Analyst to the analog world [spectrum analyser]

Until relatively recently, spectrum analyzers were considered exotic test gear that could only be entrusted to a skilled engineer. Today, the picture is different. The modern spectrum analyzer is a highly versatile measuring instrument capable of performing many complex tests with relative ease. Equally at home on the production line or in the development laboratory, it can quite properly be classed with the oscilloscope as an everyday measurement tool. And from setting the response of a crystal filter to checking a mobile radio transmitter for spurious outputs, spectrum analyzer applications continue to grow - even reaching into the world of pulse code modulation.