I've recently been lurking the blog doing my due diligence in search for a viable SA/ VNA for amateur radio use, and use as a hobbyist. I was about to pull the trigger on a SVA1015X when IM3's post came up. I would like to mention that I do appreciate the level of expertise in this forum.
I had considered the SSA3032X-R, but do I really need a RTSA, probably not. Is it a a really cool function, yes it is! Looking at the data provided by IM3 the 3032X-R is back in the radar.
I'd hate to invest the extra capital just for the RTSA feature if all of the other performance characteristics are relatively similar between the SVA1015X, and the SSA3032X-R.
From the most recent information in the thread, I want to verify by consensus that the SSA3032X-R does indeed have better phase noise characteristics and better HW than the SVA-1015X?
Thank you for the consideration of my question.
As always a lot of things depends on budget, so I can't help with that, but I can explain how I came to my choice.
For now there are 2 main RF designs of interest within the Siglent spectrum analyzers. (The 3rd choice is the 5000 series and too expensive)
The
better RF design of the 2 can be recognized in the documentation by a DNAL of -165 dBm.
The
simpler RF designs have a more worse DNAL value. More like -156 dBm and -161dBm.
I think all beter ones are the SVA1075X, SSA3075X-PLUS, SSA3032X-R, SSA3050X-R, SSA3075X-R.
Now what I had already described in an earlier post is that the simpler RF design of my SVA1032X has led to poor phase noise in a large part of the spectrum. In any case, worse than -98dBc that Siglent specifies at 1GHz.
The better RF design doesn't have that problem and have the same phase noise across the entire spectrum.
To see how physically different the designs are, I advise you to view 2 links.
For the more simple RF design, watch a video from EEVBlog here:
Click here for a look at the better RF design. (Scroll to reply 53 & 54)
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-ssa3000x-r-57-5ghz-real-time-spectrum-analyzer/?allAs far as I know the only photos on the internet of this version. (Thanks to TV84 on this blog)
How I made a choice which analyzer to buy:
Of the SVA series, only the SVA1075X is suitable, but then you pay €9200.
Of the SSA X-PLUS series, only the SSA3075X-PLUS is suitable, but then you pay €7875. But it has no VNA function. I thought that could be upgraded, but it would require some tinkering.
The SSA3032X-R is the cheapest of the SSA X-R series and costs €4830, but you can expand it to 7.5 GHz for free, including all options with the key generator that you can download here.
http://tpcg.io/_SV2SRE (Many thanks to the guys who made this script)
In my opinion, the SSA3032X-R is the device that gives you the most for the least money.
And real time is nice to have, really.