Hi Andy,
Maybe start by connecting the Std 10MHz Output to the Input. (bottom left).
On the lower unit
Select Range MHz/div
Horizontal Scale 10
Vertical Scale +10dB
Filter Bandwidth Normal (2)
On the upper unit
Select Reference Frequency LH (left Hand)
Centre Frequency Past Centre
Sweep Mode Auto
Vert Scale Range 10dB/div
Store Display High Def.
Counter on
Using the Reference Frequency control (the left hand of the four) set the digital read out to 50(MHz)
You should now see on the screen all the frequency components that make up a 10 MHz square wave.
Ideally these would be 10 MHz and all the odd harmonics (30MHz, 50MHz, 70MHz etc) but if the mark:space ratio is not
exactly 1:1 then you will see the even harmonics too (20MHz, 40MHz, 60MHz etc)
If you change the Vertical Scale (attenuator) you will see the whole display change corresponding to the attenuator setting you selected.
Now disconnect the cable and you should see a vertical line that represents 0Hz frequency.
Now connect the cable between the Tracking Gen Output and the Input and you should see a horizontal bright area covering
the whole screen at the -10dB level. The display is showing you all the frequencies (from 0 to 100MHz in this case) that the tracking
generator is sweeping through.
The Tracking Generator is very useful for looking at the frequency response of a circuit.
If you connect the Tracking Gen Output to an oscilloscope you can watch it sweep over the range covered by the Spectrum Analyser.
To see one in use take a look at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pBrLPaI78kIn this case I'm looking at the RF frequency response of an old radio and observing it as I tune the various stages.
The tracking generator output is fed into the aerial connection and the spectrum analyser input is connected at the detector.
You mention that you are less interested in RF than AF and this analyser does cover AF too but you will find that everything is much
slower and you will need to use the finer Reference Frequency controls as well. Note that if you sweep too fast you will lose the amplitude accuracy of the display. (Try it and see.) Learning will be easier at RF.
Assessing distortion is certainly something you can do with this instrument. If you inject a pure sine wave you should only see one vertical line (plus the one at DC 0Hz). Odd and even harmonics will be easy to see to the right of your signal.
You should get the hang of the other controls just by experimenting.
HTH
Peter