I have seen that before. That site seems to just offer for purchase the det=
ails, or parts.

I will have a look to see what kind of hits "poor mans spectrum analyzer" g=
ets me. Thanks for the pointer.

TTYL


On 2012-05-24, at 5:48 PM, Dwayne Reid wrote:

> Have you checked out the "Poor Man's Spectrum Analyzer" at=20
> <www.science-workshop.com/> ?  They may have circuit blocks that are=20
> useful for you.
>=20
> Searching out "poor mans spectrum analyzer" yields lots of hits -=20
> some of those may also be useful.
>=20
> dwayne
>=20
>=20
> At 01:15 PM 5/24/2012, Herbert Graf wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>=20
>> well, after a long delay, I've been able to dedicate a little time to my
>> idle project: a home built spectrum analyzer based on a TV tuner front
>> end.
>>=20
>> I've found what I believe the perfect tuner for me (mostly because it's
>> something I have in my hands):
>>=20
>> http://www.datasheetarchive.com/indexdl/Datasheet-028/DSA00488547.pdf
>>=20
>> It's a Temic 4036 RF front end module. I found it on a WinTV PC TV tuner
>> PCI card.
>>=20
>> It's a I2C based tuner, with single 5V power supply (has an onboard
>> DC-DC to get the 33V needed by the tuner). I stuck the card in a PC,
>> booted Ubuntu, attached a protocol analyzer (thank you beta version of
>> the BitScope software, was a major time saver!) on the I2C pins, started
>> TVTime and changed channels. The module is being programmed exactly as
>> the datasheet says it should be!
>>=20
>> So, with that out of the way, what would be my next step?
>>=20
>> First off, the module outputs CVBS (at baseband), and something labelled
>> IF2 (at 45.75 MHZ). Obviously I need an RSSI circuit. But do I first
>> have to "tune" the output somehow?
>>=20
>> What I'm envisioning (and note, I no NOTHING about RF stuff, so this is
>> very much a learning project for me) is using a second tuner (some sort
>> of home built one chip thing with RSSI output perhaps?) that "tunes"
>> somewhere in the CVBS output with a bandwidth of say 10kHz? So basically
>> sweeping would be two steps, set the TV tuner to a channel, then sweep
>> the second tuner across the ~4MHz bandwidth of the CVBS or IF output.
>> Then step the TV tuner to the next range, and sweep the CVBS or IF
>> output. Combined I could get everything I need.
>>=20
>> Does this sound at all reasonable or am I WAY out of wack here?
>>=20
>> Should use the CVBS or the IF output?
>>=20
>> Anybody have chip recommendations for how I might build the second
>> tuner, one hopefully with an RSSI output?
>>=20
>> Is there a simpler way to what I'm after? What kind of resolution should
>> I aim for?
>>=20
>> Thanks for any pointers!
>>=20
>> TTYL
>>=20
>> --
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>=20
>=20
> --=20
> Dwayne Reid   <dwayner@planet.eon.net>
> Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd    Edmonton, AB, CANADA
> (780) 489-3199 voice          (780) 487-6397 fax
> www.trinity-electronics.com
> Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing
>=20
> --=20
> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> View/change your membership options at
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist


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