vector 4000 analysed

[bob85]

mrsuburban sent me a plot of his vector 4000 scanned with his vna,
sorry about the image size, its not clear if i shrink it

 

[Charlie Brown]

I been thinking real hard on one of these to replace my POS IMAX. I have never been so dis-satisfied with an antenna as I am this imax???? Would be nice to see a Marconi youtube shootout with this antenna vs a Maco v5000.

Have you tried a V5000? If so how does it compare?

 

[Marconi]

I been thinking real hard on one of these to replace my POS IMAX. I have never been so dis-satisfied with an antenna as I am this imax???? Would be nice to see a Marconi youtube shootout with this antenna vs a Maco v5000.

Have you tried a V5000? If so how does it compare?

No PSM, I've never owned a Maco V5000 or a V58.

Bob, was this the New Vector 4000 or the older one? Thanks for MrS's report. Is he alright?

I'm still waiting for a real world report on how the New V4000 works compared to anything.

Though primitive compared to MrSuburban's VNA, here is my Autek VA1 Bandwidth Curve Report for my Sigma4 made by Antenna Specialists with pretty similar results I think.

View attachment Sigma4 Bandwidth Curve 02 10 11.pdf

Maybe if and when 359 gets his spreadsheet idea working with reactance, both above and below the zero line, and with R, X, & Z results applied we might see more similar results to the VNA...with our cheaper analyzers.

 

[bob85]

its the new vector eddie, im not familiar with his vna, i noticed the vswr ( or reflect for the bird watchers ) was very low @ resonance,
as you know i bought my minivna after i retired my vector hybrid and put the i10k up so i cannot make comparisons against mrsuburban's plot,

my hybrid was tuned the way i like to tune that style antenna, i don't know how it would have looked on the vna, the s-meter rules over the vna imho,
having the vna won't change how i tune up providing conditions allow, it may give me some insight into what is going on as i make adjustments,
i have seen mixed results claimed with other peoples vector tests, what matters to me is how it works the way i tune them in my yard,

my minivna was about half the cost of the mfj when i bought it, the cost went up when they got dealers,

afaik MR's is ok and happy enough with how his vector is performing, he aint chewed my ear off if thats anything to go by lol,


pedal steel man,
yes i owned the original wilson v-5000, the sigma4 outperformed it and all my other 5/8waves, the old style vector has the edge over the sigma4,
the new style vector is an unknown quantity to me,
your mileage may vary.

 

[Marconi]

its the new vector eddie, im not familiar with his vna, i noticed the vswr ( or reflect for the bird watchers ) was very low @ resonance, as you know i bought my minivna after i retired my vector hybrid and put the i10k up so i cannot make comparisons against mrsuburban's plot,

my hybrid was tuned the way i like to tune that style antenna, i don't know how it would have looked on the vna, the s-meter rules over the vna imho,
having the vna won't change how i tune up providing conditions allow, it may give me some insight into what is going on as i make adjustments, i have seen mixed results claimed with other peoples vector tests, what matters to me is how it works the way i tune them in my yard,

my minivna was about half the cost of the mfj when i bought it, the cost went up when they got dealers,

afaik MR's is ok and happy enough with how his vector is performing, he aint chewed my ear off if thats anything to go by lol,


pedal steel man, yes i owned the original wilson v-5000, the sigma4 outperformed it and all my other 5/8waves, the old style vector has the edge over the sigma4, the new style vector is an unknown quantity to me,
your mileage may vary.

Well Bob here's a video I did to show the imperfect conditions I have to work with...not having a VNA that is perfect. No one has commented about my VA1 results, but I guess some do wonder why I never show perfect results. Hopefully this demonstration: YouTube - Marconi demonstrates the use of his VA1 analyzer on a dummy load. will indicate why, albeit I'll never satisfy those CB professionals that measure their match with the indisputable results from their Bird Meter. I do however have an Abacus ordered directly from an ancient temple in Tibet that will surely aid me in my conversions to SdubinArs' for the channel 6 bunch.

Occasionally however, I do check my VA1 using the highest quality 50 & 100 ohm resistors I can find, that are also perfect, and that I can still afford. When I do such calibration work I then develop an error factor that I apply to all my VA1 readings for that day as a control against errors, but I don't publish such reports for general consumption. I charge for such service and on request only.

Seriously though, do you know how Mr.S hooked up his VNA, did he use a feed line or what, and do you know how high the antenna was?

BTW, I made a few errors in this video, can anyone pinpoint what they are?

 

[bob85]

boy do you like working in the face of adversity eddie, thanks for showing us what you are up against with the va1, its a real eyeopener,
i could not be so jovial about the situation,

i don't know how MR.s scanned his vector or how high it was when he tested it.

errors , the galaxy its not set at twenty five point seventeen, twenty nine five zero or thirty nine point three ninety five,
your coffee was cold and had no milk

 

[Marconi]

boy do you like working in the face of adversity eddie, thanks for showing us what you are up against with the va1, its a real eyeopener, i could not be so jovial about the situation,

i don't know how MR.s scanned his vector or how high it was when he tested it.

errors , the galaxy its not set at twenty five point seventeen, twenty nine five zero or thirty nine point three ninety five, your coffee was cold and had no milk

Well Bob, this stuff doesn't scare me in the least bit. The truth is what it is, and that is what I look for. No doubt I should of drank my coffee though. I also missed the video rehearsal, so I messed up a bit in the production. You missed where I said that 1.24 mhz was in the 75-80 meter band, so we'll both likely be band for life from Amateur Radio ranks. Overlooking errors is just as bad as making errors.

I also failed to mention that part of the analyzer error noted was most likely due to do the old load I was using. I do test my meter from time to time and I usually find the value of R about 54 - 56 ohms due to the quality of the testing routine and materials used. I also see some insignificant amount of reactance showing up on certain bands and frequencies. There is no way to know if the connector is having any influence on results as well. With all these potential vairables...is it any wonder we might not always get perfect results unless we're using a Bird or a MiniVa?

I also found that the battery in my VA1 was low, so I did a video noting that discovery, solution, and result.

YouTube - Follow up for Bob after a change of battery in my Autek VA1 analyzer.

 

[bob85]

lol i doubt we will be banned for a bit of banter eddie, what did eddie do wrong lol, sorry i missed some, especially the low battery i can't see,

the minivna none pro takes its powerer from the usb socket of the pc which eliminates what you just demonstrated for me with your va1,

i don't have a perfect dummyload to see how far out r is, i have a couple that measure within 0.1ohm of 50ohm at dc, the vna does not show a perfect vswr using either load, x is very low, if i remember right vswr reads 1:1.03, i don't think it would show 1:1.00 even if i did have a perfect 50ohm load.

my bird43 was certified but the calibration certificate ran out about 4 years ago so i use the lp-100,

thanks for the followup vid