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Anybody have one of those Nano VNA's?

Captain Kilowatt

Captain Kilowatt

Professional Amateur
Staff member
Apr 6, 2005
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Nova Scotia,Canada
Time to move beyond the old MFJ-269 antenna analyzer. I have been looking at those nano-VNA units lately and finally decided last night to purchase one off Amazon. I bought the H4 larger unit with the four inch screen simply because it is easier to see and hold onto. It will also connect to my phone or laptop for control and data transfer.I have NEVER used a VNA before so this should be a good learning experience for an old fart. Curious as to if anyone has one and how well you like it
71HDuJQ630L._SL1500_.jpg


https://www.nooelec.com/store/nanovna-h4.html
 
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Bought one. Didn't fancy it for antennas, but for components and circuit tweaks.

Biggest thing I want it for is 455 kHz ceramic IF filters. Would be nice to see how far off frequency a replacement is before it goes into a radio.

But it's still waiting for me to make a fixture to poke them into for testing.

Really oughta learn to use it.

73
 
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It is due to arrive Nov. 9 according to Amazon. I plan to give it to my friend VO1KS to test. Some of you may remember him. He was here for a while. He was big into the Larcan TV module conversion to 2m and 6m. He is a tech at a well know national broadcaster here and has the BIG multi thousand dollar test gear to play with. He is going to compare it to the pro stuff just to see how good it really is. I just need to wait for it to arrive first. I hate waiting for an order. :mad:
 
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I got one about a month ago from a fellow ham who opened the box when he got it, turned it on & that was it.
I hooked it up to a UHF/VHF antenna & seems to work fine.
I will be doing all other antenna's when I get more time to sit and learn more about it.
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
Time to move beyond the old MFJ-269 antenna analyzer. I have been looking at those nano-VNA units lately and finally decided last night to purchase one off Amazon. I bought the H4 larger unit with the four inch screen simply because it is easier to see and hold onto. It will also connect to my phone or laptop for control and data transfer.I have NEVER used a VNA before so this should be a good learning experience for an old fart. Curious as to if anyone has one and how well you like it
71HDuJQ630L._SL1500_.jpg


https://www.nooelec.com/store/nanovna-h4.html
Click to expand...
I have a Bird SiteHawk 6000 so I'm looking for a toolbox analyzer and have one of these like you just ordered to keep in my field toolbox.
Here is a Man Captain that has done 5 or 6 videos on these I watch all his posts.
 
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Just remember you need to re-calibrate every time you use it. Re-cal is simple just an added step.

There is also a facebook group and an online forum. Lots of good info available.
 
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Norm Garland said:
Just remember you need to re-calibrate every time you use it. Re-cal is simple just an added step.

There is also a facebook group and an online forum. Lots of good info available.
Click to expand...

Yes even with the 3k dollar units you must calibrate after every change in a configuration of coax, baluns, connectors etc just the way it is until they come out with something even smarter.
 
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What is meant by recalibrating every use, and why? Seems kinda silly

After reading a little. It appears that you have to recalibrate when making a significant frequency change, but I haven't seen an actual value. I would assume that to save time calibrating it just calibrates a small part of the range. I wonder why the cal files can't be saved and recalled as needed. It would be nice to have a quick calibration option when needing to calibrate at the feed point though
 
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Ok, I was pretty sure having to recalibrate every time it was used was incorrect. Just need to recalibrate when not wanting to measure at the same point as your previous calibration.
 
nomadradio said:
It's called "fixture calibration". The physical hookup alone, with no component installed will have an influence on the measurement result. A reading of the hookup only is taken, and then subtracted from what the component (or network) under test shows. Gets you a more-true reading of the part or the network that's being tested.

73
Click to expand...
Yea! Thats how to say it.
 

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