[Elecraft] Antenna Analyzer

Vic K2VCO vic at rakefet.com
Wed Mar 14 10:47:35 EST 2007


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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