In article nqutb.6159$cX1.4086@fed1read02, Ed Price wrote:

A 140 series, with a round face CRT came out in the early 70's. The 141,
with a rectangular face, hit around 1975. The 8566 was around 1991, IIRC.

The 141 weighs a ton, but it's rock solid stable, it sells for reasonable
money at hamfests, and it's not that hard to get repaired.

Also, I think the Singer spectrum analyzers of that era are underrated and
sell for very low sums considering how good they are. When I first used
one, I was amazed at how birdie-free it was (although admittedly this was
30 years ago, and all of our standards for birdies are a bit higher).

Unless you get extraordinarily lucky (and when does that ever happen), all
but the 141 series is priced beyond the hobbyist. Maybe some of those 8562's
or 859x's will be still working in 5 years or so when they hit the surplus
market. Till then, hobbyists are still pretty much in the analog SA world.

You know, I like the analogue SA gear. I like analogue scopes too.

I see a lot of wideband hand-held receivers like the Icom R10, some of which
have crude LCD panadaptor displays. Has anyone used any of these as cheap
spectrum analyzers? If so, what is the one that will give me the best
resolution possible? I don't much care about the front end sensitivity.
I can live with some serious limitations in order to have something I can
carry in my pocket.

It would be very nice to have a spectrum analyzer I can carry up to the top
of the tower with me to poke around at the head amps before taking the
whole thing down.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."