Hi Richard,
I’ve been successfully measuring noise figure with the SA44. I am using the Y-factor method; I have 30Hz RBW and 3Hz VBW which gives about 0.5dB of noise on the spectrum analyzer screen. I take a trace of noise with diode off and on and estimate the average noise either by putting my cursor in the middle of the noise or exporting the file to excel and averaging. I get values which seem to be sensible – NF of 1.2 for a device with a noise figure of 1.1.
What would be helpful, though, is an on-screen average line, or even a line that you can move to the centre of the noise. I notice that the cursor position reading seems to be about 0.6dB out.