Which of these would be the most useful to the Radio Amateur? Also when
deciding upon one or the other, what specs should one look for in
purchasing one for Ham radio applications, given basic needs for now
but with enough capabilities to handle more advanced Ham radio needs in
the future? Thank you for any help. B. Taylor

wrote in message
oups.com...
Which of these would be the most useful to the Radio Amateur? Also when
deciding upon one or the other, what specs should one look for in
purchasing one for Ham radio applications, given basic needs for now
but with enough capabilities to handle more advanced Ham radio needs in
the future? Thank you for any help. B. Taylor

If you have to ask then you don't need either one.

It depends on what you want to do. I have several scops around the house
and don't use either of them very much. I have had access to a SA and have
used it very little.

Scopes are most useful at audio frequencies and the SA is good for RF
applications.

Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Which of these would be the most useful to the Radio Amateur? Also
when
deciding upon one or the other, what specs should one look for in
purchasing one for Ham radio applications, given basic needs for
now
but with enough capabilities to handle more advanced Ham radio
needs in
the future? Thank you for any help. B. Taylor

If you have to ask then you don't need either one.

It's not a matter of need. I don't actually "need" to be involved
with Amateur Radio period. It's something I "choose" to be involved
with. I asked the question strictly on the basis of if I were to
purchase either one of these pieces of test equipment for typical
Amateur radio uses, which one would be more useful to me in general
terms as a typical ham that likes to tinker and experiment. Thank you,
B. Taylor

Hi B. Taylor,
You really are asking the proverbial "how long is a piece of string"
question.
Might I suggest you spend some time and money on a
good electronics course.
If courses are not offered in you area try your local library,
Is their someone who can mentor you?


wrote in message
oups.com...

Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Which of these would be the most useful to the Radio Amateur? Also
when
deciding upon one or the other, what specs should one look for in
purchasing one for Ham radio applications, given basic needs for
now
but with enough capabilities to handle more advanced Ham radio
needs in
the future? Thank you for any help. B. Taylor

If you have to ask then you don't need either one.

It's not a matter of need. I don't actually "need" to be involved
with Amateur Radio period. It's something I "choose" to be involved
with. I asked the question strictly on the basis of if I were to
purchase either one of these pieces of test equipment for typical
Amateur radio uses, which one would be more useful to me in general
terms as a typical ham that likes to tinker and experiment. Thank you,
B. Taylor

I would buy both of them. An oscilloscope is something you really need for
doing signal tracing, etc. while a spectrum analyzer is a must if you are
doing synthesizer/oscillator/transmitter design. I have both of them and use
them all of the time. Other good things to have are an RF power meter,
modulation meter, frequency counter, broadband noise source, RF generator,
DVM, VOM, and a good variable power supply. This just scratches the surface,
depending on your needs.

Pete

"John Doe" wrote in message
u...
Hi B. Taylor,
You really are asking the proverbial "how long is a piece of string"
question.
Might I suggest you spend some time and money on a
good electronics course.
If courses are not offered in you area try your local library,
Is their someone who can mentor you?


wrote in message
oups.com...

Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Which of these would be the most useful to the Radio Amateur? Also
when
deciding upon one or the other, what specs should one look for in
purchasing one for Ham radio applications, given basic needs for
now
but with enough capabilities to handle more advanced Ham radio
needs in
the future? Thank you for any help. B. Taylor

If you have to ask then you don't need either one.

It's not a matter of need. I don't actually "need" to be involved
with Amateur Radio period. It's something I "choose" to be involved
with. I asked the question strictly on the basis of if I were to
purchase either one of these pieces of test equipment for typical
Amateur radio uses, which one would be more useful to me in general
terms as a typical ham that likes to tinker and experiment. Thank you,
B. Taylor

"Pete KE9OA" wrote in
news
I would buy both of them. An oscilloscope is something you really need
for doing signal tracing, etc. while a spectrum analyzer is a must if
you are doing synthesizer/oscillator/transmitter design. I have both of
them and use them all of the time. Other good things to have are an RF
power meter, modulation meter, frequency counter, broadband noise
source, RF generator, DVM, VOM, and a good variable power supply. This
just scratches the surface, depending on your needs.

Pete



The choice between the two depends on what you are most interested in
doing. Since both these instruments are designed for different tasks.
However if you are looking for a good all purpose Swiss Army knife sort of
tool for general ham useage, I would look at a gadget called a service
monitor. Depending on make and model, you can find one that combines the
features of most of the instruments on Pete's list They usually have a
scope that will do af and also act as a spectrum analyzer along with power
meters,signal generator,frequency/modulation meter perhaps a DVM etc. All
in one handy dandy portable package.

Here is an example of one of the many on Ebay at present.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...84288 71&rd=1

As a general purpose test and troubleshooting tool I find these hard to beat!!

--
Panzer

It's not a matter of need. I don't actually "need" to be involved
with Amateur Radio period. It's something I "choose" to be involved
with. I asked the question strictly on the basis of if I were to
purchase either one of these pieces of test equipment for typical
Amateur radio uses, which one would be more useful to me in general
terms as a typical ham that likes to tinker and experiment.

Really depends on the depth and nature of your tinkering. Are you
talking component level equipment building/modifying? A scope would be
more useful than an SA. If you are talking about VHF/UHF system
building/tuning or RFI investigations, etc, then perhaps a Spectrum
Analyzer would be more useful.

However, I'd like to point out that you can get a good scope for less
than 1/10th the cost of a reasonable Spectrum Analyzer, so if your budget
allows for a Spectrum Analyzer, then you can probably afford a used but
good scope, too.


Ed K7AAT

Ralph Mowery wrote:

If you have to ask then you don't need either one.

It depends on what you want to do. I have several scops around the house
and don't use either of them very much. I have had access to a SA and have
used it very little.

Scopes are most useful at audio frequencies and the SA is good for RF
applications.


A 350 MHz four channel scope is made for RF work and is a valuable
piece of equipment if you fully understand how to use it. Some spectrum
analyzers are made for audio frequencies. You need to understand the
capabilities of the equipment you are considering, and what your
application is. I used a Tek 2465 scope to test and align video boards
for telemetry equipment with bandwidths up to 40 Mhz. Another useful
instrument is a good quality true RMS voltmeter that reads to .01 dB to
calibrate and balance detector/demodulators. I was offered a network
analyzer for my bench but passed it to another tech. I preferred the
harder jobs that didn't need it, and really didn't have room on either
bench, or the three equipment carts for another large piece of
equipment.

Your choice of test equipment depends on your skills and the design
level of what passes your bench. I worked on telemetry used for
tracking satellites, and the shuttle program. It was cutting edge and
all built to order. If you are building a one of a kind wideband Ku
band receiver for the space station you need the best equipment you can
find. On the other hand if you just breadboard simple circuits you need
less sophisticated equipment.
--
Cyber stalking is a crime!

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

wrote:
Which of these would be the most useful to the Radio Amateur? Also when
deciding upon one or the other, what specs should one look for in
purchasing one for Ham radio applications, given basic needs for now
but with enough capabilities to handle more advanced Ham radio needs in
the future? Thank you for any help. B. Taylor


If you just want a cool toy, get a scope with a FFT function.
You'll be the envy of all your ham buddies.
Got a nice one for sale he
http://nm7u.tripod.com/homepage/sale.html
Priced at 25% of what you'd pay at a dealer.
mike


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They are both useful. You don't even want to know about all the bells
and whistles you can get, let alone trying to figure out how many of
those whistles you can use, not to mention the bells. And the digital
models are like a high end ham rig. You are going to be navigating
tonnes of menus.

I'd go for an analog crt based scope, 20mhz, 50mhz or 100mhz bandwidth.
With a 50volt to 50millivolt input range. Make sure it comes with a
probe with 10:1 input switch. Scopes typically have a 1meg ohm input
impedance so the 10:1 would get you 11 meg input plus the probe offers
frequency compensation.