In past i worked on some wired communication protocols like ISP, I2C and UART and I found oscilloscope very useful to debug the communication.

Now I am going to work on some RF based wireless modules like NRF-24, CC1101 and LORA (and some other RF modules)before getting started i want to ensure i have enough tools to debug the application, while learning around i understand that professional tools are very expensive.

I wish to know some tools made for hobbyist that can help me to know if RF signal was transmitted on required frequency, it would be even great if we can know what data was transmitted just like we do on oscilloscope.

Please suggest me what else may help in this scenario. I can spend $500 to $1000 for this.

thanks,

 

In past i worked on some wired communication protocols like ISP, I2C and UART and I found oscilloscope very useful to debug the communication.

Now I am going to work on some RF based wireless modules like NRF-24, CC1101 and LORA (and some other RF modules)before getting started i want to ensure i have enough tools to debug the application, while learning around i understand that professional tools are very expensive.

I wish to know some tools made for hobbyist that can help me to know if RF signal was transmitted on required frequency, it would be even great if we can know what data was transmitted just like we do on oscilloscope.

Please suggest me what else may help in this scenario. I can spend $500 to $1000 for this.

thanks,

For that price you might be able to get a receiver and an antenna analyzer. Not much more.

 

I use a SDR (Software Defined Radio) USB dongle with software that gives a spectrum analyzer display to see which transceiver is transmitting and when.

As I recall, I paid about US $15 to $20 for it, mailing prepaid. Searching eBay turns up several of these. As an example:
RTL-SDR Blog V3 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF BiasT SMA Software Defined Radio
(If the link above doesn't work for some reason, the title should still work.)

This particular manufacturer's site (an example, not an endorsement):
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/

Stay away from TV tuners intended for watching TV on your computer unless you understand which receiver chip they are using, allowing you to use suitable software.

Be sure to get one with an external SMA antenna connector. The ones with an internal antenna may not be as useful to you as would one with the external connector.

The one I have with the software I've found can cover from around 1 MHz to (from memory) 1.9 GHz.

 

Thanks for reply, you opened a new window of possibility, here are some if anyone ever been using these and can recommend for this kind of job.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-R...547549?hash=item3651ea5c5d:g:lS0AAOSwEf5b2ai4

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-138M-4...494973?hash=item1c9cf6a87d:g:uA0AAOSwry1aS4uF

https://www.ebay.com/itm/0-5Mhz-470...027994?hash=item2accb4cf1a:g:OUkAAOSwhttc57N8