DIY 2.4GHz spectrum analyser

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 15th February 2008
Comments (8) Stumble
DIY 2.4GHz spectrum analyser

The analyser is a fairly simple circuit to build and displays graphs for the whole 802.11 spectrum.

Always wanted one of those wickedly-cool spectrum analysers to find the best channel for your wireless router, but don't have the readies to ever afford such a device? How's about a relatively simple home-made unit costing around £15?

In a project posted to his 2.4GHz radio website, Jason Hecker shows how someone with moderate skill in holding a soldering iron by the cold end can turn $20 worth of parts into a fully-working 2.4GHz spectrum analyser.

The schematic is available here, and the good news is that it's not particularly complicated. All you need is a wireless transceiver chip – Jason recommends the Cypress Semiconductor CYM6935 – a few resistors and diodes, a DB-25 connector and the ever-handy prototyping board.

The observant readers will have noticed from the parts list, this is a parallel-port unit: owners of PCs that have lost their legacy port will have the fun of getting a USB-to-Parallel adaptor working in order to use their creation. Once completed, however, the software Jason provides will give you a neat-o graphical display of noise levels on the full range of channels used by 802.11 wireless networks.

It's not a project for everyone, but I can certainly see the device coming in handy for doing site surveys before configuring a new wireless device or for discovering the cause of poor performance of an existing device. And for the investment, you can't really go wrong.

If you're handy with a soldering iron and are looking for something fun to do this weekend, give it a go and let us know how you get on over in the forums.
Quote Woodstock 15th February 2008, 09:49
parallel, whats that? i wont be surprised if theres an adaption for usb
Quote proxess 15th February 2008, 14:01
DXR... make me one!
Quote Krikkit 15th February 2008, 14:02
That's a neat lil' tool - I'm definately tempted to make one just for messing purposes. :D
Quote completemadness 15th February 2008, 19:49
whats that cable coming out of it that looks like a USB plug?
Quote Gareth Halfacree 15th February 2008, 20:55
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
whats that cable coming out of it that looks like a USB plug?
It is a USB plug. Like the Advanced Willem EPROM blowers you can build it uses the rather handy +5V at 500mA available from a USB port for power. Sadly, there's no USB controller present on board so it needs the parallel port for data transfer. You could build a parallel-to-USB adaptor on to the circuit board, but then it's not quite as easy a build.
Quote Woodstock 15th February 2008, 21:01
edit - beaten to the punch
Quote si- 18th February 2008, 03:41
This also looks pretty cool http://www.metageek.net/products/wi-spy24x
Quote thecrownles 19th February 2008, 03:59
Quote:
Originally Posted by si-
This also looks pretty cool http://www.metageek.net/products/wi-spy24x

Any only 400 dollars!!!!
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