Playing around with the R&S SMT03 and an HP8591A Spectrum Analyzer

Now that I fixed the R&S SMT03 I find finally time to play around with the SMT03. The idea is to learn more about modulation, and how to display this on a Spectrum Analyzer. In a previous article I used the Siglent SSA 3021X Spectrum Analyzer in this article I’m going to use a HP 8591A Spectrum Analyzer.

Preparing the R&S SMT03

First off I need to setup the R&S SMT03

I’m going to use a carrier signal of 100Khz, and AM dept of 27%. And since the SMT03 have a second LF Generator I use that one to generate a sinus wave of 1.000 Khz. To protect the input of the HP SA I set the amplitude to 0 dBm.

Setting up the HP8591A Spectrum Analyzer

After setting up the R&S SMT03 it’s time to configure the HP8591A

After setting the center frequency the SPAN is set to 20 Mhz. To see the AM modulation, a smaller SPAN is needed. After the SPAN is set to 1.5Mhz the AM modulation becomes visible:

This shows the AM modulation. I really like the HP 8591A SA, it has a easy to use interface. And having a R&S SMT03 and the HP8591A in my lab is really awesome.