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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/
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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/
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Some picture showing what the tinySA can do Measuring the harmonics of a 30MHz signal Showing the power envelop of a mobile phone base station.
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Full range low input scan of the build in calibration signal. AD9851 output with delta markers on the harmonics
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Wiki Typo
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Dear Erik, the device looks promising in the Wiki description. For most ham operators it should be a helpful device. Only minus for me: as far as I see it, for useful oscillator characterization (PLL performance) it is not usable: -100dBc a few kHz from the carrier is not in the specification. But for harmonics (-70dB should be kept to prove -60dB) and spurious search it would suit, as far as I see it. The question will be: Can you can scan the 1st harmonics of e.g. 50MHz and the next harmonics 100, 150, 200, 250 300 MHz with one sweep and what will be the detection limit? Or would the user have to scan the first harmonics, memorize the level, change the range, scan the 2nd ..... To the typo: in the technical Specs "Input frequency range from 240MHz to 9600MHz" has a "0" too much. vy73 de Karsten, DD1KT
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And for those that want to see what happens over time a waterfall display
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Another measurement option is measuring phase noise. This of course is limited by the internal phase noise of the tinySA which is not world class. In phase noise measurement mode a phase noise delta marker is set at the requested offset frequency and a delta noise level is displayed in dB/Hz to eliminate the impact of the selected RBW. Below is the result of one tinySA measuring the phase noise of the high output at 250MHz of another tinySA. This level of phase noise defines the lower limit of effective phase noise measurements with the tinySA
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tinysa Menu Options
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Erik, Looking at the photos you have shown, some of the menu options look like a winner. Store trace, subtract stored trace, maxhold (M:H) and simultaneous display of stored trace and live trace are features usually found in big box instruments. What other detectors beside peak will be offered? Does the reference level automatically adjust with change in attenuation? - Herb
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tinysa USB Control
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Erik, Is the usb port only for charging or will it also support remote operation from a software application? If so do you have a list of the commands that will be supported? - Herb
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The tinySA can be used as a signal generator and in low output mode there are some options for modulation. Using the AM modulation to create a 10MHz signal with another tinySA in zero span mode it is possible to look at the modulation as one full scan of 290 points only takes 232 milliseconds and indeed the modulation is a sawtooth with a frequency somewhere below 1kHz As you can see the output level still needs some calibration.
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This shows the measurement option to measure OIP3 and it is used to measure the internal IIP3 at 0dB attenuation. Two tones (6MHz and 7MHz) from fairly clean signal generators are used. Bot the left and right IIP3 are shown. Investigations are ongoing to further improve this and an IIP3 level of +25dBm could be possible.
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To help understanding the measurement capabilities of the tinySA I added some measurement examples on the wiki https://tinysa.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Examples One set of wide scans and one set of high resolution scans. Both from various signal sources to show the ability of the tinySA to help gaining an understanding of the various available signal sources.
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Availability & pre-orders
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I have owned two nanoVNAs now for best part of a year. Thank you so much to all involved and for making them available and taking the time to share with us at an affordable price. Now to the main point of my post. Where/when will the tinySA be available to us ardent followers, and is there any indication of the approximate price because knowing this, and by no means rushing release, I would love to add m name to a pre-order list. Many thanks again to all involved. Garry M0MGP
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Selectable Units
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#feature_request
Erik, I know it late in the game and all firmware features are probably already set in stone. I was just wondering if you would consider, in a future firmware release, adding dBmV, dBuV, Volts and Watts as menu options to dBm for Y-axis unit display. Where dBm, dBmV, and dBuV are for Log scale; Volts and Watts are for Linear scale with the default Y-axis display unit as dBm. This is a fairly common menu option on most of the spectrum analyzers I have used in the past. If you don't support linear scaling then would you consider dBmV and dBuV menu options? The unit conversions can be performed manually by the user but being able to select them as a tinySA menu option would be a useful feature. - Herb
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#feature_request
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#feature_request
Erik, Another feature I hope you can add to a future wish list is a menu selectable reference line. It would be a line drawn across the length of the display at a level chosen by the user that could be turned on or off. It's a feature I have used frequently on other spectrum analyzers for quick visual pass/fail indication (limit line). - Herb
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Reference Line
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#feature_request
================================================== Eric, Just a line that you can set the value for and turn on and off. Primarily used for quick visual indication of of how a measured signal compares against a set reference line. I believe the line is usually labeled "ref" or "ref line" when it is displayed. "limit line" might be another choice for a label to prevent confusion with reference level. Some advanced analyzers do provide some type of pass/no pass or go/no go indication when the line is exceeded, but that seems a waste of memory space on the tinySA and might be better implemented in the software application if there was a user demand. - Herb
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An important parameter of a spectrum analyzer is the spur free dynamic range (SFDR). This is the range in dB between the noise floor and the strongest signals that can be used without generating visible mixing products inside the spectrum analyzer. If the IIP3 is known you can calculate the SFDR As I have looked previously at IIP3 I thought it would be interesting to see a practical example what staying within the SFDR implies. As a test I'm using two somewhat clean input signals, one of 15MHz and one of 9MHz (not so clean, see the small spur at 30.5MHz) If you add these signal in a way they do not interact and feed them to the input of the spectrum analyzer you should only see the pure sum of the two spectra above. So first the combined spectrum with 0dB attenuation. There are two signals that should not exist. The first at 24MHz (the sum of 9MHz and 15MHz) at -80dB and a second at 39MHz (2 times 15MHz + 9MHz) at -86dB . One would expect something at 33MHz (15MHz + two times 9MHz) but this one is not visible. In order to investigate if these mixing products are generated in the spectrum analyzer or in the generators (due to lack of isolation) I did two extra measurement. First with 5dB increase in attenuation in the spectrum analyzer The signals that should not change did not change (within the +/1dB measurement accuracy) . The 24MHz mixing product went down with about 1dB and the 39MHz mixing product disappeared. This seems to suggest the generator delivering the 9MHz signal is contributing to the mixing because with a 5dB increase in attenuation the mixing products both should have disappeared. But the positive conclusion is that the tinySA will give you a SFDR of at least 70dB at a RBW of 30kHz. Increasing the attenuation to 10dB gave this picture. The signal at 24MHz went down with another 1dB so this again suggests I may have to find a better way to mix the output of the two generators. I welcome a critical review of my conclusions by the esteemed audience of the group.
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Request for testers for the tinySA
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During the last weeks I have been designing, together with Hugen, a self contained, ready build, hand-held spectrum analyzer to be sold for a very acceptable price. The outline and display are exactly the same as the nanoVNA and the tinySA will come with a housing. As the HW performance now seems to be OK and the SW is more or less complete i could use the help of some (not many) testers. Preferably people that already own (or have access to) a spectrum analyzer and are active building something that requires a spectrum analyzer in the 0.1MHz till 350MHz range. This tinySA can also capture 240MHz till 960MHz (with somewhat reduced performance and functionality) and it can also be used as a signal generator (0-350MHz and 240MHz till 9060MHz) If you think you could contribute to the testing feel free to send me a PM with some info on the project you'd like the tinySA for. There will only be a limited number of tester products. Selected testers will receive a tinySA and are kindly requested to use it and feedback their experience. I create a dedicated tinysa group for this purpose. /g/tinysa/topics More information on this version of the tinySA can be found in this wiki https://tinysa.org/wiki/ Please be patient as the wiki is running a bit behind.
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Input Limit
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#specifications
Erik, You've already noted the input ports are limited to +10dBm max. What is the DC limit of the input ports? I assume the limit is de-rated to half the dc rating of the input port coupling capacitors, whatever that value is. - Herb
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How close to a carrier I can get? Many Hams, educators and me would like to see and check their modulators. That is, can I see what does spectrum of SSB with 1kHz modulation look like. Or 300Hz and closer.
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am