New Toys. More On The Way

[marcspaz]

Well, I bit the bullet and bought some cheap portable tools. I have a Tektronex SA, a Bird power/SWR meter, and MFJ antenna system analyzer. They all work great, but I'm not thrilled about transporting a bunch of insanely expensive gear when I go help a new GMRS operator with the mobile or base station. 

 

Or friend Randy put together a nice video about tools a GMRS user should have and what would be nice to have if you're a geek. LoL anyway, I ordered a Nano VNA, Tiny SA, and a Surecom SF401 Plus frequency counter. 

 

Any information, warnings, tips, tricks those of you who have them can share?

 

I know the Nano VNA is a rock star based on all the folks that have been using them for a few years. I can't wait to see how accurate the other items are compared to the higher priced equipment. I'm sure there will be some small variations, but I'm not expecting anything dramatic. 

 

Two arrived today. The frequency counter should be here tomorrow. 

 

[Lscott]

That's all nice but do you have anyway to at least calibrate the clocks in the frequency counter and NVA's? Some use cheap crystals as the time base and can be seriously in error or show large drifts over time and temperature.

I have a used Rubidium atomic clock, haven't used it yet since it was pulled from an old cell site and I don't know how much life is left on the Rubidium lamp. What I do use is a GPSDO to calibrate the frequency counters against. They aren't horribly expensive. When I got mine I paid about $150 before taxes and shipping.

 

[marcspaz]

I'm just going to adjust against my known good commercially calibrated equipment. 

Honestly, it's not even important for this stuff to be precise. I just need it close enough to know if stuff is working or not. If it's close enough, I'm not going to mess with them.

 

The frequency counter, for instance, is only going to be used to pull/confirm tones. The Tiny SA is going to be used to see if any harmonics are being transmitted from a device at a significant level or is a neighboring device is causing RFI, etc.

 

Like I mentioned, cheap gear for GMRS radio installs.

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, marcspaz said:

I'm just going to adjust against my known good commercially calibrated equipment. 

Honestly, it's not even important for this stuff to be precise. I just need it close enough to know if stuff is working or not. If it's close enough, I'm not going to mess with them.

 

The frequency counter, for instance, is only going to be used to pull/confirm tones. The Tiny SA is going to be used to see if any harmonics are being transmitted from a device at a significant level or is a neighboring device is causing RFI, etc.

 

Like I mentioned, cheap gear for GMRS radio installs.

Yeah, for that purpose it's likely just fine.