TSP

[@lmamakos]

I really appreciate this review, starting with the architecture of how the machine actually works, and then the demonstration of the types of problems that enables you to solve. Sadly, I don't actually have any of these problems myself; but somehow I find myself wanting an instrument one just because of the intrinsic coolness! I suppose I will have to suffer with my NanoVNA, now knowing with higher-fidelity what I'm missing out on.

[@edmcmullen3550]

I have been watching these for many years and I do appreciate that you seem to be speaking like the audience has been paying attention to previous videos. It's fascinating to watch you identify the design constraints and decisions that the original engineers may have considered. When you pull out a device to test, like the active amplifier splitter, I do wonder what some real world applications of that board could be. What are the implications and trade-offs in using a board (amplifier) that behaves imperfectly in each of these tests?

[@AissaAzzaz]

Thanks shahrihar It's always a pleasure to watch your videos late at night and sleep on on them. Then you wake up in the morning talking about GHz, s parameters, Synthesizer for now reason. Great educational content Over the three years, almost 70% of what I know about RF an came from this channel.

[@kevina.4036]

125 dB of dynamic range at the test port is quite good, especially given the high level of integration and single board architecture as you have mentioned. The design and simulation of that front end is no mean feat, and Siglent didn't skimp out on the BOM where it counts. Of course, the fully decked out 4 port 8.5G trim is 30K USD so you would expect the performance to be there.

[@sverreh]

Thank you for the videos. It is so easy to forget the limitations of the instrumet, espessialy to new engineers, great example of that here.

[@nheng6913]

For your videos on the unit, you can go into display settings and turn on hardkeys. This is very handy but with some additional loss of horizontal space. But for remote operation, you have all keys visible at once.

[@bvernoux]

Do you plan to release Siglent SNA5000A Review/Experiments Part 2 ?

[@electronicayexperimentos]

Excelente, as always. Thanks Shahriar. I missed Pouch.

[@gregorymccoy6797]

I always walk away from the videos with better knowledge. Some of it is a tad beyond me... But I am impressed with the instrument and the instruction.

[@Starlite4321]

Thanks for the great review Shahriar. I notice you haven't published the "Part 2" for this as you mentioned at the end. Is that because Siglent hasn't made the f/w corrections you were waiting for yet or because you haven't had a chance ? Thanks !

[@sb5100MoD]

@The Signal Path I have a question about the calibration being performed. You calibrate at the level of +10dBm, while in the case of Keysight N4691B ECAL the level of + 10dBm is defined as "Typical damage level". Should the Siglent SNA5000 not display a warning about the possible damage to the ECAL in this case ? Therefore, in the eevBlog forum thread "Siglent SNA5000A Two and Four VNA Ports", some questions were asked and strange VNA behavior was noted. As you can write in this topic on the forum, maybe it will be possible to explain these strange behavior - and clarify whether it is not due to calibration at +10dBm.

[@Thesignalpath]

I responded to the thread you are referring to on EEVBLOG.

[@davidbeard7262]

Nice review. Please post a link to the episode that delt with the directional coupler. I presume it has a lower frequency cut-off ( of a GHz or two)? If so, would it rely solely on the calibration at lower frequencies?

[@LightningHelix101]

Been wondering when these would come out. Thx for the review!

[@skydahe9615]

What will be the best The Signal Path video to start to watch first to learn how VNA work 😃?

[@dangrie158]

Very interesting video, thanks. Could you explain why the path @14:52 of the incident wave is not exactly mirrored between the 2 channels. CH2 has a broader stub of the groundplane.

[@cosmolittle1395]

I have never made a differential s parameter measurement, and certainly never will. However it is interesting to see how it is done. I agree that I would like to see a differential amplifier driven on both input ports simultaneously. I am surprised that there is no frequency offset mode for measuring mixers. With separate source and LO synthesisers, I would have thought that this would be easy to include. I am looking forward to your test of the spectrum analyser option. More and more manufacturers are offering spectrum analysers without the usual YIG preselector for the high band, and without up conversion on the low band. They rely on IQ downconverters, and software image rejection to remove mixer images and LO harmonic responses. Software image rejection only works for repetitive signals. I am suspicious of the success of these methods in offering truly low spurii. Please think of some experiments to really test this aspect of the instrument.

[@worroSfOretsevraH]

Why the starting frequency of almost every instrument is 9KHz?

[@rudiselectronicslab861]

I wonder whether this is because EMC standards such as CISPR 11 specify measurements from 9kHz onwards and that manufacturers want to offer devices that offer that range…

[@digitalradiohacker]

I have next to no reason to go beyond 500MHz, even for work, but it would be nice if my shiny new multi-thousand dollar instrument was capable of audio frequencies. Give me (and many other people) audio to 1GHz, and we'd be very happy.

[@kevina.4036]

@@digitalradiohacker agilent/KS makes the E5061B 2 port vna with a low freq. option (5Hz). So you can get it in 5Hz up to 3GHz trims. Of course it is several 10s of thousands though.

[@PeregrineBF]

Because that's what various government standards agencies agreed is the lowest "radio" frequency, below that isn't regulated the same way. So all products for general commercial or industrial use have >9kHz for their radios.

[@tommihommi1]

@@digitalradiohacker dynamic signal analyzer is what you want

[@gkasprow]

I'm just curious why most RF equipment BW starts from 9kHz? Why not 10 or 8 ?

[@gkasprow]

@aaaaa actually it is legal beginning of RF. To transmit above 9kHz you need a permission. Amateurs are using 8.9kHz at hundreds of W to do transatlantic communication :)

[@tommihommi1]

crazy how much smaller than the R&S ZNB this is

[@gacherumburu9958]

👍👍

[@andrewporte2596]

is there any high resolution photos access?

[@Fightthenight]

I thought the thumbnail it was a map of Zelda😬

[@samuelemmettbray]

cool. Do the nanovna next, please. none of use can afford this stuff.

[@arashghasemi]

3:35 question about earth ground... Do you connect that to the actual building earth ground (the cooper rod) or the null ground on the outlet or chassis ground on the bench? What if you don't connect it at all? Thanks

[@frosty129]

I don't think so. It's connected internally to the IEC power connector, it's more like an output than an input.

[@gn_ghost4757]

I guess it is useful for some EMC measurements where you would connect that to your fixture's ground plane (something like a giant sheet metal plate for measuring proper common mode behavior).

[@stefanvoigt384]

I've used them to attach a grounding point (for a ESD wriststrap), as the ports of these Instruments really can't handle ESD or anything above the input limit. Internal protection on the ports is not really possible because it would limit the performace a lot

[@arashghasemi]

@@stefanvoigt384 hey man, what if the wriststrap is not properly grounded or come accidentally detached from the group which happens to me lot... Is it going to ruin this kinda sensitive equipment? Isn't it better to not attach it to any ground to reduce the risks?? Which option is best for long term plan?

[@stefanvoigt384]

@@arashghasemi Best practice is to always ground yourself before touching any port or connected stuff. To your question: Not grounding at all will not improve things, as the Instrument itself is grounded via the IEC cord. You build charge quite easy in the lab just by moving around. (Standing up from a chair is one good example. We actually have ESD chairs and flooring in the lab, so the risk is limited. As the charge builds over time, it's important to keep the period of grounding yourself short. In other words it will probably not hurt the Instrument, when you loose your wristband connection right before touching it.

[@KX36]

€25,000 if you were wondering.

[@karlbesser1696]

But the device is expensive. I'd love to have it, but I'm a few thousand dollars short of that. 💰

[@aserta]

An annoying thing about these machines is the fact that the fan is behind the calibration sticker. That shouldn't be the case.

[@thesolderman861]

The four Fuses of the Bias Tees should also be behind a little shielded flap, without a calibration Sticker.

[@yuribochkarev4477]

стоит как вертолет... за эти деньги лучше найти старый HP с более высокой граничной частотой на ebay, а на сдачу купить еще пару старых генераторов Agilent и осциллограф. Китай перестал делать дешевое оборудование, очень жаль

[@sb5100MoD]

The price can be compared to other devices on the market and it is not so bad here, tell me where to buy cheaper four-port VNA ? On eBay, most of the equipment available is scrap of unknown condition and increasingly absurd prices. I was looking for a long time for a sensible desktop VNA (not a computer adapter). The basic four-port version is EUR 12700 net, while the two ports are EUR 6600 net. It is very likely that, as with other Siglent devices, the 4.5GHz version can be converted to the 8.5GHz version using codes . For example, old Agilent Keysight E8802A now available on ebay (two ports, 300kHz - 6GHz) is $ 12500 + shipping + customs fees (I do not count VAT because it depends on the country, so in the case of the SNA5000 I also gave the prices without VAT) If someone knows where to buy something cheaper (but not a scrap of rubbish at absurd prices), I'll be happy to find out.

[@yuribochkarev4477]

@@sb5100MoD как правило в старых многопортовых VNA HP которые продаются на Ebay не все так плохо что бы не отремонтировать это самостоятельно (как правило замена электролитических конденсаторов в цепях питания, силовых ключей питания, повреждения во front-end RF и прочие однотипные неисправности). Главный плюс этих старых приборов по сравнению с современными (кроме цены) это хорошая документированность, наличие всех схем в сервис мануале, наличие файлов прошивок и дампов памяти eeprom, наличие большого количества компонентов и плат "доноров" для ремонта. Если этот китайский анализатор сломается, особенно програмная часть, ты будешь делать дизассемблирование прошивки или просить дампы памяти у добрых людей на форуме? а принципиальная электронная схема у тебя к нему есть? а китайцы тебе ее дадут? Слишком много вопросов... я лучше куплю поломанный/устаревший VNA HP/agilent с ebay, починю его своими силами и буду пользоваться. тем более если там хотябы есть gpib порт всю обработку данных я делаю так или иначе в labview или python/pyvisa

[@sb5100MoD]

@@yuribochkarev4477 I agree that older hardware has many advantages in terms of repair. Although with old equipment it is not always easy to repair see TSP # 211 video The problem is that for old, often damaged equipment you have to pay more than for a new Siglent with a guarantee. However, looking at the PCBs, the electronic components used are standard, you can buy them, so there should be no problems with repair. For example, on the EEVBlog forum there are at least two cases of damage to the input circuits in the Siglent SSA / SVA spectrum analyzers (due to the user's fault). The owners managed to fix them without any major problems.