Tektronix 492 Spectrium Analyser

[Psi]

I have the chance to buy a tektronix 492 spectrum analyser. Price unknown at this stage but i think he wants around NZ$600 so ~500USD
Has anyone used one of these and have anything to say about them?
http://72.29.85.210/~radioama/instruments/TEK%20492%20user%20manual.pdf

The 492/492P Spectrum Analyzer is a high performance,
compact, portable spectrum analyzer that displays absolute
amplitude and frequency information of signals within the
frequency spectrum of 50 kHz to 21 GHz with the internal
coaxial mixer

I know they are old but any spectrum analyser is better than none.
I need the 5.8ghz band which means the bottom range of modern analyzers aren't of any use to me. And the rest are too expensive

[bingo600]

Search 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tecktronix-492p-spectrum-analyser/msg499484/#msg499484

/Bingo

[G0HZU]

For $600 it looks very good value (if you need a basic >5.8GHz analyser) as long as the RF performance meets your needs

I'm not really that experienced with the 492 but I did skim through the RF specs and a few things may be an issue. The std spec has no limiter protection for the first mixer up to 1.8GHz. So the damage level could be as low as +13dBm on low (typical!) attenuator settings.

Option 1 adds the limiter.

If you want to do any work on narrow spans then option 3 adds the phase lock option on narrow spans. This would be a very attractive option because it also includes a 100Hz RBW filter.

Unless you hit lucky and bag something like an HP8592 (or the vastly superior HP8561/3)  for a stupidly low price then I think you will struggle to get better value for money than the $600 Tek492 even if it has no options fitted.

The other alternative is to get something like a Rigol 815 and build a simple external downconverter from 5.8GHz.

[Psi]

Thanks guys

Looks like the only module fitted is Option 2, digital storage and averaging