Since my older HP141t analyzers were too large and heavy for me to move around easily, not that I had to move them since they were stacked on my bench, I was looking around for a new or good used Spectrum analyzer. The main reason was, I had no tracking generator and had to rely on a signal generator through a mixer to give me markers to align filters etc. I had my eye on a few used analyzers in the price range of 2000 to 4000 dollars but took my time and wouldn't you know it, I came across an analyzer made in China of all places. The seller was updating to an analyzer that covered the 2.4 GHz WIFI band whereas the ATTEN 5011 only covers up to 1050 MHz. I had enough time before the bidding was over and did a lot of research on it. Some people put it down because of frequency coverage and others because the frequency readout only carried the decimal point to 100 KHz. The main thing I liked was the tracking generator which for my use would do fine and if accurate frequency was necessary, my signal generator could be my accurate marker if needed although the marker in the ATTEN does fine. Apparently there wasn't enough demand for this analyzer and I won the bid for $600 even though they sell new for over $1000. I was careful to try it out and use it a lot for the next few days since the seller said he guaranteed it worked well. Sure enough, it still has a good bright display and does everything I wanted as far as general troubleshooting and looking at waveforms. It also has an audio output for headphones where AM and FM signals are demodulated..
When buying a downconverter for S band reception using the AO-51 satellite, I noticed K5GNA on E-Bay was also selling the converters unmodified for $19. These converters make an ideal addition to the spectrum analyzer letting me view the 2.4 GHz range plus or minus several Mhz and it operates using 12 volts. By replacng the internal crystal with a 10 MHz unit, I am able to see the WIFI channels 2.401 to 2.451 GHz since they are converted down to 144 MHz plus or minus. A ham in England, Goory has all the information concerning this device, the LO2398 downconverter which was used in MMDS (Pay TV) service mostly in Mexico City. Am thinking about experimenting with one using my Z3801A 10 MHz reference oscillator which would make it very accurate for testing purposes.
