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[Kevin Maxwell]

RF Explorer, I assume it is a scanner. I think I am looking for a wide band receiver.

I was thinking for trouble shooting (possibly search and destroy) that a relatively small hand held battery powered receiver with a display would be a handy tool. But it looks like the RF Explorer is a scanner. Are there any devices that are reasonably priced (like the RF Explorer) that will show the full bandwidth of the range (wireless mics) I am looking in, all at once so I don’t have to wait for a scan to complete as I am walking around looking to see what it on the air around a facility. Playing the old game of hot and cold.

I have a WinRadio scanner that I use for scanning the room but it is not portable. And it is a scanner also. I am not sure if I am properly describing what I am looking for and if I am using the right terms. Even something that would work as a receiver that plugs into a phone or tablet would be nice. This isn’t something I would probably need to use very often so I am not looking for an expansive unit.

Anyone have any suggestions.

[brian maddox]

RF Explorer, I assume it is a scanner. I think I am looking for a wide band receiver.

I was thinking for trouble shooting (possibly search and destroy) that a relatively small hand held battery powered receiver with a display would be a handy tool. But it looks like the RF Explorer is a scanner. Are there any devices that are reasonably priced (like the RF Explorer) that will show the full bandwidth of the range (wireless mics) I am looking in, all at once so I don’t have to wait for a scan to complete as I am walking around looking to see what it on the air around a facility. Playing the old game of hot and cold.

I have a WinRadio scanner that I use for scanning the room but it is not portable. And it is a scanner also. I am not sure if I am properly describing what I am looking for and if I am using the right terms. Even something that would work as a receiver that plugs into a phone or tablet would be nice. This isn’t something I would probably need to use very often so I am not looking for an expansive unit.

Anyone have any suggestions.

The RF Explorer does exactly what you're asking for, assuming that i understand what that is. 

But yes, you can put in a range of frequencies, say 445HZ to 628HZ, and it will show a display in realtime of the amount of RF in that range along with things like peak Hold and that sort of thing.  Looks basically like an RTA for RF.  If the band you're looking at is large, the small display can be troublesome, but it definitely will do this.  I guess in a sense it's a "scanner" in that it's scanning that range and displaying it, but it's refreshing many times a second, so it's essentially a real time display.

If you hook it up to a laptop or something else with a larger display, you can see more granularly what is going on.  You can also do a variety of time based scans as well which can be very handy.

[Andrew Broughton]

I'm currently looking at seeing how well an SDR will work for this purpose. I have a cheapie (SDRPlay) that does the job, but it's BW is only 20Mhz. I'm considering a BladeRF which can do 60Mhz natively, and there's a hack that can double that. It seems like it's the lowest-priced product I've seen with that sort of bandwidth.

I have an RF-Explorer too, BTW, which I find handy for picking WiFi channels...

[Jason Glass]

The RF Explorer does exactly what you're asking for, assuming that i understand what that is. 

But yes, you can put in a range of frequencies, say 445HZ to 628HZ, and it will show a display in realtime of the amount of RF in that range along with things like peak Hold and that sort of thing.  Looks basically like an RTA for RF.  If the band you're looking at is large, the small display can be troublesome, but it definitely will do this.  I guess in a sense it's a "scanner" in that it's scanning that range and displaying it, but it's refreshing many times a second, so it's essentially a real time display.

If you hook it up to a laptop or something else with a larger display, you can see more granularly what is going on.  You can also do a variety of time based scans as well which can be very handy.

Hi Kevin,

It's best not to get hung up on the differences between the methods that various spectrum analyzers use to display their info.  Until our modern time of digital FFT algorithm processing, ALL RF spectrum analyzers used "scanning" to perform their work by employing "swept-tuning".  The speed of those scans or sweeps, while remaining accurate and capturing transient signals, has always been what mostly what separates the wheat from the chaff.

The catch with most handheld & inexpensive RF SA devices is that they can't display fine enough resolution across wide spans for the display to be useful.  RF Explorer, for instance, is limited to 112 data points across any span.  However, with experience you can use it well for your purpose.  You just need to tweak it as you zero in on a narrow span that covers your signal of interest until it shows sufficiently useful info (a well-defined peak of power at the frequency of interest).

We're going to examine this in (hopefully) interesting detail in the AES 147 RF Super Session SR03 RF Advanced Practices discussion next week.  If you can make it, I promise you at least one "Eureka!" moment.  I hope more than one.   

http://www.aes.org/events/147/livesound/?ID=6806

[Mac Kerr]

We're going to examine this in (hopefully) interesting detail in the AES 147 RF Super Session SR03 RF Advanced Practices discussion next week.  If you can make it, I promise you at least one "Eureka!" moment.  I hope more than one.   

http://www.aes.org/events/147/livesound/?ID=6806

Jason, do you know about what time your session will be. It's hard to get in for a 9am session from my home. My session is at 3pm.

Mac

[Pete Erskine]

RF Explorer, I assume it is a scanner. I think I am looking for a wide band receiver.

Even something that would work as a receiver that plugs into a phone or tablet would be nice. This isn’t something I would probably need to use very often so I am not looking for an expansive unit.

https://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/receivers/r30/default.aspx

[Jason Glass]

Jason, do you know about what time your session will be. It's hard to get in for a 9am session from my home. My session is at 3pm.

Mac

I don't, but we're usually last, around 11:00 AM.  You know, the headliner.   

[Jason Glass]

I don't, but we're usually last, around 11:00 AM.  You know, the headliner.   

And FWIW, we're diving right into spectrum analysis from an RF engineering perspective and won't waste time on remedial entertainment RF Tech prerequisites.  We're going to build on its concepts and then bring them back around to hammer home practical considerations in filtering and RFOF.

Most of our attendees in the past have shown clearly, through their questions, that they're there to receive guidance beyond what's readily available to the competent tech and/or avid Googler.  It's our mission to oblige.  I'm excited about it! 

[brian maddox]

And FWIW, we're diving right into spectrum analysis from an RF engineering perspective and won't waste time on remedial entertainment RF Tech prerequisites.  We're going to build on its concepts and then bring them back around to hammer home practical considerations in filtering and RFOF.

Most of our attendees in the past have shown clearly, through their questions, that they're there to receive guidance beyond what's readily available to the competent tech and/or avid Googler.  It's our mission to oblige.  I'm excited about it!

And now i am too!

See you there, even if you don't see me. 

[Jason Glass]

And now i am too!

See you there, even if you don't see me. 

We usually mill about after our terrifying talk.  Please, I beg you to introduce yourself and let's chat!

[ProSoundWeb Community]