Dan KB6NU wrote:
You all might want to take a look at the Autek Research
(www.autekresearch.com) antenna analyzers.
I have an Autek VA-1 (the slightly more expensive model that displays
the sign of the reactance), an MFJ259B, and a Micro-908.
All of them must be used with great care around RF fields. Even if the
field is not strong enough to damage it, it will prevent accurate
measurements. Thanks to a mixing product of local BC stations that
appears on 1810 KHz, I can't use any of them to tune a 160M vertical!
The Autek is small and light and provides reasonable battery life from a
9v battery. It fits in a pocket. It has only a digital readout so it is
a little less convenient to read than the MFJ which also has analog meters.
The MFJ uses up batteries, lots of AA cells. It's also a pain to change
them (lots of screws). I use it when I am in the shack or where there is
AC power. The analog meters make it easy to find dips and peaks, etc. I
haven't noticed any QC problems with mine.
The AA908 is interesting. It is a kit that uses SMT technology and was
fun to build. It has an RS232 interface so it can collect data to be
analyzed on a PC. Unfortunately, there seems to be a design problem
which makes it very sensitive to component variations (or something) and
mine -- and many others -- seem to be very inaccurate over about 10 MHz.
I am hoping that the kit manufacturer will come up with a solution.
I would buy an Elecraft analyzer if it were priced under about $250. I
mean, how many of these things do I need?
--
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco
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