No certainly not a proper calibration and not near enough to have you teach anyone. First you need to understand why and what we are calibrating. There are a few things that need to be done prior to calibration and you have not done them, secondly you need the reason for the calibration otherwise your calibration was for nothing and will not work. Folks its clear he has no idea what he is doing and let me explain. 1. You need a reason for the calibration and that lets say was SWR, you need the trace set to that. 2. You need the reason for the calibration to include the range, so you need to set the range of the test, in the case of SWR the Bandwidth you are testing. 3. You need to ensure the calibration is done the the end point of calibration, in most cases you will be using a cable with connectors on it, you must ensure the calibration is done to the exact end of the cable or adapter that connects just before the DUT. This is important otherwise your calibration will be way off. Lastly in his calibration, he did the isolation test absolutely wrong, its not calibrated to open air, you should at the minimum if you are using just port s11, have the load on it, but in the case wher you maybe using s21 or s11 and s21, you need a load on both to do an isolation calibration, he has completely screwed up the isolation calibration 100 percent. Lastly doing a through calibration you can do it with just one cable, however it should be done with 2 cables and with a barrel connector connecting them together in the middle, why this is how it’s properly done and gives you the ability should you want to use port s21, not to have to redo the entire calibration. I hope this shows not to follow this guy, and to really check out proper authorities on the NanoVna and the TinySA Ultra. Using a Nano in this way will get you incorrect results and may even hurt tested devices when you trust your readings with this type of calibration. This comment is for the viewers in hopes they do check out videos on competent enthusiasts that know what they are doing. It’s is absolutely wrong to teach something you do not understand, or if he does understand this to teach in such a way that those watching do not have the correct and full knowledge. At best this calibration if you leave out the isolation and through calibration would be correct if you were only connecting the DUT directly to the NanoVNA and not using any leads or connectors, and in almost 100 percent of Hams this is not the case. Please sir take down this video, and appologise to your viewers.

I enjoyed all three videos and I am building now and will be standing my DXC on Sunday. In the Unified Manual for these antennas Callum states that the stay-up clamp (nylon Ezy-Clamp on this model I got a couple weeks back) are to go under the spreader plates and above the joints. I don't know the difference between above or below, but I put my above join and below the plates. Seems like either will work. Also no carabiners in this recent version. Just use stopper knots on the doingy cord. You have a very economical use of the shockcord.👍

Fantastic video!

Did you touch any of the trees to see if you got a binary code download?

Thanks so much! Very useful, huge help

2022 update- No need to smooth burrs on the metal plates anymore - Callum now has them tumble polished before shipping

Brilliant man, brilliant. I know I am late to the party, but as a new buyer of an NanaNVA H4 the was the quickest (most efficient) way to show me not just how to calibrate but to confirm the calibration was correct. Good on you sir.

Thanks. No nonsense or unneeded explanations. Very useful!

Thank you for the three videos on building the DXC, I found them so very useful. 73 Tim

I apreciate it👍

Simple. no waffle, and i learned. Spot on sir

Bought mine about 8 months ago and finally getting around to building it. Thank you for your dx commander build videos!

when your calibrating isolation you have to put load on channel 1

cheaper yes, but not nearly as user friendly as an actual antenna analyzer such as Rigexpert ir MFJ etc.. That said, it is great for evaluating things like baluns, filters etc. Without a $5000 VNA...

If you measure an antenna, that ist not directly plugged in - say, you got the cable shown or even a tiny adapter inbetween - you MUST calibrate the thing with all the add-ons attached. Otherwise you get nice dips, but far from he real ones. That has NOT been already done, as you said, unless you plug the antenna directly into the VNA. That is the reason why there are five memory banks for five different configurations. So, for calibration, you HAVE to screw the open/short/load at the END of your cables/adapters, NOT to the VNA, but INSTEAD of the antenna, to be measured, which you obviously did not. Please, do not feel offended, there is no manual how to use properly, but tons of youtube-videos, making the same mistake, so it seems common sense: Isn't there anyone who compared those results with the actual SWR of his antenna, or is it just nice and the tuner will do the "more fine" job anyway? Sorry, as I said - please no offence by my posting. I just wanted to be helpful and vy 73, OE1LLC. BTW: That device is not a chinese invention, but an open source project of NOOELEC, US, licence free, regarding the hardware and as AFAIK the software, too. Prices range vastly, my hint is to purchase a device with proper HF-shield, which ist costly, because otherwise even your hands are QRM 🙂

Do you guys know how to connect nanoVNA using USB to nanovna server?

Here's my DX Commander Classic.. 73 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqerap9rebala6c

Many thanks for taking time to post these very informative build videos - 73 ☘️

Best video on cal ....clear, concise, to the point.

how do you calibrate with an SO-239 adapter please?

Update to my comment below. I tried a resonant 20m vertical today against my h/b mag. loop with the following result; on the vertical noise was S8, loop noise S8 down to S4 when turned away from the noise source. A USA station in noise on both but clear on the loop when turned away from the noise source. He should be loud using 1 kW and a 5 element Yagi! It looks like the mag. loop at my QTH is better and verticals are known to pick up noise. Maybe tx on my dipoles for better efficiency and rx on the loop for less noise. The DX Commander seems to work well for other people but not good for me with this QRM. This shows I just can't have verticals. G4GHB.

I think before building this I will try erecting various verticals as I have telescopic aluminium tubing and can try various resonant lengths and compare signal to noise levels against the mag. loop. I need to get aerials away from the broadband QRM if possible but I've only got a tiny garden and a communal path at the rear so radials could only come into my garden. Depending how things go I might make my own version of one of these. It certainly looks interesting. G4GHB.

I'm thinking of making a copy of this aerial, a vertical aerial like this or mag. loop away from the houses and QRM might be better than dipoles closer in. I suffer from bad broadband QRM. The loop can be turned away from the QRM but unfortunately most signals come from Europe and that's the same position as the least QRM. I can't get many radials for a vertical as one half is a communal path so they could only come into my small garden. Vertical or loop? Try both and compare! I agree about the proper crimp tool, I bought mine many years ago to re-wire some of my old Land Rover wiring. Although the wires can be soldered without crimping as well. G4GHB.

One thing I'd like to add to this video is the use of pigtails on the nanovna! sma connection is small and very fragile in an environment where its moving, add to the fact many people use heavy connectors and then some people plug in very thick coax this could easily snap the sma connector. If you use the nanovna a lot then using the pigtails as a sacrificial set of connectors is also ideal, why wear out the the pins etc on the VNA when you can wear out cheap replaceable barrel connectors on the end of the pigtails, yes I understand there is some losses but to be honest it's far lower than you will expect if you are staying below 500mhz vs the headache of soldering the new sma connectors into the nanovna.

This description of how to calibrate a VNA is total rubbish. First rule is read all the PROFESSIONAL literature on the subject to gain an understanding of the subject. This rant by a complete amateur clearly has no understanding of what is involved. A random group of Shorts, Opens, loads and Thru can ONLY be useful IF they have been accurately characterised to determine what is the variation from true and those coefficients have been loaded into the VNA. To see how it should be done please read the link below. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH3Jk5popZyDl6c Companies such as Keysight, Rohde Schwartz, Copper Mountain,Anritsu etc have a mountain of peer reviewed literature that is freely available on their web sites. Unfortunately this is another case of electronic blind leading the blind By the way an SMA torque wrench should be used to tighten the connectors to establish consistent connection.

tankyou for information!

I had the same thing with 20 meter element and it ended up just like yours (the option with the 6 cm fold back). I did find that if you put a little spacer down about 1.5 feet from the top, that holds the 40 meter wire out and spaces it away from the 40 meter element wire going up, it helped bring the 40 meter element up in frequency while not taking 15 up too high in frequency too far by shortening it. I ended up with the 40 meter being lowest at about 7.1 and the 15 meter band being lowest about in the middle like around 21.250 Also as was pointed out to me on my KZbin video that the clips: I guess?? are supposed to be below the spreaders? Although not in any instructions: I am going to take a look at the Callum vids. to see what I can see?? I did mine like yours because it keeps all the spreaders from going up and down all over the place while you string the wires; it makes sense that way! What I need to think about is weather putting the clamps over the joint so that the clamps are over two thickness of the mast may actually be safer in that you are less likely to crack the tubes because you have the clamps on the joint keeping the sections tight so they won't slide down inside each other. I am going to try it that way but suspect it may affect my bungee lengths a bit. What I did works well because the plates rest on the tube below it and the whole thing can't go anywhere. Thanks for the video it helps see what others did. It is sooo blooming hot here in Utah that I am stuck indoors with 110 degree weather outside. Yuck I want to go and get this thing portable on the air! 73 DE KB7CQ

Agree that drawings are really helpful. It is an excellent antenna.

Finally, SOmeone Who Knows How To Fully Calibrate A VNA, Thanks, Really useful Video Ser ;)_

Thanks so much for this set of tutorials it really was a time saver for me. 73 -from ZS6CU

Thanks. This was a start.

Steve on ground radials, did you use 6 bunch 4 or 5 in length 🤔tnxs

I've just completed my build and your 3 vids were very useful; thanks! Just to note that you have used a different method for running the 40m element compared to Callum's instructions. He has no fold-back loop on the downside, instead having a small loop on the way up below the Double-Eye and attaching that to the Double-Eye with a carabiner. The element then continues on up through the Double-Eye, through the small metal eye at the top and the end is just either taped or tie-wrapped to the mast on the way down to stop it flapping about. Doing it your way means that you have to undo the loop every time you dismantle the antenna, as the loop won't pass back through the metal eye at the top. Alternatively, you don't pass the element through the metal eye in the first place, which means having to rely on the plastic tube to keep things tight. Cheers, Simon GM4JXP

Enjoyed your presentation! You ever get your full license?

Of all the calibration videos and pages I have found for the NanoVNA, yours is the only straight forward, no nonsense presentation. Well done! Cheers!

Better “Getting Started” with your NanoVNA calibration than many others out there!

I have watched several videos explaining how to build the DXC. All of them were helpful, but I think your videos are the best. You were careful to explain each detailed step with demonstrations along the process. Thanks for being so thorough in your presentation. I look forward to putting my DXC together when I receive it in a few days using your videos.-Lonnie, K4KZ

I'm not sure how "accurate" this is or how much of an effect it has, but I heard on another video (forget which one...) that you should AVOID touching the threads of the two terminals on the VNA because the oil on your hands can actually skew the calibration and readings afterward. I'm guessing that apparently changes the conductivity of the connectors? So I gather if you DO touch the terminals it's best to wipe them with rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip and if you've screwed the open, short or dummy on to a oily terminal to clean the insides of those too. They also claimed that the torque value how tight the SMA connections are could change readings and results?!

All setup and working. I had to use the 4.82m and 20cm foldback for 14mhz. I am very pleased so far, its turning out to be a pileup buster on the key. Work ZL on 7mhz 2 days ago. I will be doing some WSPR checks to see how my signal compares with other UK stations. Once again thanks for your great videos. Steve G4YTK

Are those Freelander Alloys?

Hi , great videos I will be following yours while I build my DXC hopefully this week. I have just ordered carabiners. My question for now will there be enough cord to cut 3 guy ropes supplied from Cal or have I got to go and buy some ?

Very helpful, short and clear, thanks! 73, PE1ONS

Very helpful, short and clear, thanks! 73, PE1ONS

Hope your well

Excellent job makingthis video!

Thanks and '73. Excellent and short.

Really well done. You need to watch this video if you’re building this antenna. Well done.

Callum has really worked out all the kinks, making it an end users dream to build!

THANK YOU! Not only for the awesome videos, but for introducing me to those wire strippers! Those are a lifesaver!

Awesome, simple to the point with no waffle, just what I needed to get my nanoVNA calibrated. Thanks!