So I’m playing with my new toy/not-toy, the Arinst SSA-R2.

  • 35 MHz to 6 GHz handheld spectrum analyzer
  • Color touch-screen
  • Under $400.
  • 700 MHz/sec.
  • Phone/tablet/PC interface software too.
  • Did I mention under $400?

I bought it on a whim, expecting something akin to the “Nuts About Nets” RF-Explorer, but I am very favorably impressed. It took almost a month to get. It is designed in Russia, and sold through AliExpress in China- so the wait time is understandable.

It worked fine out of the box. We used it a number of times without trying the Android app – then I connected it to a tablet and it said it needed to upgrade, so click “Yes, Upgrade”.

Ok, that crashed it and bricked it. I thought I was in for more disappointing complications trying to deal with Russia and/or China for service.

I emailed the company dr_dax@mail.ru and got personal reply from Max Dakhin within one day. Max seems to be the main man there, or at least the head engineer.

He gave one suggestion and when that didn’t work he said they would ship out a replacement motherboard immediately. I got the new motherboard within 4 days viea DHL express.  It was an easy swap (easy for TSCM guys).

Now I’ve been emailing with Max a bit because he was curious about TSCM applications. It seems they created it mostly for ham operators and hobbyists. He said they have plans for a waterfall display and possibly am/fm demod, both of which would be really cool.

The touch screen on the unit is fairly practical, easy to use, but when you connect via phone or tablet, it’s even better – including pinch zoom and slide scrolling of frequencies.

When we need to track down a signal, this thing is easy to carry. A broadband detector such as the Andre is useful, too, but if there is a specific frequency to search for, it could be overpowered by other nearby signals (such as access points or cellular repeaters). We often find suspect signals on our larger spectrum analyzers, but tracking them down can be a bit cumbersome, or even distracting if you need to move around office areas where employees may still be working, so a small handheld unit can really help.

The SSA-R2 can connect to a phone or tablet via OTG cable or via bluetooth. Of course, using Bluetooth is not that helpful if you are trying to look at BT signals… but if you need to track a signal in a different range, the SSA-R2 could be even more covert. I tried putting the SSA in my pocket and then using my phone connected via bluetooth for control. In this scenario I could walk around an office looking at signal strength on my phone, much less obvious than carrying the Oscor around.

Company info at:
http://arinst.net/arinst_ssa_r2.php

They have a few other units, one that includes a tracking generator that I see on Amazon and ebay (about $420 us). The SA-only version was a few bucks cheaper but only available through AliExpress.  Definitely worth every penny of the $380. I’m tempted to get another just as a spare.