dougmc11 Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Looking for recommendations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC7010 Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Looking for recommendations There’s already an extensive discussion on this. Probably no need for a new thread. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2426-decent-cheap-swr-meter/?fromsearch=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalpierre Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Looking for recommendations Instead of saying "dead horse" i'll just go ahead and recommend a nanoVNA. It's not exactly an swr meter, but imho its even beter if you use it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalpierre Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 if you just want to key up on a frequency and get a reading, get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Mcbazel-Surecom-Digital-125-525Mhz-Antenna/dp/B01D86IKIQ/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=swr+meter&qid=1611736284&sr=8-9 or something like it anyway. the vna is "harder" to use, but you're smart enough to want to do it right? The nanoVNA you calibrate (simple procedure) for a frequency range, then hook up an antenna with the SWR trace enabled and you can read it through the entire range instead of just what you're keying up from the transmitter. nanovna = a little more work on the front end, much easier if you're checking multiple bands., NCRick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drk1970nj Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 https://www.ebay.com/itm/174286750309?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACMBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkKQ3D59%252FksmrAqH9M4NgB38uttioVW7i9YtCw5uSIeRmE5RYGRd33JTKpUs4zGTzxXbV9Ei4GXcak1upVP1qux%252BNrbExv3G9QH5%252F47zqkXBOq7BmOIAzWqh3B%252Bqfxh9nz0UdduOUPPzp5GJktMbKFt1foKmcfy20mF63v%252B9aUF%252BE1asEbkMichGJD2g%252FBpyckXT5KWdmXGx58GzAigtlsJ9rELWJNTsdlYFVva6MyL53W%252BZ2XIXXyIQRbwGIGMXhjPPrGAiCTYf0HzXSXQlBn1jNee7JYx64nl46944TbAVJOoc5NwX3NVAdrrTnNCXd1GYneZ68pP5s1a%252FMgAx6MrQGB8CZWAEmaLW6MWIITl5xe%252BArMIBhQmKVrLzSsqXesKCfyDzq%252FcqJtnybSJPuIPhYE86Qe8dmfPsPrDtWhB1xLx3TaG%252FWm2TQM3zDpZIbhz571CcvYNl97%252BkC4ZvPUKu3z9q4EfpqEhZhOj6hk11s25GTMigi%252FPVMp%252F47KRB5Kz2SCWfMWSmV%252BQLLJZ73WhmJGFVKRmcNSbVTmvN%252BpCqfc%252Fdow3jgEasBWDCImMYvIt6vKVsmpIOLGovWB2X4O1mrMZnCYG54g6%252BlqAs3obtiGqPDYFXmzwPgNNei6LtZtXMrVNyUewjcpj9IfTnfl8er4yet6LNfc40iA4KBd8urj4%252BlPpyvnMNoaikxVbpPW%7Ccksum%3A17428675030977d0dcf2789f41d3b2bbd9eb97304afb%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A3268220&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=174286750309&targetid=1068323856150&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9004036&poi=&campaignid=10455978145&mkgroupid=104612009660&rlsatarget=aud-762207186714:pla-1068323856150&abcId=2146002&merchantid=101684054&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkMzjlsrT7gIVPweICR2EnQD0EAQYAyABEgJqrPD_BwE One of the best to use AdmiralCochrane 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gman1971 Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 Oh, the Surecom shill... seriously, get a NanoVNA v2 with a 4.3 screen to measure SWR. Tune your antennas to 50 ohms, not to the lowest SWR (return loss). G. https://www.ebay.com/itm/174286750309?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACMBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkKQ3D59%252FksmrAqH9M4NgB38uttioVW7i9YtCw5uSIeRmE5RYGRd33JTKpUs4zGTzxXbV9Ei4GXcak1upVP1qux%252BNrbExv3G9QH5%252F47zqkXBOq7BmOIAzWqh3B%252Bqfxh9nz0UdduOUPPzp5GJktMbKFt1foKmcfy20mF63v%252B9aUF%252BE1asEbkMichGJD2g%252FBpyckXT5KWdmXGx58GzAigtlsJ9rELWJNTsdlYFVva6MyL53W%252BZ2XIXXyIQRbwGIGMXhjPPrGAiCTYf0HzXSXQlBn1jNee7JYx64nl46944TbAVJOoc5NwX3NVAdrrTnNCXd1GYneZ68pP5s1a%252FMgAx6MrQGB8CZWAEmaLW6MWIITl5xe%252BArMIBhQmKVrLzSsqXesKCfyDzq%252FcqJtnybSJPuIPhYE86Qe8dmfPsPrDtWhB1xLx3TaG%252FWm2TQM3zDpZIbhz571CcvYNl97%252BkC4ZvPUKu3z9q4EfpqEhZhOj6hk11s25GTMigi%252FPVMp%252F47KRB5Kz2SCWfMWSmV%252BQLLJZ73WhmJGFVKRmcNSbVTmvN%252BpCqfc%252Fdow3jgEasBWDCImMYvIt6vKVsmpIOLGovWB2X4O1mrMZnCYG54g6%252BlqAs3obtiGqPDYFXmzwPgNNei6LtZtXMrVNyUewjcpj9IfTnfl8er4yet6LNfc40iA4KBd8urj4%252BlPpyvnMNoaikxVbpPW%7Ccksum%3A17428675030977d0dcf2789f41d3b2bbd9eb97304afb%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A3268220&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=174286750309&targetid=1068323856150&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9004036&poi=&campaignid=10455978145&mkgroupid=104612009660&rlsatarget=aud-762207186714:pla-1068323856150&abcId=2146002&merchantid=101684054&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkMzjlsrT7gIVPweICR2EnQD0EAQYAyABEgJqrPD_BwE One of the best to use ke0eyh and smalpierre 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCRick Posted February 10, 2021 Report Share Posted February 10, 2021 Any input on the Daiwa double needle units? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalpierre Posted February 13, 2021 Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 Oh, the Surecom shill... seriously, get a NanoVNA v2 with a 4.3 screen to measure SWR. Tune your antennas to 50 ohms, not to the lowest SWR (return loss). G.Yeah man - I love the nanoVNA, and I got the cheaper one. Pretty sure I got the 4.3" screen, but it'll only sweep up to 1.5ghz - there's a 3ghz one thats a little more expensive, still under 100 bucks though. Definitely not nearly as good as a lab grade instrument, but it's also not 10 grand. You can also connect to a computer and do everything from there - I'm looking to get that going at some point. Ohms vs SWR - yeah, if you're tuning for a single frequency or very tight range and you tune for 50 ohm impedance - you're going to have a low SWR just by default. The opposite doesn't hold true. You cah measure a low SWR and still have an impedance mismatch. I forget exactly how that works but I seem to remember that bieng the case? AdmiralCochrane and gman1971 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbrun Posted February 13, 2021 Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 ...Ohms vs SWR - yeah, if you're tuning for a single frequency or very tight range and you tune for 50 ohm impedance - you're going to have a low SWR just by default. The opposite doesn't hold true. You cah measure a low SWR and still have an impedance mismatch. I forget exactly how that works but I seem to remember that bieng the case? If your feed-line loss is high, your SWR appears artificially low. Add enough loss and ever the worst case real-world SWR will appear perfect at the radio. MichaelWRHS965KE8PLM gman1971 and AdmiralCochrane 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gortex2 Posted February 14, 2021 Report Share Posted February 14, 2021 https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2426-decent-cheap-swr-meter/?fromsearch=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gman1971 Posted February 16, 2021 Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 Basically, what a dummy load is. G. If your feed-line loss is high, your SWR appears artificially low. Add enough loss and ever the worst case real-world SWR will appear perfect at the radio.MichaelWRHS965KE8PLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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