From: Peter
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 Time: 10:50:18
Hi all
I'm looking to purchase an antenna analyser and after reviewing the various
products on offer and viewing reviews at eham I'm leaning towards the
AIM4170 analyzer.
The eham reviews seem very positive therefore I'm keen to hear the
experience of others in this group regarding this product and perhaps some
of its short comings.
I previously ask for comments on the MFJ-269 analyser and found comments
valuable.
Thanks for your time.
Hi Peter,
I bought an AIM4170 about 10 months ago, and have absolutely no regrets.
It does everything as advertised, and is very easy to use. Apart from
all the good comments on eham.net, the unit doesn't eat batteries,
doesn't suffer from broadcast station interference, and doesn't burn out
if you set switches in the wrong order.
Other things I like about the 4170:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- It's easy to measure antenna feedpoint impedances (as well as
feedline input impedances).
-- It provides two sets of Smith charts.
-- It's easy to keep screen shots of your measurements, so you can refer
back to them later -- no more scribbling numbers on scraps of paper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can't do those things with legacy analyzers.
Another benefit of the 4170 is that you can operate it remotely. This
means that you can leave the unit in the shack, then go out into the
yard with a notebook PC and control the 4170 from the notebook. Thus you
can make your antenna adjustments without having to trek back into the
house each time you make a change. Full details he
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wadei/A...Control%20HOWT
O%20-%20090106.pdf
The only snag with the 4170 is that the upper frequency limit is 170MHz,
but that doesn't bother me.
If you have more questions, take a look at the 4170 forum:
http://aim4150.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=analyzer
I agonized for a long time over the price (and watched it getting more
and more expensive as the GB pound slumped against the US$!). In the
end, however, I figured that the 4170 was only a few tens of dollars
more expensive than the legacy analyzers, and you get so much more. Go
for it!
--
73
Ian, G3NRW