Locked
Sticky
How to post with pictures
The best way to include a picture in a post is by simply copy/paste the image in the text Use an image snipping tool to get the image with the required size in the copy buffer. -- For more info on the tinySA go to https://tinysa.org/wiki/
|
Sticky
What to do when a selftest fails
200
If one or more of the self test of the tinySA fails AND you did NOT buy from one of the safe sellers (see wiki) you can do the following: If the Attenuator test (test 12 in the latest FW) fails follow this guide in the wiki: https://tinysa.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.CheckTheAttenuator If the serial number at the back of your tinySA starts with "AD" you have a clone. Complain and get a refund. If the text next to the high input connector is "HICH" you have a clone. Complain and get a refund. For other failures make a photo of the front and back of the tinySA and a photo or screen capture of the failing self test such that it is possible to read the text on the screen and post a message with the pictures. ------------------------------------------ For more info on the tinySA go to https://tinysa.org/wiki/
|
Testing coax cable
3
Hello, I have a tinySA Ultra+ and I would like to measure a 50ohm coax cable, anyone who can help me out how to do this? I guess you can use the CAL output in combination with the RF input? I would like to see how many dB loss I have in the range of lets say 470Mhz-600Mhz. Thanks!
|
Help ! Calling Ghostbusters.
17
I have a large home on a hill in a fairly isolated peri-urban area, which I wouldn't expect to be subject to massive interference. However, I also have >500 electronic devices, either plugged-in, on battery or hardwired. Many of them wireless devices, and are experiencing intermittent connectivity problems, on all kinds of frequencies. I know that after living 15 years in this haunted house, I am long overdue for the purchase of an EMI detector. I am trying to figure out which to get, and how to use it. The tinySA Ultra seems like it might be up to the task, but I'm still not sure how I would proceed with the investigation. Here are some of the devices/bands I experience problems on. - Various frequencies - smartphones cell networks have never worked properly indoors with any operator, despite the coverage map. They work in some outdoor locations but not others. This is probably on the operators just lying through their teeth with their coverage maps, and not interference. But our current phones dance alternately between no signal, GSM, 2G, 4G, LTE, 5G. It's essentially impossible to make any cell calls and not have them drop. We have to use Wifi calling. - 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz Wifi devices have lots of problems, especially 2.4 GHz IoT devices. The 9 APs are Ubiquiti Unifi. Two of them are wired, 7 meshed. Many clients don't connect for a long time or at all, a bunch connect to very distant APs, some have elevated packet loss, and some have very high ping times - I have seen as high as 10 seconds. There are now about 300 total Wifi 2.4 GHz clients with the recent addition of 220 Philips Wiz bulb in the last few months. I don't currently have any 6 GHz APs (Wifi 6e/7). I have a couple 6e capable clients (one phone, one laptop). There are only 9 5 GHz clients in the house - two phones, two laptops, two Raspberry Pi 3B+ used as controllers for my 2 Carrier Infinity HVAC, and 3 Enphase solar gateways. - 1.9 GHz - Panasonic DECT 6.0. This generally works pretty well, but the handsets sometimes don't connect to the base when pressing "Talk", and needs to be put into OFF mode and back ON . Likely a device bug, but I have only seen it happen with distant handsets, and not the one in the room closest to the base, so I can't rule out interference completely. - 923 MHz : Yolink devices sometimes lose connectivity, especially distant ones. That's the case intermittently for the water leak sensor at the bottom of one of my water heaters, for instance. And the door and temperature sensor in my garage freezer. My other 12 Yolink devices work very well. But I'm not adding any more until they have a local hub. - 912 - 920 MHz : my 30 Z-Wave LR devices have many problems. Many nodes go "dead" frequently in Home Assistant/Z-Wave JS UI and randomly become unusable. Some are distant, but others not so far. I have switched every single LR device to non-LR so the devices don't lose signal altogether. The traditional Z-Wave mesh seems to work much better (or not as bad, see below). This could be device bugs due to LR implementations still being relatively recent. - 908 MHz : Z-Wave non-LR devices often have very long reaction time as well. Again, I have seen 10 seconds response time, just like for Wifi devices. Unfortunately, there are also lots of outright transmission failures, especially when communicating with several devices consecutively, such to turn off all light switches in the house. Many switches don't turn off, and require a second attempt. Currently, there is a total of about 70 Z-Wave devices. - 433 MHz : Simplisafe v3 . I have one distant door sensor and keypad that randomly drop out of range of the base station. All 3 are stationary, and I don't quite understand why this happens. I could relocate the keypad, but can't relocate the door sensor. There are not many options for me to relocate the base that won't cause other devices to go out of range. I'm looking for some kind of wall or ceiling mount for the base station in order to improve this, but there is nothing available off the shelf. There are about 20 Simplisafe devices. I wond
|
Advice on connecting TinySA Ultra to audio amplifier
2
I would be thankful for any advice on how to connect my TinySA Ultra to the amplifiers I am trying to repair. Currently working on Magnavox Chassis # R204 Using a RF Signal Generator is relatively new to me so am having trouble understanding how to physically connect the signal generator to the FM and AM input. For example, do I need an attenuator between the Ultra and FM antenna input connectors?
|
Input RF switch fault found on TinySA ultra
7
Based on the "fault finding" tab at tinysa.org, my SA ultra's input RF switch chip U22 (AS179-92LF) has failed. This chip is so tiny it seems there is not a soldering iron or tweezer small enough to replace it. It's like a microscope-dependent repair! Has anyone had success with this repair, or is it just smarter to buy a whole new SA Ultra?
|
Hunting Spurious Emission at 154 MHz
2
I was exploring the VHF High public service bands (150 - 162 MHz) on my tinySA spectrum analyzer using the waterfall display. I noticed a very strong, very narrow, very clean unmodulated FM carrier at exactly 154MHz. I noticed the strength varied as I moved around the house but I could not locate a source on the end of the house with the strongest signal. So I swapped to a small rubber ducky antenna on the tinySA and headed outside. The emission was clearly coming from a neighbor's house. Neighbor is a great guy so I knocked and we went looking for the source and suspected an older Windows PC desktop. He shut it down and the emission went away. Likely a failed filtering capacitor or choke in the switching power supply. Don't know if he'll bother to fix or replace it, but I had fun hunting it down. I didn't think of it at the time but I may have been seeing a harmonic and probably should have checked 38.5 MHz using the tinySA MEASURE/HARMONIC tool as that is a more likely frequency from a failing switching power supply. Maybe next time he boots the PC... Peter
|
Enhancement Requests: File Management Sort By Name and Rename
12
I have found many neat uses for my Ultra and find the capabilities quite rich and the device very easy to use and configure. Thank you! I do have a couple suggestions around file management. Perhaps either one is already implemented and I just missed it? 1. In the dialogs where filenames are displayed, it appears files are sorted by file creation date. I find in most cases, for me anyway, a sort by name would be much preferred. My next preferred sort would be reverse by modification date (most recently modified first). 2. Additionally, it would be great if there were a way to rename files (directly, not by connecting a PC or other device). As a thought to solve both of these, two control buttons could be added to the "Preset / Load SD" page: One on the left-bottom corner to the right of the DEL control labeled REN for REName. This would permit selection of a file followed by the file naming dialog. One on the right-bottom corner to the left of the X control labeled SRT for SoRT. This would toggle the file sort order between whatever options are permitted (preference being name, modification date, creation date). Bonus points if sort order saved across boots. Peter
|
Defect Report: Restore Multi-Band from SD Does Not Restore RBW
4
A multi-band configuration when restored from SD does not restore RBW. Duplicate by changing the RBW followed by a restore. Oddly, the RBW field in the display shows the incorrect RBW actually being used but when you click on it to bring up the RBW setting the correct/desired value is checked, not the one actually in use. NOTE: This is only a defect for configurations WITH multi-band AND when saved to SD, not one of the 4 in-memory slots. If you prefer, I can open an issue in for this in github. Not sure of proper protocol. Peter
|
measuring spectrum of a single pulse not feasible with TinySA?
3
I want to measure the frequency spread of a single pulse arising from capacitor discharge into a coil, but it sounds like from the discussion here on measuring radar pulses that this will not be feasible with TinySA. The sweep rate is too slow (?) I can guess what the fundamental frequency ought to be based on the LC formula and fish around that area in zero span mode (?), but I'd really like to see what kind of harmonics are contained in the pulse and what their relative amplitudes are compared to the fundamental. Any ideas besides having to spend thousands more on another spectrum analyzer?
|
Would like to report a new fake chinese hardware for TinySA
20
I don't like FAKE hardware clones. The original developers/artists/etc deserve that (as one myself). Is this the right place to report a new clone I found? Thanks.
|
New FW release: Corrected selftest 8
2
New FW release Version V1.4199 Changes: - Selftest 8 corrected. -- Designer of the tinySA For more info go to https://tinysa.org/wiki
|
TinySA Ultra Unresponive
4
Something went wrong with my TinySA Ultra after I updated the firmware earlier this evening. I get this screen when I turn the unit on and nothing else:
|
Screen capture a completed selftest on ZS-407
2
Not a big deal, but I'm interested how to grab a screen capture after a completed selftest (no errors) on an ultra+. When the self test is complete it states touch the screen to exit, touching the SD icon the selftest exits also the jog button seems to be disabled until the test is exited. I understand you can take a pic with a phone etc, just wondering if I've missed something. Dave
|
TinySA Ultra+ ZS406 Self test Test 8: Passband failed ?
5
#bug_report
#ultra
Hi guys, I got the TinySA Ultra+ ZS406 today from Eleshop. I updated the firmware to tinySA4_v1.4-198-g996a67b.bin (Picture 1). Before that, I had a Firmware from January 2025. I did the Self test two times, which failed on Test 8 Passband failed (Picture 2 and 3). Then I did the Level CAL" 100kHz to 5,42GHz" and then I tried the Self test again same problem with Test 8 Passband failed. Then I Reset Calibration and did and did the Level CAL "100kHz to 5,42GHz" again. And then the Self test again and now all Test passed two times again. ( picture 4 ) And the third time it failed again Test 8: Passband failed again, everything else passed ( picture 5 ) And the fourth and fifth time Self test all passed again. Then i did the Level CAL "100kHz to 5,42GHz" again and Self Test again Test 8: Passband failed again ( Picture 6 ) The next two Self test all Test passed again. The third Self test on Test 8 Passband failed again ( Picture 7 ) Should I return it to Eleshop and get a new one ? Are the Values of of Test 8 off by so much or just minimally off ?
|
Spur at 4.275 GHz on ZS-407
10
Hello Erik and everyone. I've recently purchased a TinySA Ultra+ from a local vendor and the unit has an issue. It is a ZS-407 with HW version V0.5.4 and S/N SU-407-25011571. It has a spur at ~4.275 GHz that is present regardless of the Spur Removal or Sample Rep settings: When I narrow the frequency bandwidth to 100kHz and turn off Spur Removal, I see that the "spur" is actually five pulses: The instrument passes the self test and calibration successfully. This issue was present in the factory firmware (I believe it was V1.4-195) and is still present after upgrading to the latest V1.4-197. The vendor has checked a few other units they have in stock and they show the same spur: The vendor assures me that the units are genuine and that they get them directly from ZeenKo. I also have an older TinySA Ultra (up to 5.3 GHz, ZS-405 maybe, it has no model number on it) and it has no such anomalies. So my questions are: - Is this device really genuine? - Is this a known issue? - Is it faulty hardware? - How can this be fixed (if it's possible)? Thank you! Best wishes, Andrew PS: This is the device in question:
|
Selftest fail
6
#bug_report
My TinySa Ultra+, just bought on Amazon from Pinsaitec, fails on selftest #8. I have implemented newest firmware, have done several calibration runs! No efford! What can I do, before returning the device to vendor? Best regards, Hartmut
|
TinySA ultra - configure error
2
My TinySA ultra device is giving me a "SI4468 Configure Fail" error and is not coming up. Any advice on how to recover ? Thanks Sridhar
|
New FW release: Possible reduction of 4 GHz spurs visible on some ZS-407
New FW release Version V1.4198 All Ultra versions Changes: - Possible reduction of spurs around 4.278 GHz visible on some ZS-407 HW -- Designer of the tinySA For more info go to https://tinysa.org/wiki
|
WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer question
5
Hi, I'm beginning to use WinSpectrum III and I don't know how to switch inputs from the application. I works ok if I switch them in the tiny. Best regards, Ignacio -- Este correo electrónico ha sido analizado en busca de virus por el software antivirus de Avast. www.avast.com
|