Rohde&Schwarz ESMC User Guide

Compact Receiver ESMC

Lightweight – compact – user-friendly:
optimized radiomonitoring from 0.5 MHz to 3000 MHz

• Signal reception
– aural monitoring
– radiomonitoring
– recording

•1 Hz frequency resolution

• Searching and scanning
– continuous manual tuning
– at any channel spacing
– 5 start/stop frequency ranges
– spectrum display with a

speed of up to 13 GHz/s

– within 1000 memory locations

•Measurement of
– frequency occupancy
– level and frequency
– coverage

• RF and IF spectrum display

With the Compact Re­ceiver ESMC, a universal
and multipurpose receiv­er for radiomonitoring
applications has been
produced in a compact
size that was thought not
possible up to now.

The new receiver is only
half the size of customary
19" multipurpose receiv­ers of 3 height units but its
technical data are even
superior to those of such
units.

The most important
features are:

• custom-specific fre­quency extension
from HF to UHF (see diagram)

• detection of frequency-agile emis­sions with analog sweep

• compact design and low weight

• simple operation via LC display

• wide dynamic range and high

overload capacity

• 1 Hz frequency resolution

• low phase noise

• master/slave operation without a PC

• accurate measurement of signal level

• offset display for channel frequency

• remote control unit for mobile use

• AC/DC supply without changing

the power supply unit

Operation

The operating concept meets all the de­mands made on a state-of-the-art radio­monitoring receiver, ie all main func­tions such as type of demodulation,
bandwidth, etc, can be set directly via
labelled keys. A hotkey permits return­ing to the main menu from any submenu.
Menu control is organized in priority lev­els so that signal processing is not inter­rupted by menu changes and the user
never loses sight of what is going on.

Description

ESMC is a heterodyne receiver with a
second IF of 21.4 MHz. In spite of the
compact design, no compromises have
been made in the operating concept.
For reducing the total signal load, the
tuners are each provided with a track­ing preselection filter. High-level mixers

Compact Receiver ESMC: radiomonitoring from 0.5 MHz to 3000 MHz

Frequency range Device view Basic configuration

20 MHz to

650 MHz

20 MHz to 1300 MHz

0.5 MHz to 650 MHz

20 MHz to 3000 MHz

0.5 MHz to 3000 MHz

20 MHz

0.5 MHz

650 MHz

1300 MHz

3000 MHz

ensure high immunity to intermodula­tion. The low oscillator reradiation is
the result of elaborate filtering. An ad­vanced synthesizer concept featuring a
very low phase noise allows switching
times of less than 1 ms. This permits
highly efficient scanning and fast status
assignment in slave operation.

ROHDE& SCHWARZ

ROHDE& SCHWARZ

ROHDE& SCHWARZ

ROHDE& SCHWARZ ROHDE& SCHWARZ

ROHDE& SCHWARZ ROHDE& SCHWARZ

Configuration 0.5 MHz...1300 MHz on request

ESMC

ESMC

ESMC, ESMC-T2

ESMC, ESMC-T2

ESMC, ESMC-T0

ESMC, ESMC-T0

ESMC, ESMC-T2,

ESMC, ESMC-T2,

ESMC-FE

ESMC-FE

ESMC, ESMC-T2,

ESMC, ESMC-T2,

ESMC-FE, ESMC-T0,

ESMC-FE, ESMC-T0,

ESMC-TC

ESMC-TC

2 Compact Receiver ESMC

ESMC is equipped with demodulators
for AM, FM, LOG and PULSE modes.
SSB reception for LSB/USB and A1 is
optional. The log demodulator allows a
dB-linear level indication over 9 dec­ades. Average value or peak weighting
may be selected. The absolute accuracy
of the level display is further improved
by taking into account the frequency re­sponse of the preselection filter and the
tolerances of the log amplifier in the
measurement of the signal level.

ESMC may be equipped with up to 5 IF
bandwidths between 500 Hz and
8 MHz. Video filters matched to the
bandwidth used and a switchable AF
filter improve the S/N ratio after de­modulation.

AGC covers a level range of 120 dB,
90 dB of which is used for IF control and
30 dB for an attenuator at the tuner in­put which may be switched in automat­ically or manually when strong signals
are received. This attenuator is consid­ered in the level display. With manual
gain control (MGC) the IF gain may be
varied by 90 dB. The 30 dB attenuation
too may be switched in if required.

Frequency scan

Five start/stop frequency ranges (5
jobs) may be defined and a complete
data set allocated to each range. In ad­dition to receiver settings, the following
scan parameters may be included in
the data set:

– step width
– signal threshold (dBµV)
– dwell time (s)
– hold time (ms) plus the time re-

quired for external devices,
if any

– number of scan repetitions
– signal-controlled continuation

(on/off)

– suppression (individual frequencies

or ranges)

Memory scan

ESMC uses 1000 memory locations,
each holding a complete receiver set­ting, such as frequency, type of modu­lation, bandwidth, etc. The content of
the memory can be modified manually
or overwritten by results of a scan oper­ation. User-definable code names,
group ID and scan enable flags may
also be defined for each location. Final-

ly the whole memory can be sorted ac­cording to increasing frequency val­ues. The content of any memory loca­tion can be transferred to the receiver
manually, by using the RCL key, by turn­ing the tuning knob or automatically by
activating the memory scan.

Analog scan – full-speed detection of
bursts and hoppers

The advantage of analog sweep is the
extremely high speed. This allows detec­tion of burst signals and frequency-agile
transmissions. With the option
ESMC-AS and an external PC a pro­gram under Windows™ is provided,
which enables panoramic and waterfall
displays. Start and stop frequency are
freely selectable within any tuner range.
Depending on the performance of the
controlling PC, a scanning speed of up
to 13 GHz/s can be achieved. With
the aid of a printer, measurement re­sults may be documented as a frequen­cy-versus-time plot.

Click & listen

For fixed frequency monitoring a spec­trum line can be selected by mouse click
or by frequency marker.

A tuning indication controlled by the
crystal discriminator simplifies tuning to
the center of the selected IF bandwidth.
When signals of unstable frequency
are received, digital AFC may be used
for retuning the receiver.

Search facilities

The ESMC uses highly advanced
search routines. Fast synthesizer set­tling and short level measurement times
guarantee highly effective search oper­ations. The shortest period for scanning
is 5 ms with an IF bandwidth of 15 kHz
(incl. measurement time for level).

With option ESMC-AS fast hopping frequencies can be detected

Compact Receiver ESMC 3