Thanks to Toploser I now have a new AARONIA Spectran HF4060 to play with. The unit arrived this morning in a large aluminium hard case....couldn't hide that from my wife..... oooops !
First Impressions of the unit.....
1. Design is weird with odd shaped plastic handheld case and small shiny silver buttons
I thought shiny silver buttons went out in the 1980's ! It looks a bit tacky to be honest.
2. Display is large but slightly cluttered making interpretation without the manual difficult..... ergonomics do not appear to be a strong point of the design.
3. The Ni-Mh 1300mAh battery pack has been discharged for some time so is currently being cycled and tested to see if it has life in it. Easy to remove thanks to the dedicated battery cover. The battery is just six AA size cells so easy to replace if needed.
4. The 700MHz-6GHz Log Periodic aerial is a nice design and looks to be of decent quality. Very pleased with that
5. AARONIA provide all that is needed to get the unit up and running out of the case. They provide a nice table tripod that may also be used as a handle for the LP antenna. Good ergonomics there.
6. The rear of the HF4060 is marked AARONIA
WWW.ELEKTROSMOG.COM. Such a reference would normally have me running away from the device. The Electrosmog crowd can be a tad weird with their desire to wear tin foil hats etc. and complaints that their kettle or TV is making them ill ! On this occasion I will suppress my desire to RUN
7. First switch-on caused the unit to immediately find my DECT telephone and identify it....not a bad start. I have yet to test the unit properly as I need to cycle the battery a few times on my external charger and battery analyser first. Running the unit off of its charger could cause all manner of weird behaviour.
Ok so first thoughts on the HF4060 ..... A bit of an ugly duckling, weird looking and less than perfect ergonomics, but maybe, just maybe, it will perform OK
With a 10MHz to 6GHz specification it will certainly be a very useful portable spectrum monitor if it actually delivers on its promises. The PC software has been dramatically improved over the past few years and if the HF4060 performs OK, the PC software will be a superb interface through which to control the HF4060 and process its output. The ergonomics of the HF4060 then become less of an issue.
Am I please with my purchase from TopLoser ? YOU BET I AM ! For GBP150+VAT you will not get close to the capability of this unit, even if its specifications turn out to be a little optimistic in some areas. The unit that was tested at my workplace was taken seriously and performed well, so looks can be deceptive. I really do think AARONIA should find another case designer though....weird shaped plastic shell , silver buttons and painted metallic blue....come on, it looks like a childs toy ! But then some would say its looks matter not if it works OK. We shall see
My sincere thanks to TopLoser for providing this unit at such a hobbyist wallet friendly price.
Aurora