Thank you for the excellent video. Just a comment about the static discharge from the antenna for the benefit of the viewers. Note that the static build-up is actually a charge between the coax shield and center conductor of the antenna feedline stored on the dielectric insulation. In short, the coax is a storage capacitor. The antenna is the charging device, building up the voltage caused by dry air moving across the antenna elements. So a longer run of coax is a larger capacitor. I was once knocked across the room by the charge built up in a 100 foot run of RG-8 that was not connected to a radio but had been connected for a few days to my longwave radio antenna with its 2 miles of 22 gauge wire in it. I don't know what voltage it had built up to, but THAT voltage at THAT current threw an arc that knocked me down, and could and would easily kill any piece of ham equipment it was plugged into except possibly some old tube gear. Lesson learned. I now include a 2M Ohm resistor across all my coax runs at the antenna to dissipate any charge before it can build up.
That is the model VNA I have. I am about to check all my antennas after a long time of not using them. Luckily my antenna switch grounds all but the antenna I am using so that handles the arcing. And, when turned off, it also grounds all antennas. That is a nice bonus of the switch.
Thank you Dr. Ape! I bought one from Aursinc (Amazon purchase for convenience) I actually like the “N” connectors over SMA. I also bought the “Mini-1300” Antenna Analyzer from the same place. IF it’s working properly, it’s another excellent piece of test gear. I’m going to hit your library of videos in a sec.. looking for any Mini-1300 content. Thank you much for your focus on test equipment for the dumb-ass ham. aka = Me. 🤣
@@TheSmokinApe I’m guessing you live in FREE AMERICA…. But, if you’re ever in the suburban NJ area and want an Anritsu MT8820C communications set for the channel, drop me a note! Fully functional and probably never left the bench or pristine environment. BUT… my wife and brother(he helped select it LOL) got this for me for Christmas and just assumed it was a spectrum analyzer. So it sits…. :)
Thank you for a great presentation. I do have a question about the differences between the two scans. What happened to the higher peaks recorded in the first scan but not repeated in the second? I'm not new to electronics but am new to RF. Sorry if this is a sophomoric question.
@@TheSmokinApe Hi SmokinApe - Thanks for getting right back to me. I agree with what you say as it applies to the valleys in the scan. As an example of what I don't understand is shown at 10.77MHz. There is a red dot here (assumed point of calculation) with an SWR of ~ 7.9. I can't make out the dots on the blue trace but the result is ~4.1. Cheers! - Bill
Great video. Thank you for making it. I'd like to get one but I need help. Where can I get one and from which manufacture? There are quite a few. The link provided takes me to your Amazon page but the vna isn't there. Also, why are the prices all over the place for the same device? $86-300? What am I missing? Thanks. :)
Hey Seafever. Here is a video where I explain some of the differences, it's a little old. Some of the newer ones have more features like more spectrum, more data points and SD card storage... oh, and larger screens. The Aursinc store on Amazon is a good place to look as well as RandL.com
Great video and many thanks! I'm glad I purchased this item and more so since I discovered your channel. You provide great advice and your explanations are always succinct. My question was with your marker for the ten meter band. Checking with the ARRL band chart, it appears that setting the marker at 28.850 places the marker out-of-band even thought the blue chart section reads for ten meters. Am I getting that wrong?
Hey Randy, the band is from 28 - 29.7 without my glasses on! But you make a very good point that the blue bars are not for IUT Region 2 where the US is located. You can configure them in the options and need to for 40m and 440m and maybe a few others if I recall correctly.
@@TheSmokinApe thanks Ape.. you have he Ped heaps with my Nano VNA..do you think you could use the Nano VNA with an 27mhz SWR meter and a dummy load to calibrate or check the SWR meters accuracy? Cheers
@@andrewverran3498 I’m not sure the VNA would put out enough wattage to register with the swr meter. You could measure the same dummy load south both and compare the difference
Hi SmokinApe I have a question, I really want a nano VNA, this one seems to be the best of them all, even currant date. If you agree please let me know I want a VNA with the 4 inch or bigger screen and up to 3gig seems great even though I will never use it, you never know. It seems well built and I was hoping to get some advice. I live in Canada and can only find these big ones on Amazon, so i hope they are not fakes, then seem legit. I am a new ham and cannot afford a really antenna analyzer like rig expert, and even so nothing in this form factor even comes close like the Nana to doing both HF and uhf/vhf, that is also important to me. It seems the Nano Saa-2N is the way to go, it may not be as lab quality as the Rig Expert and others, but for Ham is it really necessary to be that high degree of accuracy. Please advise. Thanks love all your stuff.
You will need adapters either way. Some folks will insist that N are more robust or SMA go higher in frequency. As a ham, I would just get the VNA that meets my needs and that I already have adapters for...
I bought one of these. I must say the reason I bought it was to tune my Buddie Stick Deluxe antennas. I have the stick deluxe and the pole deluxe. So my main reason is it's much smaller than my Comet analyzer and easier to carry. I figured it out but I think a video using the screen to program it would be good. For now, I am only using it to check my tuning and SWR. Could you do a video about how to use this in the field? Thanks again for the info. Keep up the great work. KO4PDI 73
Great video. Thanks for posting. I always knew how important sampling points are. The downfall of one of my antenna analyzers is it is limited to only 80 sampling points. To me, it's limited to single band coverage.......and it was an expensive analyzer. My SARK 110 can sweep up to 10,000 sampling points as a stand alone unit, but it takes 20 minutes for one sweep. I like my NanoVNA H4. I do not want to lug a computer around with me. The H4 can sweep up to 500 sampling points as a stand alone unit. What about the SAA-2N....how many sampling points as a stand alone unit? Barry, KU3X
@@TheSmokinApe Correction.....H4 can do 401 sampling points. When I got the H4, it could only do 101 sampling points. The newer firmware expanded it to 401. Maybe someone will write new firmware for the SAA-2N. 201 isn't that bad, but more is better. Barry
Just a thought for "Ham Nuggets" discuss covert ways to use our equipment and communicate without everybody listening in. There are several ways discussed by KM4ACK. This video does a deeper dive. It's an interesting channel that discusses comms everyone now then. Security episode of interest. ruclips.net/video/apLxePngNlM/видео.html I'd love to hear you and TO discuss how to speak privately and legally but listened to by few people. It's great for paintball. I'm going to set this up for some teens. It adds a tech element to the game. It's fun for old hams too. Lots of simple creative ways.
So while i enjoy watching your videos, this is one that definately did NOT work for me. I have a nano vna h4. My markers simply WONT change like yours did. There are no " bars "on the swr chart.
Thank you for the excellent video.
Just a comment about the static discharge from the antenna for the benefit of the viewers. Note that the static build-up is actually a charge between the coax shield and center conductor of the antenna feedline stored on the dielectric insulation. In short, the coax is a storage capacitor. The antenna is the charging device, building up the voltage caused by dry air moving across the antenna elements. So a longer run of coax is a larger capacitor. I was once knocked across the room by the charge built up in a 100 foot run of RG-8 that was not connected to a radio but had been connected for a few days to my longwave radio antenna with its 2 miles of 22 gauge wire in it. I don't know what voltage it had built up to, but THAT voltage at THAT current threw an arc that knocked me down, and could and would easily kill any piece of ham equipment it was plugged into except possibly some old tube gear. Lesson learned. I now include a 2M Ohm resistor across all my coax runs at the antenna to dissipate any charge before it can build up.
Wow, that’s is crazy. Thanks for the info 👍
Another excellent video by the SmokinApe. Thank you.
Thanks Vic, glad you liked it 👍
That is the model VNA I have. I am about to check all my antennas after a long time of not using them. Luckily my antenna switch grounds all but the antenna I am using so that handles the arcing. And, when turned off, it also grounds all antennas. That is a nice bonus of the switch.
Good luck with the testing Doug 👍
I have that nanovna and I love it, it is like a tank, no worry about ripping the connectors off with heavy cable
Yeah, solid for sure 👍
Great informational video. I have the VNA but have not mess with it much except doing a quick SWR measurement. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching Dennis!
well paced and well explained, thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks Rob!
Thank you Dr. Ape!
I bought one from Aursinc (Amazon purchase for convenience)
I actually like the “N” connectors over SMA.
I also bought the “Mini-1300” Antenna Analyzer from the same place.
IF it’s working properly, it’s another excellent piece of test gear.
I’m going to hit your library of videos in a sec.. looking for any Mini-1300 content.
Thank you much for your focus on test equipment for the dumb-ass ham.
aka = Me.
🤣
Hey Powder Mill. I like the SAA-2N myself, easy to read screen! I haven't messed with the Mini-1300... yet.
@@TheSmokinApe I’m guessing you live in FREE AMERICA…. But, if you’re ever in the suburban NJ area and want an Anritsu MT8820C communications set for the channel, drop me a note!
Fully functional and probably never left the bench or pristine environment.
BUT… my wife and brother(he helped select it LOL) got this for me for Christmas and just assumed it was a spectrum analyzer.
So it sits…. :)
Excellent tutorial! Thank you!
Thanks Neubert 👍
Thank you for a great presentation. I do have a question about the differences between the two scans.
What happened to the higher peaks recorded in the first scan but not repeated in the second? I'm not new to electronics but am new to RF. Sorry if this is a sophomoric question.
Hey Bill. If I remember correctly it had to do with the number of data points measured in the sweep, the more point the more accurate the trace 👍
@@TheSmokinApe Hi SmokinApe - Thanks for getting right back to me. I agree with what you say as it applies to the valleys in the scan. As an example of what I don't understand is shown at 10.77MHz. There is a red dot here (assumed point of calculation) with an SWR of ~ 7.9. I can't make out the dots on the blue trace but the result is ~4.1. Cheers! - Bill
Great video. Thank you for making it. I'd like to get one but I need help. Where can I get one and from which manufacture? There are quite a few. The link provided takes me to your Amazon page but the vna isn't there. Also, why are the prices all over the place for the same device? $86-300? What am I missing? Thanks. :)
Hey Seafever. Here is a video where I explain some of the differences, it's a little old. Some of the newer ones have more features like more spectrum, more data points and SD card storage... oh, and larger screens. The Aursinc store on Amazon is a good place to look as well as RandL.com
@@TheSmokinApe
Cool beans. Thank you I greatly appreciate it. 😃
Great video and many thanks! I'm glad I purchased this item and more so since I discovered your channel. You provide great advice and your explanations are always succinct. My question was with your marker for the ten meter band. Checking with the ARRL band chart, it appears that setting the marker at 28.850 places the marker out-of-band even thought the blue chart section reads for ten meters. Am I getting that wrong?
Hey Randy, the band is from 28 - 29.7 without my glasses on! But you make a very good point that the blue bars are not for IUT Region 2 where the US is located. You can configure them in the options and need to for 40m and 440m and maybe a few others if I recall correctly.
Great video and series. Can you recommed a decent set of adapters for the N-type?
This is the set I use, it have every variation of Type N to SMA: www.amazon.com/dp/B07TD91LYH/?ref=idea_lv_dp_ov_d&th=1
Great video...which camera are you using if you dont mind me asking?
This is the one I use for overhead: amz.run/5Tma
@@TheSmokinApe thanks Ape.. you have he
Ped heaps with my Nano VNA..do you think you could use the Nano VNA with an 27mhz SWR meter and a dummy load to calibrate or check the SWR meters accuracy?
Cheers
@@andrewverran3498 I’m not sure the VNA would put out enough wattage to register with the swr meter. You could measure the same dummy load south both and compare the difference
@@TheSmokinApe no worries . Much appreciated.
Hi SmokinApe I have a question, I really want a nano VNA, this one seems to be the best of them all, even currant date. If you agree please let me know I want a VNA with the 4 inch or bigger screen and up to 3gig seems great even though I will never use it, you never know. It seems well built and I was hoping to get some advice. I live in Canada and can only find these big ones on Amazon, so i hope they are not fakes, then seem legit. I am a new ham and cannot afford a really antenna analyzer like rig expert, and even so nothing in this form factor even comes close like the Nana to doing both HF and uhf/vhf, that is also important to me. It seems the Nano Saa-2N is the way to go, it may not be as lab quality as the Rig Expert and others, but for Ham is it really necessary to be that high degree of accuracy. Please advise. Thanks love all your stuff.
Hey Taz. I prefer the VNAs over the REs for a few reasons. The SAA-2N is a durable beast, you will love it.
TeamReplay for the win.
Hey I think I might have understood this. Cool!
Keep on keeping on friend.
Glad it was helpful, thanks for watching No Code 👍
After a second watch, it all makes sense to me now.
Also TeamReplay for the win
Any benefits to going N Type vs SMA? It seems either way you need adapters. Thoughts?
You will need adapters either way. Some folks will insist that N are more robust or SMA go higher in frequency. As a ham, I would just get the VNA that meets my needs and that I already have adapters for...
@@TheSmokinApe makes sense. Thanks for that.
I bought one of these. I must say the reason I bought it was to tune my Buddie Stick Deluxe antennas. I have the stick deluxe and the pole deluxe. So my main reason is it's much smaller than my Comet analyzer and easier to carry. I figured it out but I think a video using the screen to program it would be good. For now, I am only using it to check my tuning and SWR. Could you do a video about how to use this in the field? Thanks again for the info. Keep up the great work. KO4PDI 73
I can, also I have a playlist of NanoVNA videos that might help. Thanks for checking out the video Michael!
Alright so what adapter do I need to connect this to my nornal ham rigs? Female n or male n
N Male
What do you think about the AA-ZOOM. Should look into this one KQ4CD Paul
The AA-Zoom is a mullion times more user friendly, I get into the Nanos becuase they were cheap and then I thought they were cool.
What antenna are you scanning? Is it a commercial model, or a homebrew?
It's this antenna from a kit: ruclips.net/video/KuEAYkp-mlk/видео.html
Excellent! Thanks for sharing. 73 DG1GHR
Thanks for checking it out Roland 👍
Good demo Ape but this hobby is like going to cost me a small fortune and I just started! lol. I will need something like that for the CaHRtenna.🤔
Hamming Harder can add up!
Great video. Thanks for posting. I always knew how important sampling points are. The downfall of one of my antenna analyzers is it is limited to only 80 sampling points. To me, it's limited to single band coverage.......and it was an expensive analyzer.
My SARK 110 can sweep up to 10,000 sampling points as a stand alone unit, but it takes 20 minutes for one sweep.
I like my NanoVNA H4. I do not want to lug a computer around with me. The H4 can sweep up to 500 sampling points as a stand alone unit. What about the SAA-2N....how many sampling points as a stand alone unit?
Barry, KU3X
The most I can get on this one is 201 standalone
@@TheSmokinApe Correction.....H4 can do 401 sampling points.
When I got the H4, it could only do 101 sampling points. The newer firmware expanded it to 401. Maybe someone will write new firmware for the SAA-2N.
201 isn't that bad, but more is better.
Barry
@@barrykery1175 The SAA-2N is up to 401 now. Love the upgrades.
Just a thought for "Ham Nuggets" discuss covert ways to use our equipment and communicate without everybody listening in. There are several ways discussed by KM4ACK. This video does a deeper dive. It's an interesting channel that discusses comms everyone now then. Security episode of interest.
ruclips.net/video/apLxePngNlM/видео.html
I'd love to hear you and TO discuss how to speak privately and legally but listened to by few people. It's great for paintball. I'm going to set this up for some teens. It adds a tech element to the game. It's fun for old hams too. Lots of simple creative ways.
So while i enjoy watching your videos, this is one that definately did NOT work for me. I have a nano vna h4. My markers simply WONT change like yours did. There are no " bars "on the swr chart.
On the device or in NanoVNA Saver? If its in NanoVNA Saver check out my video for setting it up.
20211230-Th.2136, 😎 Excellent!
Thanks Martin, glad you liked it 👍