A wet and rainy day here in the UK.
Had a browse through RTL-SDR.com and found this nanovna.
Lots of Youtube videos. Software for PC and Linux. Looks very interesting. Seems like there are some clones out there …
Worth the money. Not sure about ‘longevity’ though. Look for the clone with shielding.
The V1 only goes to 900MHz (with mods), so wait for the V2.
(I’ve just seen the firmware update to take the V1 to 1.5GHz, but I think it’s be worth waiting for the V2)
That’s a good price.
Did you find the SD cards at Dollarama?
Check detailed specs of this nano VNA. Some one said the detailed specs say upper limit 1 ghz and then again 900 mhz, while title says 1.5 ghz.
@Dxista
Yes, Dollarama are now sellibg nicroSD card, but their prices are higher than that of Canada Computers.
I just checked the Canada Computers website. The 16GB ADATA is $6.99. Dollarama is $4. Is the price in Toronto higher than $4?
As for the VNA, it’s buyer beware. There are so many versions out there right now. eBay descriptions must be taken with a grain of salt. One cannot expect stalls selling shampoo and VNAs, to know what a VNA is. The description many times is just a copy and paste job from another seller.
The original nanoVNA design had an upper limit of 900MHz, but then there was a firmware release that enabled up to 1.5GHz. I don’t know if that was an official release or a hack, but from what I’ve read those frequencies higher than the official limit are somewhat compromised with lower performance. I’m not sure that there’s any difference in hardware specification.
The -H is (as I understand it) an improved clone.
The V2 prototype performs to 4.4GHz
$40usd is an outstanding price for what you get, but I’m still holding out for the release of the V2.
Let those who never used this equipment know that it can NOT measure gain of antenna. It can NOT plot the radiation pattern of antenna under test.
It can measure SWR, resistance & reactance. It is very helpful in tuning/trimming an antenna to reduce SWR to recommended value (SWR less than or equal to 1.5)
Absolutely true.
Nothing on the “inside” can tell you more than “what it looks like from the inside”.
eg. a 50 Ohm dummy load “looks” like a perfect antenna.
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Found these 3 photos of 1090 MHz measurements by NanoVNA in Russian Radarspotters Team Forum:
https://forum.adsb.in/f18/antenny-dlya-ads-b-cistem-1090-mgts-41/index144.html#post50051
CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGER SIZE
CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGER SIZE
CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGER SIZE
Without being able to read the screen, it’s impossible to tell if the plots are good or bad.
Needs mods to scan HF.
Exquisitely small package.
It’s pretty accurate for such a small legacy device.
I found hf frequencies sketchier than vhf. My crummy antenna, I guess 