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Re: [TowerTalk] Portable analyzers

Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Portable analyzers
From: Matthew King - KK4CPS <KK4CPS@gmail.com>
Reply-to: KK4CPS@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2016 16:22:50 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
My AA-600 has been used on countless antenna projects, for many TDR sweeps,
for return loss measurements of connectors, etc...

Wouldn't swap it for the world!

THe MFJ-259 CANNOT work well in a high RF environment, and can be
physically damaged by it, in fact. The manual details this very carefully.

There's nothing wrong with the 259/269 series, per se, but I certainly
wouldn't go back to one after using my AA-600 as long as I have. Having the
sign of impedance and all of the other variables right in front of you is
spoiling!

73

Matt
KW4VY

On Sat, Jul 9, 2016 at 1:48 PM, Richard Solomon <dickw1ksz@gmail.com> wrote:

> You guys can laugh all you want to,
> but my MFJ-259, which is quite old,
> maybe 15 years ?? Still works like
> a charm.
>
> 73, Dick, W1KSZ
>
> On Sat, Jul 9, 2016 at 9:59 AM, Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On Sat,7/9/2016 4:52 AM, Bill Cotter wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Attached is a marketing analysis of several handheld analyzers I did for
> >> our ham club. It has links to the technical details.
> >>
> >
> > The Tower Talk list does not support attachments.
> >
> > Hardy,
> >
> > You said you wanted something to drag to the top of a tower, but with
> this
> > analyzer, you can easily get good data from anywhere on the feedline,
> > including the shack.
> >
> > http://sdr-kits.net/VNWA3_Description.html
> >
> > I no longer climb anything higher than a stepladder, so I do all my
> > measurements from the shack. It needs no power supply, getting its power
> > from the USB port that connects it to the computer that processes the
> data.
> > As an engineer, you will really appreciate it.
> >
> > It does TDR by computing the inverse FFT of a sweep, which can be set for
> > any range that you choose for the level of detail you need. There's some
> > math built into the control software, and it exports data in several
> > formats, including s1p Touchstone files, which can be imported by
> SimSmith
> > and ZPlots, among others.  It's a full vector network analyzer, so it
> also
> > measures S21.
> >
> > I paid $740 three years ago, shipped to my W6 QTH, with calibration loads
> > and a case that I wouldn't order again. With the Pound in free fall, my
> > guess is that you could buy it for about $650 today. It's a real winner.
> > Well supported by the mfr (some hams in the UK) and the designer,
> DG8SAQ, a
> > university EE prof who also wrote the software.
> >
> > 73, Jim K9YC
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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