[NLRS] Test equipment for a newbie?

[David Palm]

Thanks very much to all who contacted me on and off list with great
suggestions on references and equipment.  You guys are great.

I hope to have at least 902 and 1296 MHz up and going by the June contest.
So perhaps I can contact some of you on these new (for me) bands.

73,

David  W9HQ




On 4/21/10, Philip Hejtmanek <p_hejtmanek at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Hi David,
>
> What test gear to acquire is kind of dictated by how deep your pockets
> are.  Certainly, a full suite of equipment (spectrum analyzer, power meter,
> sweeper,  freq counter, network analyzer, etc) is nice, but I believe that
> most of the basic alignment tasks can be done with a signal source and a
> power meter.
>
> A proper signal source can be anything from a basic weak signal source to a
> tunable signal generator or sweeper, depending upon what you want to do.  If
> you are simply trying to determine if a receiver is working, a weak signal
> source like the one Down East offers will make an in-band signal that you
> can tune to on the bands, up to 10 gig.  If you are attempting to tweak up a
> filter, you'll want a source that is tunable and capable of several
> milliwatts of output.
>
> On the other end, a power meter will give a nice visual indication of
> level, but can't discriminate between a desired signal and some other
> oscillation, while a spectrum analyzer can give both amplitude and frequency
> information, at a much higher cost.
>
> I have all of these instruments in my workshop, and it turns out that I end
> up using my RF sweeper and power meter most often, with the spectrum
> analyzer a close second.  I got all of my gear from eBay over the years.  A
> good HP power meter  with a selection of power pads would be my first
> goal...Bird meters are OK for larger power levels, but at sub milliwatt
> levels they are not so hot.
>
> Really, for basic kit building, accurate power level measurement is more
> critical than measurement of frequency, thanks to the fairly accurate
> filters that are incorporated in most kit designs.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> 73,
>
> Phil  kf9us
>
>
>
> On Apr 21, 2010, at 9:41 AM, David Palm wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > As a follow-up to my question yesterday asking for books/resources to
> learn
> > more about SHF, I'd like to ask your opinion on the most important and
> > useful test equipment.  I have just finished stuffing the LO and
> transverter
> > boards for the W1GHZ transverter on 902 MHz.  I bought parts for the 902,
> > 1296, 2403, and 3456 transverters.  But now I'm faced with the problem
> that
> > I have no way to check these out!  I'm forced to ship them off to a
> fellow
> > ham who has access to a spectrum analyzer and signal source.  I'd rather
> be
> > able to do more of that myself.
> >
> > So.......
> >
> > What do you consider to be the absolutely essential test equipment for a
> ham
> > who wants to do some building in the UHF and SHF bands?  Confirmation and
> > suggestions on the most bang for the buck on these pieces of equipment
> would
> > be helpful:
> >
> > * Signal source:  W6QPL's microwave marker?  Other?
> >
> > * Power meter:  Bird 43 with various slugs?  W1GHZ's "all-band power
> > meter"?  Other?
> >
> > * Spectrum analyzer:  Expensive (!) but I've had some good correspondence
> > with WB9LYH about the "poor man's spectrum analyzer" designs out there.
> > Anybody else had experience with this?
> >
> > * Other "must have" test equipment?
> >
> > Thanks and 73,
> >
> > David  W9HQ
>
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