The Electronics Lab has a new RF spectrum analyzer courtesy of the late Walter Anderson.
Siglent SSA3021X - 9KHz - 2.1GHZ
Wow! Awesome!!! 9876543210
Absolutely spectacular! How do we prevent people from destroying it?
The eternal makerspace question.
There’s manuals w/ the unit.
Classes are a possibility.
There’s cameras in the ELab.
And there’s “peer” pressure.
Good Luck…
If it’s like most I’ve worked with, the amount of power you can connect to the inputs is pretty low. Warning labels on the unit to that effect would seem to be a start.
Maybe even connector caps with “< x mW signals ONLY” flags. Have to tether then to the device so they don’t walk off of course.
Are there any training required items in the E-Lab?
If not, maybe this should be the device to start that trend. It looks a lot like a 'scope so I can see someone hooking up a signal well out of it’s RF Power/voltage range and cooking it.
At least some giant red labels saying “NOT A SCOPE!!! IF YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT IT IS PLEASE ASK”
Sign that no one ever followed at DMS. 
Akin to don’t look at laser with remaining eye. 
I would love to see some training on it anyway … anyone want to teach a class?
I could but it would be at the bottom of my “to teach classes” stack.
I’ve got to catch people up on welding classes (with a class size of 8, and 1700 members I literally can’t teach enough classes), and then maybe PCB layout again before a Spectrum Analyzer how to.
Maybe some of the HAM SIG people? It’s more in their wheelhouse than mine.
At the moment no
The PCB mill will require training and bring your own end mills.
The input of the analyzer looks pretty robust. A quick check of the manual shows +30 dBm RF with no more than 50Vdc.
On a more positive note - I’ve seen various manuals out being read before/while using equipment.
Just shocking/amazing. 
Eh, you’d hope that people wouldn’t hook up more than 50V to something without knowing what it was.
Yeah…ranks right up there w/ putting one the Fluke meters in measure current mode directly across pwr sply output.
I will admit, I’ve done that once or twice. In the heat of measurements you might forget the difference between your V meter and your A meter.
Though recently, I’ve switched to an expensive fluke for amps and a cheaper fluke for volts so them being physically different throws that whole “wait a minute, this doesn’t seem right” interrupt.
So, this means we can finally measure the ethernet over power by just putting the probes in the wall? (kidding) How would you measure it though?
https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Adapters-Included-Beamforming-TPL-420E2K/dp/B00S7NJWOM
Typically a transformer of known impedance at the frequency range you are measuring. That or some really fancy resistor networks.
If you’re really interested in knowing the answer look at the front end of the various powerline communication dev kits like the cypress one here:
http://www.cypress.com/file/133716/download
Diagram you’re looking for is on page 49.
In their example, basically, transformer, then some diodes for clamping transients, some LC tuning, and a good old resistor divider for attenuation.
Get a DC block on the input before you connect anything.
Absolutely needed to keep the analyzer safe and accurate
https://www.minicircuits.com/WebStore/dashboard.html?model=BLK-6-N%2B
This may be helpful
How to avoid breaking the spectrum analyzer & what accessories to have - EEVBlog
I would also recommend to add a 20 dB pad to the input connector. I am an experienced user of Spectrum Analyzers and I always use that 20 dB pad. I only remove it after I have seen the signal that is attached.
Zach you know that is the first and easiest way to wipe out a SA
Super cheap insurance
Also protects the N connection from being rifled when users change the input connector
