[Elecraft] Antenna Analyzer (FA-VA4)

[Wes Stewart]

What calibrations are you doing that take an hour?

You can do a master cal with lots of points in 5 minutes.

I use mine in the field all the time using a Win 10 touch screen tablet.  The 
software is phenomenal.  I've been doing network analysis since the days when 
the calibration curve was a grease pencil line on a CRT.  I (my employer) bought 
one of the first HP8510s sold to a non-governmental agency.  It cost IIRC north 
of $200K, was in a 4-foot rack cabinet and probably weighed 500 pounds.  With an 
admittedly reduced frequency range, the VNWA3 is for all practical purposes the 
equal of the '8510 and I can hold it in the palm of my hand!

With a good external frequency standard (I use a Bodnar GPSDO) it makes an 
excellent frequency counter and works as a limited function spectrum analyzer.

One other thing.  On my 160-meter inverted-L antenna I receive a couple of AM 
broadcast stations at -3dBm.  If I limit the lower sweep frequency to 1.7 MHz 
the VNWA3 is unaffected.  I suspect some of these other boxes are not so resilient.

Wes N7WS
Not associated with any of the players who designed or built this thing.  Simply 
a very satisfied customer.


On 12/1/2017 9:16 AM, Ignacy wrote:
>
> VNWA3 covers > 1300 MHz and costs about $600 but needs a computer. Often
> requires multiple calibrations requiring an hr. Has two port for filters and
> beam testing. I use it only when nothing else works.