The development of an application such as the RSP Spectrum Analyser takes a considerable outlay in time and effort, as well as costs incurred for software licenses and the purchase of hardware such as the various tracking generator modules, the return-loss bridge and other ancillary items.

To assist with the ongoing development of the analyser, a small contribution will help. You may make a small but very welcome donation by clicking this link

Please make your donation by clicking here

You will be offered the choice of making your  donation by using PayPal or using most credit or debit cards. You are not required to have a PayPal account. PayPal does not keep any personal data that you provide. You will be asked for your email address, but that is only required so a receipt for the donation can be automatically sent to you. I do not collect email addresses for any purpose whatsoever. Whatever data you are asked to provide is only used to facilitate the card transaction and is not saved. On clicking the donations link, you will be re-directed to the donations page. If you make a donation, or decide to cancel the transaction, you will be returned to this page once the transaction is completed.

Many thanks you for your support. I hope the analyser is of use to you.

First - Download and install the analyser

Click Download to download the analyser's installer.

The install file will be downloaded to wherever your browser saves downloaded files and is named RSP-Spectrum-Installler-V1.21.1.exe. Move the file to a convenient folder, and then double-click on the file. Installation of the analyser will start. The analyser will be installed in C:/Program Files (x86)/Andrew Developments/RSP-Spectrum-Analyser V1.21.1.exe.

The installation package has not been digitally signed, If you get a message saying Windows protected your PC, ignore this and click on More info, and click on Run anyway.

The following files will be installed in the folder

        RSP-Spectrum-Analyser V1.21.1.exe
        RSP-Spectrum-Analyser-User-Manual V1.21.1.pdf
        A folder named ArduinoFirmware
        unins000.dat
        unins000.exe

The ArduinoFirmware folder will contain

        Trackgen_AD9910.hex
        Trackgen_Uno.hex

These are firmware files that will be needed to be uploaded to either your Arduino Uno, or the Arduino Mega2560 board if using the GRA & AFCH AD9910 generator module. Please refer to the Tracking generator section for further information and instructions for uploading the HEX files to your Arduino board.

The analyser installer will place shortcuts to the analyser and the user manual on your desktop, and will add a link to the analyser on your start menu under the name Andrew Developments.

The analyser will also create a folder in your Documents folder named RSP Spectrum Analyser. The folder will contain additional folders named

Gain Tables
Screenshots
SpecSettings.

The Gain Tables folder is used to contain any additional gain tables you might create using the analyser's gain table's editor.

The Screenshots folder contains any screenshots taken using the analyser's screen shot function.

The SpecSettings folder contains defaults settings for the analyser, a copy of the settings in use when the analyser was closed, and any other settings you may have saved using the analyser's Save settings function. After initial installation, this folder will be empty. When the analyser is run for the first time, two files will be placed in the folder, they are CurrentSettings.ini and Default.ini.

 

Next - Downloading and installing the SDRplay API

In addition you will need to download and install the SDRplay API (Application Programing Interface) file. This is required as it contains the required drivers for the various radio versions, as well as other controlling software required. If you already have a copy of SDRuno installed the API will have been installed as part of the SDRuno installation process, and the analyser will probably run. However, it is recommend that you download and install the latest API from SDRplay as it may contain updates to the version installed with SDRuno. Older versions of the API may not support your radio.

The API can be downloaded from https://www.sdrplay.com/api The downloaded file will be named SDRplay_RSP_API-Windows-3.15.exe. If an update to the API has been made then the version number will have changed. Place the API installer in the same folder you placed the analyser installer. This is not essential, but it does keep both installer files handy in case you ever need to re-install either of the files. Double-click on the file which will install the API files. The API files will be installed in C:/Program Files/SDRplay.

For developers who may wish to write their own application using one of the range of SDRplay's radios, the API specification document and release notes may be found in C:/Program Files/SDRplay/API/docs. At the end of the API Specification document there is a simple demonstration program written in C, demonstrating how to communicate with, and control the radio. In addition there are gain reduction tables applying to each radio type.

The SDRplay API download page notes the following:

"Please make sure the RSP USB cable is not connected to a radio while the API is being installed - This is important.
Some Anti-virus software may disallow the driver to be installed. This is a false positive result and you should temporarily disable any anti-virus software for the duration of the installation."

This completes the analyser's installation process and the analyser is now ready to run. Double-click on the analyser's shortcut placed on the desktop and the analyser will be launched. Please take time to read the user manual.

Important: You cannot use the analyser and SDRuno at the same time. If you are running SDRuno then make sure you close the application before attempting to run the analyser. Likewise, close the analyser down before trying to run SDRuno.

And finally...

Click on Contact and Feedback on the menu, there you can get details regarding the analyser's feedback email address and a link to it's own dedicated Facebook user group. It is recommended that you join this group where any questions may be asked and answered, announcements of additional files, and updates will be announced, and will be available from the files download area.