HP3582A Spectrum Analyzer

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Gold

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Jun 23, 2004
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Many years ago I bought an HP3582A spectrum analyzer.  It was before I had the skills to actually use it. It has been sitting on a shelf ever since.  I'm doing some spring cleaning and it's time to either sell it or use it. The input section appears to need either calibration or repair. The overload light comes on at power up.

My question is how does this compare to a sound card /REW setup? I love button per function but could deal with a computer setup. These still go for a decent price on the bay so I'm wondering how much time I should invest in this thing.
 
Gold said:
My question is how does this compare to a sound card /REW setup?
I would think it doesn't...1024 point FFT (512 in dual-mode) results in bad LF resolution (100Hz for a 25k BW sweep), and acquisition time is atrociously slow if you want decent resolution.
I can see that it may find use tuning loudspeakers, but it would not answer the issue of reflections, that windowed-measurement systems provide.
Although I have never used it, it seems REW is capable of windowing the impulse response in order to get rid of reflections (within limits), but I don't know how well it translates in terms of frequency response display (windowing acts as a high-pass filter).
 
That’s one vote for sell. I remember it seeming slow when I first got it, but I didn’t really know what I was looking at.
 
I found even a very old laptop to be quite capable of running REW or Visual Analyser  or other similar programs , seems to make sense  to have a dedicated test bench pc at this stage , it would allow data aquisition from the multimeter , and automation/sync of signal generators  , as well as software based generation and display , apart from that I have my eye on  a TEK 2235, just a simple no frills analog scope .

The boat anchors just dont have the processing power to justify their existance anymore ,
maybe remove the CRT from the HP and build in a mini pc and soundcard into the case , run your fav  scope/fft software :p

 
Tubetec said:
The boat anchors just dont have the processing power to justify their existance anymore ,

They go for between $1500 and $1800 on the bay. They must be useful for something to someone. That's a lot of money for a boat anchor.
 
abbey road d enfer said:
I would think their capability to explore VLF (down to 0.02Hz!) is useful for environmental noise and seismic research.


One of the reasons I got it was I thought it would be useful to look at turntable rumble and tape machine  flutter. I was aware of its VLF capabilities.

 
I recently came across a HP3560A spectrum analyser, which was often used for its portability and easy setup with a range of lab grade sensors, such as mag field, accelerometers and microphones.  Although it is newer (circa 1994) than the 3582A, and is dual channel with similar frequency range, it doesn't have HP-IB, and is stuck with DOS based SDF utilities as the only interfacing process - which makes for very rudimentary access to acquired and plotted data. 

So a similar level of sadness and rudimentary noise floor performance when compared to something like REW and a nice soundcard. 

My analyser came with a nice suite of lab grade sensors, interfaces and calibrators, so not really a sad outcome.  Just making up an ICP powering interface to connect a mic/preamp and accelerometers  to my soundcard, as the HP3560A had been used for that sensor powering capability.
 
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