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NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
11–20 of 72 posts
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#12I love my NanoVNA. I used it to tune my 6 band fan dipole. That took a lot of tuning! It works fantastically, and I've made contacts from the UK to Australia with it.
I've also used it for measuring the resonance frequency of tuned circuits and even as an RF signal generator.
Every radio amateur should have one! In fact if you are into any sort of radio it is useful. I also used mine to investigate the quality of various WiFi antennas to see if they were resonant in the right places.
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#13Having this device in college when I was doing E&M would have been an absolute game changer. The closest thing that existed was an MFJ antenna tuner for Ham Radio that only measured S11 at one frequency, and cost around $500. The next step up was to buy used equipment, which was four figures or more. Having something that goes to 1 GHz, does both S11 and S21, and only costs $50? Unreal. Having used a modern VNA, the…
It’s utterly depressing watching people fish out cash for an MFJ tuner these days. They still sell the things and they still command a stupid price for a thoroughly inferior device. The two guys I know who still own them only do so because they are Sinophobes and MFJ stuff is (terribly) assembled in the US still.
Indeed.
MFJ in the amateur radio community is called "Mighty Fine Junk" fairly often. I have purchased some things from MFJ, but I notice that I now avoid doing so unless I'm desperate.
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#14Make sure you read the "beware of clones" section carefully. There are some real shysters out there. Even the official UK reseller of the "lesser" sub 1GHz NanoVNA has been caught shipping cloned crap that doesn't even pass self test or work properly on multiple occasions. On to more optimistic things: these are really good. My neighbour is fairly deaf and has her television obnoxiously loud watching snooker until go…
There's probably a market for a sub $1 "smart chip" that can be added to a design. Something that can be factory programmed with a unique serial number. To keep from being cloned, verification operation wouldn't be as simple as reading out the number. Instead, the chip would respond with some sort of hash. Similar to how Apple secures their SOCs. The security wouldn't need to be perfect. Even something simple would b…
One challenge - authenticity checks need to be done end-to-end(where we that end may be)
If you had such a chip, who would check it for authenticity? That check would need to be well secured, so likely not the ARM firmware on the nanovna itself.
Possibly not nanoVNA-saver: the unscrupulous supplier might just include an unlabeled CDR with patched software.
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#15A coworker was just showing me his the other night. We pitted it against a much more expensive network analyzer to see how it did and it was quite impressive, especially considering the price and size, and was definitely serviceable for amateur and student use. It's a seriously exciting device.
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#16So does it do 4 billion measurements per second, or 8 to accurately measure a 4GHz signal?
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#17Whats the difference between the pro and normal version (apart fr 100$}.
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s utterly depressing watching people fish out cash for an MFJ tuner these days. They still sell the things and they still command a stupid price for a thoroughly inferior device. The two guys I know who still own them only do so because they are Sinophobes and MFJ stuff is (terribly) assembled in the US still.
Indeed. MFJ in the amateur radio community is called "Mighty Fine Junk" fairly often. I have purchased some things from MFJ, but I notice that I now avoid doing so unless I'm desperate.
no one confuses gear from MFJ with "high quality". cheap stuff, that whets your appetite for the good stuff.
and yes, i have an MFJ tuner and the 20 meter QRP rig they sell. it is a ford or a chevy, not a lexus or a mercedes. (both items were received with parts loose and had to have some re-assembly).
Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#19So does it do 4 billion measurements per second, or 8 to accurately measure a 4GHz signal?
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Re: NanoVNA: Low-cost handheld 4GHz vector network analyzer
#20Also see the TinySA https://www.tinysa.org/wiki/ and DSO Nano: https://www.seeedstudio.com/DSO-Nano-v3.html to complete your mini homebrew electronics and radio lab.