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[KB6NU] My VHF/UHF SWR meter recommendation
KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog /////////////////////////////////////////// My VHF/UHF SWR meter recommendation Posted: 28 Jul 2017 11:12 AM PDT http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email Yesterday, one of my recent Tech class students emailed me, asking me how he could measure the SWR of a 2m antenna that he had: I happen to have an older magnetic mount mobile antenna with a UHF connector attached. I was thinking of trying out this antenna with my Baofeng HT. Â*The only issue is that I dont have a SWR meter. I believe you said you do.Â* Do you have any recommendation?Â* I did a search on eBay, and got more than 1,200 hits, with costs from $4 to $600+.Â* So, I did a little Googling, then replied: The one I have is an Opek SWR-6 Unfortunately, they don’t make this model anymore. I think I paid about $60 for it. It works well for a cheap meter. Unfortunately, the SWR-6 is no longer in production. Opek now sells SWR-8L.Â*On Amazon, it costs $110.Â*A similar meter is the Daiwa CN-501V. It will set you back $100.Â*MFJ sells a bunch of SWR meters that purport to measure SWR on the 2m band, but because my experience with MFJ equipment has been less than satisfactory, I do not recommend MFJ.Â* The Daiwa CN-501V is in production, but costs $100. Having said all that, you may not really need a VHF SWR meter. You can usually guess the SWR from the output power reading. If it’s lower than full scale, then the SWR is high. Â*You’re not going to damage the radio because even the Baofeng has high-SWR protection circuits. You could also use an inexpensive HF SWR meter to make this measurement. If you really want to spend some money, consider purchasing an antenna analyzer that covers the 2m band. You’ll have to spend more, but you’ll get more, too. For example, the RigExpert AA-170 costs $334, but you can also analyze HF and 6m antennas as well. So, what do you all think? Did I steer my Elmeree in the right direction? It doesnt seem to make sense to me to spend $100 for a VHF SWR meter when you could purchase an antenna analyzer for not too much more. Are there any other VHF/UHF SWR meters or antenna analyzers that you would recommend? The post My VHF/UHF SWR meter recommendation appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog. |
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[KB6NU] My VHF/UHF SWR meter recommendation
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