[bars] RigExpert SWR analyzers?

Sat Mar 30 19:40:28 EDT 2019

The FA-VA5 that Paul mentions below has recently been reviewed by David Casler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4iy_az6pBQ

Joe

KC1KNC

From: bars [mailto:bars-bounces at w1hh.org] On Behalf Of Paul Pellegrini via bars
Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2019 19:30
To: Guy DeMartinis <demartinisfam at gmail.com>
Cc: Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com>; Harmpman--- via Bars <bars at w1hh.org>
Subject: Re: [bars] RigExpert SWR analyzers?

Well I need to join the conversation about SWR analyzers.  I bought a kit from Funk Amateur.  If you don’t want to get Chinese products, this is a good alternative as it is from Germany.  The item is called a Vector Antenna Analyzer and it was designed by a German ham, DG5MK.  The model I have is FA-VA4.

It is a kit and you need to put it together yourself.  It takes a couple of hours and the soldering requires a small iron.  However, all of the surface mount devices are already on the main board so you won’t have to stress over doing that task.  It is powered from a pair of AA batteries.  The thing I like best about this analyzer is that you can display 5 bands at one time.  I have mine set up to look at the 5 major HF bands at once.  So you only have to push the on button to see all the bands.  This is especially helpful if you have an 80 meter OCF (Off Center Fed) antenna which covers 80, 40, 20, 10 and 6 meters.  Yes, an 80 meter antenna will work on 6, try it.

The website for the analyzer is www.box73.de <http://www.box73.de> .  It is in German, but if you use Google it will translate.  My FA-VA4 goes from 100KHz to 100MHz and cost $129.  The latest version is FA-VA5 and it covers 100KHz to 600MHz and costs 179 euros.

Paul

K1VK

+

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: RigExpert SWR analyzers? (Guy DeMartinis)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1

Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 15:47:05 -0400

From: Guy DeMartinis <demartinisfam at gmail.com <mailto:demartinisfam at gmail.com> >

To: dptrainor at gmail.com <mailto:dptrainor at gmail.com> 

Cc: Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com <mailto:soldersmoke01 at gmail.com> >, bars at w1hh.org <mailto:bars at w1hh.org> 

Subject: Re: [bars] RigExpert SWR analyzers?

Message-ID: <A380B85A-F19C-4391-A8D1-E1CCA0F609C8 at gmail.com <mailto:A380B85A-F19C-4391-A8D1-E1CCA0F609C8 at gmail.com> >

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Just a related antenna analyzer side note - I purchased a SARK-100 Antenna Analyzer for under $70 as part of my initial ultra-low-budget QRP HF station which includes a Bitx40 built into a lunchbox along with various MFJ necessities (dummy load, qrp tuner, etc.)... Less than ~$350 total including RF cable and materials for a home-made ?shorty-40? dipole. I can?t say I?d recommend the SARK-100 or related versions as the quality from the Chinese companies that build them is hit or miss. Mine worked well enough for me to tune my dipole and some other antennae with noticeable performance improvements.... But now that I have an MFJ-874 on my bench I will go back and compare some SWR readings to see if the SARK-100 is junk... or not?

Regards,

Guy

AC1BJ

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 29, 2019, at 14:44, Dan Trainor <dptrainor at gmail.com <mailto:dptrainor at gmail.com> > wrote:

> 

> Hello Andy,  Glad you found manual.  Yeah, would be good topic  for a lecture or article.  SWR analyzers, for sure so darn useful for understanding the complete electrical profile of your antenna.  An essential tool for all that might experiment with antennas and/or want to improve there system. Or monitor health over time. It really opens your eyes as to what is happening with your antenna whether your drilling down on a specific frequency and looking at reactances or looking at SWR plot and other parameters over a wide span.  If anyone whats to borrow my AA-230 Zoom, to check it out or just use to plot out an antenna, just let me know.  Regards, Dan WA1QZX

> 

>> On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 2:02 PM Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com <mailto:soldersmoke01 at gmail.com> > wrote:

>> Aha, the AA-230 Zoom manual is on DX Engineering. 

>> 

>> https://static.dxengineering.com/global/images/instructions/reu-aa-230zoom_sn.pdf

>> 

>> Folks - maybe this would be good for a meeting lecture or newsletter article - an SWR analyzer is a piece of test gear which can greatly speed up and simplify antenna setup. No need to fool with a transceiver and SWR meter. These things connect to your coax and almost instantly show you how well your antenna will resonate on a particular band or bands!

>> Andy

>> 

>> 

>> On Mar 29, 2019, at 1:55 PM, Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com <mailto:soldersmoke01 at gmail.com> > wrote:

>> 

>> Great, thanks, Dan. I see they are not made in PRChina but the Ukraine. The Comet one is made in Japan. I don?t see a manual download area on RigExpert?s site...

>> 

>> Andy

>> 

>> 

>> On Mar 29, 2019, at 12:50 PM, Dan Trainor <dptrainor at gmail.com <mailto:dptrainor at gmail.com> > wrote:

>> 

>> Yes,  they are very good.  I have the AA-54 Zoom model.  Also the software for plotting SWR and other parameters is also very powerful. The units are high quality.  Highly recommend.  Dan WA1QZX 

>> 

>> Sent from my iPhone

>> 

>>> On Mar 29, 2019, at 11:24 AM, Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com <mailto:soldersmoke01 at gmail.com> > wrote:

>>> 

>>> Folks, I was wondering if any of you use these. I recently watched this review and the capabilities seem really good compared to the Comet (or the simple Youkits one I have). 

>>> 

>>> https://youtu.be/Q2HDuv84mkw

>>> 

>>> Andy

>>> KA1GTT

>>> 

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> 

> -- 

> Dan

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