I got myself a used Agilent N1996A CSA Spectrum Analyzer on eBay, it was delivered yesterday and I thought I'd start this thread to a) allow me to ask dumb questions as I learn how it works and b) to allow others to learn from my experience.
First Thoughts
This just oozes of quality, it's solid and heavy with bumper feet at every corner. The color LCD screen is about 8.25 inches diagonally and very high resolution (need reading glasses). It came with no batteries but when I checked on Agilent's web site, this was how the standard version was delivered - i.e. batteries are an option. It seems Agilent used a commercial, off-the-shelf rechargeable battery which can still be purchased for about $150 (each, it takes 2) and the part numbers I've found so far are:
1420-0891, 1420-0899, 9770066, N9910X-870, NF2040, NF2040-AG24, SM206, SM206-5.2 please don't treat this as gospel, tell me if any is not compatible and I'll amend the list. Anyway, I can run with no batteries for now.
Supporting Stuff
I've ordered some medium priced cables, adapters, and attenuaters to get me started. I decided that, going to 3 or 6 GHz means that I should standardize on SMA connectors so I've got N-male to SMA female adapters, SMA cables, and SMA - RP-SMA gender changers. I've also ordered some BNC adapters to allow me to interface with my other stuff like my Rigol DG4202 signal generator. I'm also considering a Nortel NTBW50AA GPS-modified oscillator to give me accurate 10 MHz signal for my lab.