TEL 312 ELECTRONIC

COMMUNICATIONS FUNDAMENTALS

ECET 312 - LAB EXPERIMENT 1

FREQUENCY DOMAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF SIGNALS

SPRING 2013

Purpose:

The objectives of this laboratory are:

1. To introduce the Agilent spectrum analyzer.
2. To identify various types of signals.
3. To analyze frequency domain characteristics of the signals.

Equipment List
1. Agilent N1996A Spectrum Analyzer
2. Agilent 33250A Function Generator.
3. VHF Antenna
4. USB flash drive
5. Laptop computer
6. AM/FM Portable Radio

Background

Spectrum Analyzer Measurements The spectrum analyzer measures power versus frequency.
The spectrum analyzer is capable of some useful measurements such as peak power of a signal and
signal bandwidth. A diagram of a typical spectrum analyzer screen is shown in Figure 1.

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 Figure 1. Sample Spectrum Analyzer display

Note the following frequency information concerning the waveform in Figure 1:

Center frequency = 50 MHz

Frequency span = 100 kHz

There are 10 divisions on the horizontal scale, so the frequency per division is

frequency per division = Frequency span / 10

= 100 kHz / 10 = 10 kHz.

Note that there are three main frequencies displayed. We can calculate each as follows:

f1 = center frequency – 2 divisions = 50 MHz – (2)(10 kHz) = 50 MHz – 20 kHz

= 50 – 0.02 MHz = 49.98 MHz
f2 = center frequency = 50 MHz
f3 = center frequency + 2 divisions = 50 MHz + (2)(10 kHz)
= 50 MHz + 20 kHz
= 50 + 0.02 MHz = 50.02 MHz
Note the following power information concerning the waveform in Figure 5:
The power of frequencies f1 and f3 are both -10 dBm.
The power of frequency f2 is about 13 dBm.

Noise Floor. The noise floor is the level at which no intelligible information can be obtained. In the
screen shot in Figure 5, the noise floor is about – 40 dBm.

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 A diagram of another spectrum analyzer screen is shown in Figure 2.

Notice that there are two traces in Figure 2. The red trace is the maximum power received over
time. This is also called the MAX HOLD trace. The blue trace, which is the lower of the two, is
the instantaneous power received.

This screen show identifies the two FM radios station WCQS and WWCU. Notice that each radio
station has its unique transmission pattern. The START frequency is 89.0 MHz and the STOP
frequency is 91.0 MHz.

The SPAN of the frequency is calculated using

SPAN = STOP – START = 91 – 89 MHz = 2 MHz

There are 10 divisions of grid lines across the horizontal axis, so the freq per division is
FREQ PER DIVISION = SPAN / 10 = 2 MHz / 10 = 0.2 MHZ = 200 kHz

WCQS is centered about 3.5 division to the right of the START frequency. So the center freq of
WCQS is

center freq of WCQS = START + 3.5 * FREQ PER DIVISION

= 89.0 + 3.5 * 0.2 = 89.7 MHz

Figure 2. Placing a Marker on the Hold Trace and Measuring the Occupied Bandwidth.
Red Graph (upper) = Max Hold Power versus Frequency
Blue Graph (lower) = Instantaneous Power versus Frequency

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Operations of the Agilent N1996A Spectrum Analyzer
Performing a peak search of a single frequency
Press the Trace/Detector button, followed by the Max Hold soft key. Wait a few seconds for the
peak to resolve. Then press the Peak Search button.

Get rid of the Max Hold trace

Press the Trace/Detector button, followed by the Clear Write soft key.

Add a second trace to capture the Max Hold of an input signal

Press the Trace/Detector button, followed by the Select Trace soft key. Select Trace #2. Press the
Max Hold soft key.

Saving a screen shot

Press the Save button, followed by the Type soft key, then the Screen soft key. Then press the Save
Now soft key. The Screen Capture screen will appear. After a few seconds, the screen will say
“Screen capture was saved successfully” followed by the name of the PNG file that was saved. Make
a note of the filename. Press the OK soft key to return to the frequency spectrum screen.

Changing the file name of a screen shot

Press the Save button, followed by the Type soft key, then the Screen soft key. Then press the Save
Now soft key. Then press the Name soft key, followed by the User Filename soft key. Enter the
name you want by using:

⇒ the clear soft key to clear the current file name

⇒ the arrow buttons (or the turn wheel) to navigate through the list of characters
⇒ the numeric keypad to enter digits to the file name
⇒ the Bk Sp (backspace) button to delete a character in the filename
⇒ and the Select button.

When finished, press the OK soft key. Make sure you see the desired frequency spectrum screen then
press the Save button, followed by the Save Now soft key. The Screen Capture screen will appear.
After a few seconds, the screen will say “Screen capture was saved successfully” followed by the
name of the PNG file that was saved. Make a note of the filename. Press the OK soft key to return to
the frequency spectrum screen.

Placing a Marker on One of Two Traces

Press the Marker button, followed by the Marker soft key. Select the desired marker number. Press
the Normal soft key followed by the More soft key. Press the Marker Trace soft key and select the
desired trace to put the marker on.

Placing a ΔMarker on One of Two Traces

Press the Marker button, followed by the Marker soft key. Select the desired marker number. Press
the Delta soft key followed by the More soft key. Press the Marker Trace soft key and select the
desired trace to put the Δ marker on.

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How to measure Bandwidth with the Agilent N1999A Spectrum Analyzer

In Figure 3, we see the frequency spectrum of FM radio stations WCQS 89.7 and WWCU 90.5 as received in
the Belk Building. There are markers positioned at the start and stop of the WWCU FM transmission which
indicate an occupied bandwidth of 130 kHz. This screen was obtained in the following steps:

Step 1. Set start frequency to 89 MHz and stop frequency to 91 MHz.

Buttons: FREQ, Start Freq, Stop Freq.

Step 2. Set scale to 5 dB / division. Buttons: AMPL, Scale/Div

Step 3. Set up a second trace to capture the Max Hold of the input signal.
Buttons: Trace/Detector, Select Trace, Max Hold.

Step 4. Place marker 1 on the blue Max Hold trace.

Actions: Press the Marker button, followed by the Marker soft key. Select marker # 1. Press the
Normal soft key followed by the More soft key. Press the Marker Trace soft key and select trace #2.
Turn the dial to position marker 1 at the top of the rising edge of the WWCU- FM bandwidth.

Step 5. Add a Δ1 marker and place it on the blue Max Hold trace.
Actions: Press the Marker button, followed by the Marker soft key. Select marker # 1. Press the
Delta soft key followed by the More soft key. Press the Marker Trace soft key and select trace #2.
Turn the dial to position the Δ1 marker at the top of the falling edge of the WWCU- FM bandwidth.

Figure 3. Placing a Marker on the Hold Trace and Measuring the Occupied Bandwidth.
Red Graph (upper) = Max Hold Power versus Frequency
Blue Graph (lower) = Instantaneous Power versus Frequency
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Figure 4. Front Panel View of Agilent 33250A Function Generator. From Agilent 33250A 80 MHz Function /
Arbitrary Waveform Generator, page 3, Publication Number 33250-90002, 2nd Edition, © Copyright 2003,
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

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Experiment

Part 1 - Bandwidth Measurement

(Note : Items in Bold font are button press instructions for the Spectrum Analyzer.)

1. The lab instructor has a collection of radio frequency (RF) connectors. Find the appropriate
connector to connect a VHF telescoping antenna to the RF INPUT of the spectrum analyzer.

2. Power on the spectrum analyzer.

3. Set the center frequency of the spectrum analyzer to 99.5 MHz.

FREQ Button ⇒ Center Freq soft key ⇒ 99.5 on keypad ⇒ MHz soft key

4. Set the frequency span to 500 kHz.

SPAN Button ⇒ SPAN soft key ⇒ 500 on keypad ⇒ kHz soft key

5. Set the amplitude scale per division to 5 dB/div.

AMPTD Button ⇒ Scale/Div soft key ⇒ 5 on keypad ⇒ dB soft key

6. If the noise floor is not clearly visible, then raise the amplitude of the display until you see the
entire noise floor. Record the approximate noise floor below
AMPTD Button ⇒ turn the wheel counter–clockwise

7. Perform a Max hold of the displayed frequency spectrum

Trace/Detector Button ⇒ Max Hold soft key

8. Select a second trace (blue) to show instantaneous power.

Trace/Detector Button ⇒ Select Trace soft key to select trace 2
⇒ Clear Write soft key

9. You should now have two traces displayed in two different colors: one showing instantaneous
power and the other showing max hold power.

10. You should now have two traces displayed in two different colors: one showing instantaneous
power and the other showing max hold power.

11. Place a marker on the Max Hold trace.

Marker Button (without the arrow)

12. If the marker is on the instantaneous power trace, then move it to the Max Hold trace.
Marker Button ⇒ More 1 of 2 soft key ⇒ Marker Trace soft key

13. Measure the Peak power and record in Table 1.

Peak Search Button ⇒ peak power is displayed in top right corner
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14. Measure the 10 dB lower and upper cutoff frequency and record in Table 1.
Turn wheel to the left to 10 dB below peak
⇒ lower cutoff freq is displayed in top right corner
⇒ Turn wheel to the right to 10 dB below peak
⇒ upper cutoff freq is displayed in top right corner

15. Measure the 10 dB bandwidth and record in Table 1.

Turn wheel to the lower cutoff freq ⇒ Marker Button ⇒ Delta soft key
⇒ Turn wheel to the upper cutoff freq so that ΔMKR 1 is with the range ±1 dB
⇒ bandwidth is displayed in top right corner

16. Measure the 20 dB bandwidth and record in Table 1.

Marker Button ⇒ Normal soft key⇒ Turn wheel to the
lower 20 dB cutoff freq ⇒ Delta soft key
⇒ Turn wheel to the upper cutoff freq so that ΔMKR 1 is with the range ±1 dB
⇒ bandwidth is displayed in top right corner

17. Save the spectrum analyzer screen shot showing the amplitude spectrum.

Table 1 – Spectrum Analyzer measurement of radio station frequency characteristics

Radio
station Low freq High freq Measured
Peak Power Type of
center cutoff in cutoff in Bandwidth
in dBm Bandwidth
frequency MHz MHz in kHz
in MHz
10 dB
99.5
20 dB

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Part 2 - Power Loss Measurement

(a) Turn on the Agilent 33250A – 80MHz Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator and the
Agilent CSA Spectrum Analyzer

(b) Set the Waveform Generator to generate a 60 MHz sine wave with a peak-to-peak voltage
of 400 mV and a 0 volt DC offset. To do this, refer to Figure 4 and follow these steps:
• Press the Sine button to generate a sine wave,
• Press the Freq soft key, followed by 60, then press the MHz soft key.
• Press the Ampl soft key, followed by 400, then press the mV p-p soft key.
• Press the Utility button of the function generator, then press the Output Setup soft key,
then press the 50 Ω soft key.
• Press the Output button of the function generator to turn on the output signal.

(b) Connect a three foot SMA cable from the output of the Waveform Generator to the RF
Input of the Spectrum Analyzer.

(c) Set the center frequency of the Spectrum Analyzer to 60 MHz. To do this press the FREQ
Channel button, then key in 60 on the number pad, then press the MHz soft key.

(e) Set the frequency span of the Spectrum Analyzer to 1 MHz. To do this press the SPAN X
Scale button, then key in 1 on the number pad, then press the MHz soft key.

(f) Set the Spectrum Analyzer’s amplitude per division to 1 dB. To do this:
• Press the AMPTD Y Scale button,
• then press the Scale/Div soft key
• then enter 1 on the number pad,
• then press the dB soft key.

(g) Press the Peak search button on the spectrum analyzer. Record the power level in dBm and
frequency in Table 2.

(h) Copy the spectrum analyzer screen to your USB flash drive. Record the file name in Table
2.

(i) Connect three more 3 foot BNC cables together, so that you now have a 12 foot section of
SMA cable between the function generator and the spectrum analyzer. Press the Peak
search button on the spectrum analyzer. Record the measured peak power level and
frequency in Table 2.

(j) From these measurements, calculate the cable loss in dB per foot. Record in Table 3.

If 100 feet of cable are connected in this fashion, and 100 watts of power at 60 MHz is
transmitted into one end of the cable, what will be the power out at the other end of the
cable? Show calculations below and record results in Table 2.

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 Table 2 – Cable measurements for a 60 MHz, 400 mVpp sine wave.
Signal source is an Agilent Function Generator

SMA Measured Measured Screen Shot File name

Cable power Frequency Spectrum
Oscilloscope
Length (dBm) (MHz) Analyzer
3 feet

12 feet
dB
difference
dB loss
per foot

Table 3 – Analysis of BNC cable power measurements at 60 MHz

Cable Loss per Cable loss in Power Output in 100

foot 100 feet feet of cable with an
(dB/Foot) (dB) input of 100 Watts

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Lab report guidelines:

Background theory section

What is a spectrum analyzer & what information does it display?

What is bandwidth & how it is measured on the spectrum analyzer?

Define the following and explain the equations are used to determine each of the following:
average power of a sine wave
power in dBm
cable loss in Watts
cable loss in dB/foot

Go to the internet and find information about cable loss. What is the typical cable loss per foot
of SMA cable? As frequency increases does cable loss per foot increase or decrease?

Go to the internet and find out what bandwidth is allocated for commercial FM radio stations.

Data analysis/results section

Copy the tables from the Lab 1 MS-Word file found on the course web site and paste them into
the Data analysis / Results section of the report. Fill in the Tables with results measured and
calculated in the lab.

Copy all the screen shots from USB drive and paste them into the Data analysis / Results
section of the report. Be sure to include a figure number and caption for each screen shot. As a
minimum be sure to include the following screen shots:
amplitude spectrum of 99.5 MHz FM
amplitude spectrum of 60 MHz sine wave
oscilloscope display of 60 MHz sine wave versus time

Describe what you did in the lab. Be sure to describe how you generated the results in the
Tables and what is shown in each figure. Are the calculations close to the measured?

Conclusion section

In one paragraph summarized what you learned in the lab.

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