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[David Lim]

Hey all,

I’ve been using a SH SA44B for a couple months now and have loved it. Aside from basic scanning, I use Spike for live scans. Spike is capable of so much more, curious how folks here use their scanners aside from just finding frequencies?

[Ike Zimbel]

Hey all,

I’ve been using a SH SA44B for a couple months now and have loved it. Aside from basic scanning, I use Spike for live scans. Spike is capable of so much more, curious how folks here use their scanners aside from just finding frequencies?

First and foremost, I use my spectrum analyzers for sweeps in the range of the systems I will be deploying, typically VHF and UHF bands. This tells me what television channels (nowadays all DTV) are occupied and which are clear to deploy mics/ in-ears / comms etc. in. The finding individual frequencies thing is usually something that happens after later, if required.

[David Lim]

First and foremost, I use my spectrum analyzers for sweeps in the range of the systems I will be deploying, typically VHF and UHF bands. This tells me what television channels (nowadays all DTV) are occupied and which are clear to deploy mics/ in-ears / comms etc. in. The finding individual frequencies thing is usually something that happens after later, if required.

Thanks Ike. That's what I've been using it for primarily, for sure. What I was curious about is how guys are using their SA and specifically Spike during shows, whether to get alerts in the case of interference, or whatever.

[Andy_Leviss]

I asked pretty much the same thing a little while back, albeit with not a huge response. I do know there are some other Signal Hound users here, and tried reaching out to one prominent one directly via email, but have gotten surprisingly little response, even when offering to pay somebody for their time to give me a walkthough on a few things. 

Here's my thread:
https://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,177363.0.html

[David Lim]

I asked pretty much the same thing a little while back, albeit with not a huge response. I do know there are some other Signal Hound users here, and tried reaching out to one prominent one directly via email, but have gotten surprisingly little response, even when offering to pay somebody for their time to give me a walkthough on a few things. 

Here's my thread:
https://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,177363.0.html

Thanks Andy, I actually read that (brief) thread before I posted, tried to not ask questions already answered somewhere else. My hunch and experience so far are that most guys are just doing the same things as with a TTI or other SA: scanning for DTV before assigning devices, and checking those freqs in narrow bw windows for higher resolution. All of which is cool and normal. Maybe someone will stumble on either of our threads with some other ideas someday.

[Henry Cohen]

Thanks Andy, I actually read that (brief) thread before I posted, tried to not ask questions already answered somewhere else. My hunch and experience so far are that most guys are just doing the same things as with a TTI or other SA: scanning for DTV before assigning devices, and checking those freqs in narrow bw windows for higher resolution. All of which is cool and normal. Maybe someone will stumble on either of our threads with some other ideas someday.

What exactly is it you want to measure?

To get meaningful results from SA measurements, you first must define what is to be measured. Looking for active TV transmitters at a given location is different from attempting to discern spurious emissions from a nearby video wall or elevator controller, and so requires different settings on the SA. Generally, the smaller the span and RBW window, the greater the resolution, but that has to be balanced against fast vs slow sweep times if one is looking for intermittent carriers or better resolution.

A couple of great tutorials on SA's are:
Spectrum analyzer basics
and
additional topics from Keysight

Relevant Signal Hound applications notes:
Noise floor
Channel power
Real time measurements
Interference hunting using Spike

[David Lim]

What exactly is it you want to measure?

To get meaningful results from SA measurements, you first must define what is to be measured. Looking for active TV transmitters at a given location is different from attempting to discern spurious emissions from a nearby video wall or elevator controller, and so requires different settings on the SA. Generally, the smaller the span and RBW window, the greater the resolution, but that has to be balanced against fast vs slow sweep times if one is looking for intermittent carriers or better resolution.

A couple of great tutorials on SA's are:
Spectrum analyzer basics
and
additional topics from Keysight

Relevant Signal Hound applications notes:
Noise floor
Channel power
Real time measurements
Interference hunting using Spike

Thanks Henry, always grateful for good resources.

In answer to your question, I'm not looking for info on how to measure any particular thing, my original question (which may have been unclear) was asking how guys are using Spike in particular, and the SA in general, during shows for things other than initial scans for ISB/WWB. For example, I run a Max scan after all my gear is broadcasting and turn off "update', then run a constant scan w a different color so I can see if anything other than me pops up.

[Paul McDermott]

Thanks Henry, always grateful for good resources.

In answer to your question, I'm not looking for info on how to measure any particular thing, my original question (which may have been unclear) was asking how guys are using Spike in particular, and the SA in general, during shows for things other than initial scans for ISB/WWB. For example, I run a Max scan after all my gear is broadcasting and turn off "update', then run a constant scan w a different color so I can see if anything other than me pops up.

David,
Two features in Spike that I find very useful during an event are Presets and Markers, you have 9 of each.
For example:
Set the sweep setting for a group of transmitter you want to monitor ie. Presenter belt packs for lavalier mics. lets say you have 8 transmitters in 500-506 MHz, set the resolution high with a RBW of 3kHz and I like to use Real-Time mode for this. Now set markers for each of the 8 transmitters. Now save this as a pre set. Turn the transmitters of and you can observe the noise floor at that frequency.
Do the same with other devices you wish to monitor and I always like to have my star talent transmitter zoom in on its own preset.
You can now use the function keys to toggle between presets. If you want to get fancy you can add a Stream Deck and assign buttons to the function keys making toggling between settings very fast.

I hope this helps. This method works well for me.

[David Lim]

Oh, I like that. I have a stream deck too so that’d be handy!

[ProSoundWeb Community]