TSP #171 - Signal Hound SM200C/B 20GHz Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer Review, Teardown & Experiments

Thanks for great review!

I have a minor question: what exactly NUC was that? CPU and MEM?

Aside of law enforcement and military, who may need this devices?

Great review, I've used these and I'm very impressed. Now of course we have the 40GHz versions too.

Wow cool! It looks like a piece of rugged field gear more than a bench instrument.

Great device and excellent review - I just purchased the new SM435C with 43 GHz - also great that the software has all features enabled for free !! - No wI have to setup my pc for fibre option and adapters.

Damn, what a quality video, really really helpful for an upcoming purchase of equipment that I'm planning. Thank you so much

Hi, just found your channel. It's so far above my head it's kind of funny. But it's still interesting to pick up on things here and there 👍
♦️With the Ukraine & Russia war, There's news & video of different electronic warfare, Jammers & signal intelligence equipment involved from both sides.
❓I think it would be really cool if you could make a video exploring basic theory, counter-measures & challenges with stuff like:
• EW/GPS JAMMING/SPOOFING
• HOW STARLINK, UAV's & Comms are less affected or immune to EW attacks?
• AIR, GROUND & SAM TARGETING RADARS
• PASSIVE RADAR
• RADAR ABSORBENT STEALTH COATINGS (Like "Iron ball paint" & other coatings/materials
**I believe There's some open source/public info & some declassified info related to the Hav-Blue/F-117 Stealth Fighter for example...(I think)
• RADAR CROSS SECTION (RCS) Theory 1980's Radar vs Modern.

***Perhaps some controlled lab experiments testing radar cross section at different frequencies & different shapes & material composition would make for a fun & informative video?
(Albeit somewhat more complicated & involved then you may be interested in lol)

In any case, Many thanks for all of your great content!

Could you elaborate on the itar thing? Why would you limit test gear like this?

if you grab the x-axis down on the bottom and drag you can't pan? I haven't used these advanced features but I know that on the regular sweep in spike you can pan with click and drag and zoom with scroll when hovering over the axis itself.

We had the SM220A or B (Cant remember) in the lab and it was the most impressive instrument that I used.
That is in large part due to the amazing software as well! It is so fast and easy to use!

If you have got the big bucks.. do it!

It would be great to see your review on VSG60A vector signal generator from this manufacturer. Thank you.

blind thumb up

Amazing I wish I went to college for this instead of multimedia

Why do you have to have a clarence to buy stuff even faster then this? Are there any sources for this topic?

I was wondering how this would work capasittively coupled vs directly coupled to a wireless A/B/G router and if the software had full decoding. It does! That's so awesome.

You live in paradise there! :-) Finally in understand why these Signal Hounds are so expensive. I see them being advertized daily

I love your videos, but sometimes the RF rabbit hole gives me vertigo. I’m just repelling down the thread of an SDR right now.

It is amazing they can get all of that on there & make it work for your purpose!

I don't understand, USB 3.1 gen 2 can do 10Gbps as well. Why wouldn't that have been the implementation on the USB3.0 side? It's a shame that you have to pay a few thousand dollars more literally just for the SFP+ port.

~$13k for that piece of kit is a pretty sweet "deal". I still can't afford one but it's sexy

So if this is ITAR ok, there is a whole world beyond this?

Im a SA novice so I had to google was a 1THz sweep means. Can someone check if my understand is correct?
A 1THz sweep means at a 160MHz span it has to sweep the full span 6250 times? So every event that is longer than 160us has a 100% chance to be displayed?

I like the pink connector protectors.

I am confused. Usb3.1 gen1 has a bandwidth of 5gbit. Half of 10gige. Who is the transfer rate only a 4th (160 - 40)?

I do really like your videos and you do always have fantastic gear to show. Only when I try to find a similar used unit do they often cost more then a car. How do you get the units for human money?

"It is clear how this works" yes to you :)

Great video, but you need a better microphone

Please tell me whats the model of your SFP ethernet card. And how well they are working in windows.

great combination of explaining the signal path and then showing the instrument's power with the experiments.

Nice peace of gear, only little expensive for my home lab :D Thank you again great overview!

another great video from Shah ...this is $17000 SA not for hobby ...no matter what i always learn something new on this channel .

Will this allow me to talk to fellow truck drivers on the road?

It would be interesting to do a comparison of Keysight’s FieldFox B series spectrum analyzer or microwave combo analyzer and see how it stack up with the signal hounds’. Especially since they introduce a 100MHz bandwidth RTSA into the combo analyzer. They really pack a lot of capabilities in that tiny package!

One of my major disappointments in these teardowns is that you don't actually do a teardown. You switch from a complete assembly to bare PCBs.

I find the package design and design for manufacture that needs to go into how the housing is designed as interesting as the boards themselves. We want to see you take it apart, because that can be super interesting as well! At least show the housings and order of assembly.

I'm doing a lot of mechanical design work these days, and things like considering how the housings have to be designed for ease of setup, feature access for machining, cost optimization etc can be really neat and teach you a lot. It also interplays with a bunch of systems engineering about how the packaging for the (generally multiple) PCBs fit together, thermals are managed, etc...

Please stop cutting the actual teardowns.

This whole video is high bandwidth low noise. Cool hardware too.

You guys seem pretty smart. What's the deal with the 3A001.e.3 restriction on superconductors on the Commerce Control List?

Wow, I had too much fun watching this video! That software looks terrific, much better than I would have expected from an OEM making RTSAs. Great stuff.

Thanks for putting efforts in making these videos.

An excellent review. Thank you.

WOW... no more USB!

Dude this is next level. I love your videos typically but this is some really amazing stuff. The teardown then EXTREMELY well layed out demo. 10/10

Excuse me while I wipe the puddle of drool off the floor

What truly blows my mind is how precise and repeatable PCB manufacturing has become. The high frequency part of this device looks so... mundane. Downright boring, compared to the hand-crafted, hand-tuned rats nests of discrete parts and hard line coax that devices just a few years old would have used.

They are local!

Nice! Makes my HP 70k look like a old pinto running on 3 cylinders. Maybe when I have my car paid off I might be able to get one off the used market for about half the cost. Great video as always!

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