Roger Tolces Sweeps are Junk
Satellite Harassment Reading 2 Roger Tolces Brad Pike – YouTube
📡 Spectrum Analyzer Review
| Factor | Observation | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Noise Floor | About -90 dBm | Very high for serious detection work. Real covert threats (especially “satellite harassment” level) would likely be below -110 dBm. This noise floor is not sensitive enough to detect small or low-power emissions. |
| RBW (Resolution Bandwidth) | 10 MHz (ResBW 10MHz) | Huge! Very wide RBW. At 10 MHz RBW, this analyzer averages together large slices of spectrum. Meaning it can only see very strong, broad signals, not fine narrowband threats. |
| Video Bandwidth (VBW) | 7 MHz (VidBW 7MHz) | Also very wide. Very fast smoothing. Even more detail lost on small, narrow signals. |
| Sweep Span | 5 GHz span (!), centered at 2.5 GHz | He’s sweeping from about 0 GHz to 5 GHz (huge). This is an extremely wide span, meaning no detailed view at all. |
| Sweep Speed | 50 ms sweep time | Very fast — good for wide-area checks but very bad for detecting faint threats. |
| Reference Level | -30 dBm | Very high. He’s optimized the screen for looking at strong signals — not weak signals near the noise floor. |
| Displayed Traces | Standard color-coded — red = higher amplitude | Normal display mode, but no peak hold trace is visible here. |
🛑 Problems With This Setup
| Problem | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Noise floor too high | Weak covert threats would be totally buried. |
| RBW too wide (10 MHz!) | Narrow signals (such as beaconing, implants, etc.) would be invisible. |
| Span too large (5 GHz!) | Impossible to spot fine signals hidden in specific bands. |
| Sweep speed too fast (50 ms) | No long integration or deep signal capture. Covert signals that are short bursts or low duty cycle would not even show up. |
| Reference Level too high | Only strong signals are being analyzed. Weak signals compressed into lower screen range, making them almost invisible. |
📋 Quick Summary
| Item | Value | Proper for Covert Detection? |
|---|---|---|
| Noise Floor | ~-90 dBm | ❌ |
| RBW | 10 MHz | ❌ |
| Sweep Span | 5 GHz | ❌ |
| Sweep Speed | 50 ms | ❌ |
🎯 Final Evaluation
This setup is:
- ✅ Fine for detecting very strong local RF noise (Wi-Fi routers, commercial broadcast signals, strong mobile devices).
- ❌ Completely unsuitable for covert implant detection, satellite harassment detection, or fine-spectrum analysis.
- ❌ Guaranteed to miss low-level, narrowband, or backscatter threats.