Tek MDO3000 Spectrum Analyzer versus Rigol DSA815TG

[jstarr]

I was thinking of upgrading my Agilent MSOX 2024A scope to a 350Mhz or higher model.  I could sell my Rigol DSA 815TG and the MSOX2024A and use the combined funds to buy a Tektronix MDO3000 Series.  I lose all of the protocol analyzer options I have now in the Agilent but I figure the Tek MDO3000 Series spectrum analyzer should be much better than the Rigol..... or not??  Has anyone evaluated the Tek MDO3000 SA yet?

Any advice appreciated. 

john

[Hydrawerk]

MDO3000 has no tracking generator and no demodulation...

[EEVblog]

MDO3000 has no tracking generator and no demodulation...

Yes, apart form those, performance-wise, Tek told me that the MDO3000 was supposed to be competitive with the higher model Rigol 1000 series. But I have not investigated this myself.
The Tek will certainly have that super wide capture bandwidth.

[G0HZU]

Has anyone evaluated the Tek MDO3000 SA yet?

A lot depends on what you want to do with the analyser. The MDO is effectively a high sample rate 8bit ADC +DSP with a 3GHz capture range.

The Rigol uses something like a 14bit ADC with a few MHz of bandwidth at the final IF. So it also has  a multiple conversion up/downconverter section ahead of the ADC.

So these instruments will have a very different set of limitations to their performance. For general RF research and design work I would find the MDO to be a very interesting bit of kit because of the uniquely wide capture range it offers. But it could never be the only spectrum analyser I own.

Both the MDO and the Rigol have poor phase noise and both will have very limited spurious free dynamic range. I would expect that a skilled user of the Rigol will be able to dodge the DR issues more successfully than they would if they used the MDO. This is partly because I'd expect the MDO to have a lot of spurious responses onscreen even if you just fed it a single cw tone. There isn't much you can do about this and this is one area I'd expect even a cheapy analyser like the Rigol to easily outperform the MDO. But it depends if seeing lots of -65dBc (typical) spurious signals is an issue to you?