At 09:25 07-09-07, you wrote:
>I'm contemplating buying an AIM4170 plus a USB adapter to help with top
>band antenna experimentation. Does anyone here use that hardware
>combination? I heard that some people have had difficulties arising from
>the lack of handshake over the USB/232 link.
Ian--
I LOVE my AIM 4170. Get one!! Some USB adaptors seem to have some
issues (different chip set??) and some don't. One of mine worked and one
did not. Array Solutions offers a USB adaptor for the AIM 4170 for $14 and
that has to be the safest approach. Just buy the one they can supply with
their AIM 4170 and be sure that it will work.
I have used my unit with an four year old HP notebook and it works very
well. I am in the process of writing a review for eHam (as others have)
just because the unit is such a "must have" for antenna experimenters.
It is NOT the HP-4195 Network/Spectrum analyzer that I paid $30K for,
but it is a very useful tool and very fairly priced unit for antenna work.
And it is a darn sight more portable than my big HP-4195.
The best thing about it (in my estimation -- beyond the fact that it works
well and is accurate) is that you can archive the results for future reference
or for publishing.
"Gee, my antenna SEEMS a bit funny now, think I will run the AIM 4170 and
take some data and compare that with the data I took when the antenna was
new." So you have a way to monitor your antennas over a long period of time
to see if things have changed (lossy feedline due to water ingression, etc).
Buy one -- you will not be sorry.
73 John W0UN
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