AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

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.

--
Peter VK6YSF

http://members.optushome.com.au/vk6ysf/vk6ysf/main.htm

AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

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

AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

"Ian Wade G3NRW" wrote in message
...
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

Ian

Thanks for the reply. It appears to be the stand out performer for the
price, but as you say the only limitation is the 170Mhz upper limit,
something I can live with.

Regards

--
Peter VK6YSF

http://members.optushome.com.au/vk6ysf/vk6ysf/main.htm

AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

Peter wrote:
I'm leaning towards the AIM4170 analyzer.

How much does the AIM4170 cost?
--
73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC, http://www.w5dxp.com

AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:
I'm leaning towards the AIM4170 analyzer.

How much does the AIM4170 cost?
--
73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC, http://www.w5dxp.com

About $520 US

--
Peter VK6YSF

http://members.optushome.com.au/vk6ysf/vk6ysf/main.htm

AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

On Oct 14, 4:36�pm, Cecil Moore wrote:
Peter wrote:
I'm leaning towards the AIM4170 analyzer.

How much does the AIM4170 cost?
--
73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC, �http://www.w5dxp.com

It's $500-$600, a bit more than the average ham would want to spend,
unless you are into serious contesting or DX chasing. Myself, I would
love to have one, but for my needs the MFJ at $225 has worked for
years. In the future, I may get more real estate, and the AIM4170 may
be just the ticket.

Gary N4AST

AIM 4170C antenna analyzer
 

Gary wrote:
On Oct 14, 4:36�pm, Cecil Moore wrote:
Peter wrote:
I'm leaning towards the AIM4170 analyzer.
How much does the AIM4170 cost?
--
73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC, �http://www.w5dxp.com

It's $500-$600, a bit more than the average ham would want to spend,
unless you are into serious contesting or DX chasing.

Or into antenna tinkering for its own sake.

For myself, I have the TAPR/TenTec VNA, because it was a better fit to
my particular needs, but the 4170 is a nice, useful piece of gear.


It's hard to predict what the "average ham" would be interested in, in
any case..