Hello all
I have some wireless transmitters/receivers here that operate in the 458-462.5 MHz range.
Sometimes they suffer interference. I was wondering if it's possible to find a 'scanner' to show what else is around on the same frequency.
I found these cheap Chinese modules.... but no idea what it does, tells you or whether it would achieve what I need.
Any advice?
Thanks
50khz to 900Mhz covers your range of 458-462Mhz so it might work.
I've never used a VNA but maybe this would help:
The receivers you already have will tell you if something is transmitting on the frequency of interest.
Yes... I have been reading up on it (it's confusing techno-babble!).
I don't think it will achieve what I need.
I have been having problems with serial comms and it is interference. I was hoping to find something with a graph or screen that would show you traffic on or around the frequency you set.
Wonder if this is something an Arduino could achieve?
jremington:
The receivers you already have will tell you if something is transmitting on the frequency of interest.
Really? I have yet to track down what the interference is.
I wanted to either buy or make something that would show what was around in my 'band' of interest
Hello SteveRC2017,
What you are looking for is a spectrum analyzer.
It displays a sweep of frequency usage vs. time
and the amplitude of any signals found.
Herb
This is what I need
A Vector Network Analyzer is used for testing the frequency response and tuning of antennas in the main.
This is what I need
And very handy they are too.
Although a cheap Realtek SDR (around £7) can do a reasonable job as a scanner.
Many years ago I borrowed our spectrum analysers from work. At the time it cost more than my house and car put together. They can be somewhat cheaper these days.
I once made one from a varactor TV tuner for £3.00. That covers exactly that range you are looking at and as well as the TV stations showed up all the emergency service vehicles and taxis. As their transmissions popped up and then disappeared.
A network analyzer consists of an RF transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter injects a signal into a "network" (e.g. a RF bandpass filter), the receiver gets the output from the network, and the relative difference between input and output is presented to the user. A vector network analyzer has a phase coherent transmitter and receiver pair and can present both the amplitude and the phase response of the network under test.
As mentioned above, for the problem of looking for (unintended/undesired) RF emissions, a spectrum analyzer is the tool of choice. At the hobbyist level a cheap software defined radio and PC software to scan and display a power spectrum is a pretty good proxy for very little money.