of this radio (as you did with your SDR) without compromising the precision and accuracy of the signal. Would I simply manipulate the drive to reduce the output? At what reduction point would the output lose integrity? Any comments on this? Thanks again for your great videos. I just purchased the 3021X plus and am really excited about it coming in and getting put to work on my bench!
Thanks for the comments. So first things first..... you must ensure that the rig will not fry the SA during measurements or by any inadvertent mistakes. The next thing is it would not have made any difference if I had tested a SDR or the TS-2000 sitting next to the flex. Just make sure the power output of the rig cannot be or will not be increased beyond the attenuator you add between the rig & SA. I would keep the RF carrier level into the SA at around -20 dBm or so. That is plenty strong enough yet well below the max rating of the Siglent. Also I am not convinced the video shows the T-Power measurement being set up correctly. During a T-Power measurement the SA should have entered zero span mode (which it did not) and calculated the power within the time domain. That is not what I see now that I looked at it again.
@@w8bya thanks for the great input. You are a great educator that the amateur radio community benefits from. Thanks for the education. Questioning the Tpower setup my self. I haven't purchased or hacked in the advanced measurement upgrade so I'm waiting to do so to be sure I won't brick my SA.
@@w8bya I'll use a DC blocker and the variable attenuators I have and work back to a safe but usable level. Use math to see If I can determine an accurate watt output of my transmitter based on the dB reduction. I'll try to keep things at less than -20dB, probably more like -30 and possibly work up from there. Transients are a concern. Thanks for the sage advice. Looking forward to your next video. 73 KE4CDR
@@microreniassance2929 Don't forget the 1st attenuator after the rig is the one that MUST have the higher power rating. After that any attenuators may be lower power units. I think the SA will serve you well for what you have planned. Also ensure your DC block is rated for the high voltages present in tube radios......all it takes is one slip of a probe onto some B+ and you have an expensive rice-box door stop.
@@w8bya I have 20 and 40dB attenuators for 100 watts on order. Hopefully these will do the trick. I think the DC blocker is 2Watt but with a 20 or 40dB attenuator ahead of it, should be fine I would think. I ran into this problem earlier that attenuators are great, but really worthless if the power they are asked to handle isn't considered first thing. Thanks for the reminder. I simply have to make sure the attenuation doesn't put the signal so far down in the noise, the SN ratio is to low for a proper signal analysis. Thanks again for the great videos and comments.
Very timely, (my 3021 arrives tomorrow). I'd very much like to see the best way to use the SA for IF alignment work. Excellent content and production! 73, N0FR
Hi Rick and TU for watching and taking the time to comment. I suspect you will really love your new SA ! I have a lot of older HP etc SA's, and while nice, the Siglent is usually my #1 go-go piece of TE. Using the SA for IF alignment will be a lot of fun and so much easier. Being able to visually see the frequency & amplitude response of any adjustments of a given stage or filtering will really be helpful. 73
@@w8bya Any interest on putting together a video that covers aligning the IF stages in, say, a tube receiver? Thanks again for the great videos. 73 KE4CDR
@@microreniassance2929 That would be a good video. I must admit while I have about 35 old tube radios I have not dug into them yet as far as restoring and aligning them. ...so many projects so little time. I have made a sticky note to remind me. Tnx
@w8bya 35 tube radios?? That's intimidating I think by anyone's measure! I have 8 in various stages of analysis and repair. I have an SX-101 on the bench right now ready for start-up and alignment. I find alignment to be challenging because of the presence of image or harmonics and think maybe the SA could help sort things out more effectively. That's why I requested your views on this. If you ever have the time, it would be much appreciated. 73 KE4CDR@@w8bya
@@microreniassance2929 What I did was collect old radios while I was employed, saving them for fun when I retired. The problem is now that I am retired I find I have less time than when I was working. Not sure when I will get to them.......so many projects, so little time hi-hi. 73
i have a question, the spectral density showed for example -53 dBm/Hz, how would I convert that to dBm/8kHz, if that's even possible?
I will show the most basic way. From the data in the video we measured -53 dBm/Hz for a 10,000 Hz BW. If you want to know the power density for 8,000 Hz just take 10 x Log (10,000/8,000) which equals almost 1 dB. So the SPD for a 8 kHz BW would be approx -52 dBm/Hz.
@@w8bya I figured that if each bin is 1Hz and you have 10,000Hz BW, then the program integrated all power seen and then divided it by 10,000 to show an average per Hz of -53 dBm. I guess I would need to just multiply this by 8000 but I'm so bad at math haha. I used an alternative way which is supposed to be "similar", which was to use trace averaging instead of hold peak. I'm still new to this and there is just so much I need to learn. Thanks for your video and explanation, it has been very helpful.
very, very interesting for ham, dk3zr
Hello Gunter and TU for watching & taking the time to comment. I agree with you and it has shown me much about my radios. 73