At 4/24/2007 11:31 AM, you wrote: >Can Someone Please put the Spectrum Analyzer thread in Layman Terms I >have a Motorola Serv Monitor R2001C With the Analyzer and a Icom R-7000 >Communications Receiver with a AVCOM Spectrum Analyzer I Can see 10 Mhz >at a Time and I know that it's nice to Find Signals. But I always >thought that a Actual receiver IE Scanner running the right Software would >actually find and see more Hits because it is actually a Receiver. I know >for a fact I can hear a lot more on a Cheap Scanner then using a Service >Monitor on the same antenna. What do I not understand here
A spectrum analyzer is a very fancy, amplitude-reading scanner. Some like the IFR A7550 have detector options so by setting the span to zero one can actually use it as a receiver. Spectrum analyzers typically have more dynamic range & bandwidth than a scanner, & that dynamic range & bandwidth comes at the expense of sensitivity. Some quality SAs I've used have noise figures in excess of 30 dB. If you want to see more on your SA, put a preamp in front of it. Bob NO6B
