Wiki
Wiki: the app manual
A detailed description of what SDR Signal Analyzer can do and what every control in its window is for: from the first start to a sweep across the whole range, IQ recording and the test-signal transmitter, and the paid SDR SA PRO edition — its receivers, the Scanner and the trace markers.
The wiki describes version 0.9.49. Features of the paid edition carry the PRO badge — they exist only in SDR SA PRO. Next to anything new is the version it appeared in, for example 0.9.25: if your app does not have it yet, update it.
The names of buttons and fields are given exactly as they appear in the app window, like this: Spectrum analyzer. What the app cannot do is stated plainly: on the Limits and roadmap page and in the “Limits” section at the end of the pages.
Getting started
- Getting startedSDR Signal Analyzer installs from Microsoft Store and needs no set-up before the first start: you pick a source — a live device, the demo signal or…
- The main window and controlsThe main window consists of the graph on the left (overview ruler, spectrum, waterfall), a side panel with four tabs on the right (five in SDR SA PRO…
Devices
- HackRF OneHackRF One is the app's main receiver: spectrum and waterfall from 1 MHz to 6 GHz at sample rates of 2–20 MS/s, a hardware sweep over the whole…
- RTL-SDRRTL-SDR dongles 0.9.25 are driven by the app's own driver over WinUSB — no librtlsdr and no rtl_tcp. Spectrum, sweep, listening and IQ recording are…
- tinySA and tinySA UltraThe tinySA and tinySA Ultra 0.9.25 are the only devices with which the app shows calibrated levels in dBm. This is not an IQ receiver but a power…
- Demo signal and IQ filesWithout a receiver the app runs on two sources: the built-in demo signal with levels known in advance, and IQ recordings — SigMF, WAV or raw cs8…
Spectrum analyzer
- RBW, windows and VBWIn this app the resolution bandwidth (RBW) is set in hertz and the FFT size (N) is derived from it — not the other way round. This page covers how to…
- DetectorsA detector decides how many spectra become one point on the screen. The app has eleven of them, and they work in three places: the main detector…
- TracesThe app keeps four traces, T1…T4, and a reference trace R. Every trace has its own accumulation mode and its own detector, so the live curve, the…
- Scale, auto scale and waterfallThe level scale and the waterfall palette are the same two numbers: the top (Ref) and the range. By default the app drives them itself: the top…
- SweepA sweep shows a span wider than the receiver's instantaneous bandwidth: the device retunes quickly from segment to segment and the app stitches the…
- Trust bar and loss countersThe trust bar is the row at the bottom of the main window, visible from every tab. It shows what a number on the spectrum is meaningless without: at…
- Detection marks and the spur passportBesides traces, the app places short marks on the spectrum. Some show where the level really is above the local noise floor (CFAR) and what a bin…
- Zero span and triggerZero span shows the level at one frequency over time. The spectrum answers the question of where the power is; zero span answers when: you see…
Receiver and transmitter
- ReceiverThe receiver turns the band marked on the spectrum into audio. The frequency, mode and filter width are set by the VFO — the same band you see on the…
- FPV videoThe FPV-video mode shows analogue FM video from FPV cameras: PAL and NTSC in black and white from 8 MS/s, PAL in colour from 12.5 MS/s. The picture…
- TransmitterThe Transmitter tab is a test-signal generator for HackRF One: a carrier, two tones, a sweep across the band, noise, an analogue video test card and…
Recording and data
- IQ recordingRecording saves the receiver's whole instantaneous bandwidth to disk in the device's own sample format, uncompressed, together with a SigMF sidecar.…
- Settings, files and languageThe app has no separate settings window, and the free edition does not use the network: everything the app remembers lives in a few files on your…
SDR SA PRO
- What SDR SA PRO isSDR SA PRO is the paid edition of SDR Signal Analyzer. It is a separate app that installs next to the free one: it does everything the free version…
- ADALM-Pluto and Pluto+In SDR SA PRO the ADALM-Pluto and Pluto+ (AD9361 / AD9363 chips) work as receivers: receive only, one channel. The app takes the samples over the…
- Fobos SDRIn SDR SA PRO the Fobos SDR (RigExpert) is a receiver for 50–6900 MHz with sample rates of 8–80 MS/s over USB 3. The app drives it through the…
- bladeRF 2.0 microIn SDR SA PRO the bladeRF 2.0 micro (Nuand, FPGA chips xA4, xA5 and xA9) is a receiver for 70–6000 MHz with sample rates of 0.52–61.44 MS/s over USB…
- Scanner: finding signalsPRO The Scanner is a side-panel tab that looks for signals in the spectrum by itself and keeps a list of them by frequency: in a sweep — in every…
- Frequency table and alarmsPRO The frequency table is the second list of the Scanner tab: frequency ranges with names that you know in advance. A signal of the list that lies…
- Trace markers and power measurementsPRO Trace markers are six markers M1…M6 on the spectrum. A marker reads the level of a trace where it stands, looks for peaks, shows the frequency…
Reference
- PerformanceHow much CPU the app takes, what the Host group shows, and what to do when the computer cannot keep up with the stream of samples. The main rule: the…
- TroubleshootingThe app does not stay silent about failures: every refusal comes with a window or a line in a panel that gives the cause and the advice. This page…
- Limits and roadmapWhat SDR Signal Analyzer 0.9.49 — the free app and the paid SDR SA PRO — cannot do, or does with caveats: in one list, so you do not have to hunt…
- GlossaryShort explanations of the terms that appear in the wiki and in the app window, with links to the pages where they are covered in detail. The terms…