RF Explorer Pro

Hi, this is not really a support question. I have just received my RF Explorer Pro Spectrum Analyzer (Touch)

I got this unit for a more portable Spectrum Analyzer (up to 6 Ghz) so I could field test/check some things.

As such, Some of the features in this unit may or may not have direct value (for me) and others may not work how I would like them to (for my use case).

Please note: I understored some of the limitations for my use case prior to purchase, so this is in no way an issue for me.

But since I have the unit I am more then happy to give my opinion of things if people want. Its a little to big to do full review, so please ask if you would like to know something.

Out of the box the unit presented how I expected. As stated it was limited to 3Ghz so first thing I did was to get the 6Ghz key (not free). Initial use is it seems fairly responsive in base spectrum analyzer mode.

One of the things I wanted to do was setup “projects” after watching some videos. The idea was, for example to create a project for lora, then mark out some exclusion zones for non-au space. That way, when testing some new module, I could quickly see if it was in or out of AU allocated space. First issue, to do this I needed to get the “frequency coordination” add on, that was not expected.
Once I had that, I could setup as I wanted, but found the RWB is locked to 25Khz steps, which leads to slow scan times over the frequency range, this does lead so some missed short signals. Compared to the normal mode it auto selects 50Khz RBW which is more then fine for this use case. Lora has a min 125Khz so even 100Khz gives a much better result.

I have given some feed back to rf-explorer so will see what comes back as the RWB should just be a software thing.

There are some other things that seem a little hard to get use to. e.g. when you enter a frequency (e.g. for start/stop) for scanning, it will show you the current values, which you then must clear, then type in your new value. To me this should either just be clear when you start, or auto clear on first key press. When setting up a project span range, a few times I needed to enter the end frequency first then the start, other times it worked fine.

That said, it is mostly doing what I wanted.
Let me know if you have any questions about this unit.

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Hi Michael,

What a review. Glad it can be of use for your projects.

I’ve made note to link this add-on to the store page. It (like the upcoming 7.5GHz support) wasn’t available when we started stocking the unit.

Hopefully it is a simple one for them to implement. The feedback on setting up new project spans may also be one that could be a quick and easy fix.

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How long does the battery last during typical usage, and is it sufficient for your field testing needs?

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I will need to run some full tests for battery life.
As its a cut down windows OS it does use a bit of power.
Its a USB-C power charger, so for my I can always run off a laptop or power bank if needed.

I will do a run time test over the next day or so.
From my perspective I think two time tests will be in order

  1. normal spectrum analyzer mode
  2. Project/Frequency Coordination mode (as I suspect there is more going on in that one)
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Test 1 Results
Note this is just a quick test and only run once.
I put the unit into basic spectrum analyzer mode.
Charged to 100% (based on its meter/display)
then Just let it run, no more interaction.
After 1hr : 75% remaining
After 2hr : 49% remaining
After 2:45 : 15% remaining.
I stopped the test at this point as that’s when the unit popped up the “low battery” window.

So for test 1 I would say you get 2 1/2 hrs runtime (new).

Edit:
Test 2 - Frequency Coordination enabled
Nearly 100% the same as Test 1; about 10 mins longer run time.

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