Anyone have an inkling of what you get for your £350-odd?

Is it a simple matter of a VFO together with a VSWR bridge
to assess the difference between the forward and reverse waves?

Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

Just curious.

Also, is the DG8SAQ VNWA pretty much the same principle, or will it also
assess transfer functions?

These questions are raised by the possibility of resurrecting a project with
a former colleague from uni 43 years ago, now that we are both retired,
although it will be dismissed cynically as vapourware by some nasty
individual,
to produce a speccy covering up to 10GHz together with tracking genny
but based aroind COTS components that feature more and more
in domestic white goods.

As I said, at the moment, it's just a feasibility investigation, but the
target is
to equal the persformance of HP, Agilent, and R&S instruments of, say, 20
years
ago, but coming in at of the order of £200.

Obviously, all the intelligence will be based around the ubiquitous PC
(which
will have a hidden cost of £200+ extra), so all that needs to be considered
in reality
is the signal paths.

"gareth" wrote in message
...
Anyone have an inkling of what you get for your £350-odd?

Is it a simple matter of a VFO together with a VSWR bridge
to assess the difference between the forward and reverse waves?

Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

Just curious.

Also, is the DG8SAQ VNWA pretty much the same principle, or will it also
assess transfer functions?

These questions are raised by the possibility of resurrecting a project
with
a former colleague from uni 43 years ago, now that we are both retired,
although it will be dismissed cynically as vapourware by some nasty
individual,
to produce a speccy covering up to 10GHz together with tracking genny
but based aroind COTS components that feature more and more
in domestic white goods.

As I said, at the moment, it's just a feasibility investigation, but the
target is
to equal the persformance of HP, Agilent, and R&S instruments of, say, 20
years
ago, but coming in at of the order of £200.

Obviously, all the intelligence will be based around the ubiquitous PC
(which
will have a hidden cost of £200+ extra), so all that needs to be
considered in reality
is the signal paths.










just swish the vfo ....money saved

In rec.radio.amateur.antenna gareth wrote:
Anyone have an inkling of what you get for your ?350-odd?

One could read the specifications on the manufactures web site for
the 6 different models that cost around $300.

Is it a simple matter of a VFO together with a VSWR bridge
to assess the difference between the forward and reverse waves?

Not quite.

Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

That depends on whether or not you have the skills to utilize the
information such devices provide.

Just curious.

Also, is the DG8SAQ VNWA pretty much the same principle, or will it also
assess transfer functions?

Did you mean plot a transfer function?


--
Jim Pennino

wrote in message
...
Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

That depends on whether or not you have the skills to utilize the
information such devices provide.


Most of the hams I have seen with the MFJ do not have the skills to really
use it and a simple swr meter would do just as well or beter for them.

In rec.radio.amateur.antenna Ralph Mowery wrote:

wrote in message
...
Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

That depends on whether or not you have the skills to utilize the
information such devices provide.


Most of the hams I have seen with the MFJ do not have the skills to really
use it and a simple swr meter would do just as well or beter for them.

That's a sad comment and contrary to my experience, though most of the
hams I know are also engineers or technicians in real life.


--
Jim Pennino

wrote in message
...
In rec.radio.amateur.antenna Ralph Mowery
wrote:

wrote in message
...
Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

That depends on whether or not you have the skills to utilize the
information such devices provide.


Most of the hams I have seen with the MFJ do not have the skills to
really
use it and a simple swr meter would do just as well or beter for them.

That's a sad comment and contrary to my experience, though most of the
hams I know are also engineers or technicians in real life.

professionals should take up another hobby ......

In rec.radio.amateur.antenna Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:

wrote in message
...
In rec.radio.amateur.antenna Ralph Mowery
wrote:

wrote in message
...
Despite its high price and snazzy interface, does it provide any more
useful information then the tried-and-trusted (transistorised!) GDO?

That depends on whether or not you have the skills to utilize the
information such devices provide.


Most of the hams I have seen with the MFJ do not have the skills to
really
use it and a simple swr meter would do just as well or beter for them.

That's a sad comment and contrary to my experience, though most of the
hams I know are also engineers or technicians in real life.

professionals should take up another hobby ......

Why?



--
Jim Pennino

wrote in message
...

Most of the hams I have seen with the MFJ do not have the skills to
really
use it and a simple swr meter would do just as well or beter for them.

That's a sad comment and contrary to my experience, though most of the
hams I know are also engineers or technicians in real life.


Our local club has about 55 members. About 1/4 of them never show up and I
am not even sure why they are on the roster,but they do pay the dues every
year. About 5 are XYLs and dubt any of them have any technical skills.
There are 2 or 3 that are or have been involved with broadcast radio or TV.
One that was a 2 way man at the highway patrol. One or two that had
electrical or electronic education in college that were not into RF work.
There were a couple of more that had some other college education such as a
doctor or business.

Overall, out of 55 people maybe 2 or 3 could actually use the analizer to do
something that a simple SWR meter would not do, just get the swr on the
antenna down.

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...

Most of the hams I have seen with the MFJ do not have the skills to
really
use it and a simple swr meter would do just as well or beter for them.

That's a sad comment and contrary to my experience, though most of the
hams I know are also engineers or technicians in real life.


Our local club has about 55 members. About 1/4 of them never show up and
I am not even sure why they are on the roster,but they do pay the dues
every year. About 5 are XYLs and dubt any of them have any technical
skills.
There are 2 or 3 that are or have been involved with broadcast radio or
TV. One that was a 2 way man at the highway patrol. One or two that had
electrical or electronic education in college that were not into RF work.
There were a couple of more that had some other college education such as
a doctor or business.

Overall, out of 55 people maybe 2 or 3 could actually use the analizer to
do something that a simple SWR meter would not do, just get the swr on the
antenna down.


probably just bored jaded professionals ....

On Sat, 26 Dec 2015 12:24:54 -0000, "gareth"
wrote:

Anyone have an inkling of what you get for your £350-odd?

You can probably get a fair idea of what's inside and how it works
from the following links. The major limitations of the MFJ-259/269
analyzers is the inability to sweep a frequency range and the tendency
for static electricity or too much RF to blow out the front end
diodes.

MFJ-269 repair:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/MFJ-269-repair/

MFJ-269 schematic:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/MFJ-269-repair/mfj-269-schematic.pdf

MFJ-259 calibration:
http://www.w8ji.com/mfj-259b_calibration.htm
http://www.ok1cjb.cz/pdf/390_kalibrace.pdf

Build Your Own Antenna Analyzer for under $50
http://www.hamstack.com/project_antenna_analyzer.html
http://www.hamstack.com/hs_projects/k6bez_antenna_analyzer.pdf

For single port measurements, I prefer to use a return loss bridge:
https://www.google.com/search?q=return+loss+bridge&tbm=isch
http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/pics/rtrn_loss_bridge.png
It doesn't give reactance information or draw a Smith Chart as with a
real VNA. It also requires an RF sweep generator and an oscilloscope.
With a collection of small bridges, I can sweep and measure most
anything from VLF to wi-fi:
http://pe2er.nl/wifiswr/

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558