Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/778398
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y W I N T E R 2 0 1 7 11 the Resolution Bandwidth for any given scan—which gives you an idea of the resolution/accuracy of the measurement. The RF Explorer automatically adjusts the RBW for a good compromise between noise floor, speed of measurement, and sensitivity. Speaking of specs, you can get up to 10 ppm accu- racy, a noise floor of -120 dBm, and scan an area as small as 112 kHz. The built-in 128x64 pixel display is adequate for the typical quick field measurements one might perform. There are free firmware upgrades and upgrading to the latest firmware was painless and quick when using their utility program made for the task. If you want to get more out of your analyzer than quick handheld scans, it's pretty easy, and the manu- facturer encourages you with articles, an interesting FAQ, and a hacking page on their website. Where the RF Explorer really gets interesting is with the companion computer software. It's free and adds some functionality and more detailed displays to the RF Explorer. You can look back in time, sweep by sweep, display the data in 2D and 3D visualizations and perform all the front-panel controls remotely with the computer. You can set up and save any num- ber of scanning configurations (i.e., individual wire- less blocks) and save them for instant recall, which is handy. There are several after-market software tools that work with the RF Explorer, too, from free scan- ning programs to sophisticated frequency coordinat- ing programs running to $300. I have Touchstone Pro, from Nuts About Nets, which gives additional control, logging, and storage functions. There's an Android app, too. The drawbacks I see in this tool are that, although the case feels rugged, the LCD display seems vulner- able and the hard, Chiclet-like buttons make it feel ... inexpensive. I'd like to see a rubber mat button setup with some water protection. It does come with a pro- tective case, antennas, and USB cable. But then, it's not a $15,000 Anritsu spectrum analyzer and it seems to do a great job at two percent of the price! You can save a bitmap image of the analyzer screen from the RF Explorer software. This shows the 512-614 wireless spectrum, with local UHF TV. Bonus if you can figure out which city this was taken from. The same thing showing raw traces, not filled in. One of several ways to display time/frequency/ energy data with the free RF Explorer software.