Nano VNA Antenna Analyzer. Testing with Baofeng 888 at PMR freq.

Nano VNA Vector Network Analyzer. First look and a test of a Baofeng 888 antenna at 446 Mhz PMR frequency. I shall be using this to build further CB dipoles later in the year. Link from the ebay seller i used in the pinned comments below.

[@andysherman711]

A link for this item Fed? Cheers.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

This is the seller i used but there are dozens of others. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NanoVNA-50KHz-300MHz-Vector-Network-Antenna-Analyzer-UHF-HF-VHF-VNA-UV-Portable/293372102557?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[@agoraphobicadam1171]

Nice piece of equipment to really check everything.

[@JesterHellsingborg]

Thanks... want to learn more about this piece.... Stay safe and healthy...

[@kevinconnolly6330]

Nice video Fred, I have been looking at getting one of these

[@RingwayManchester]

Nice detailed review mate, thanks for sharing! Hope you and the family are ok!

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Much appreciated. Welcome back Lewis ;-)

[@christophersmith1155]

looking forward to the Nagoya and telescopic antenna tests.

[@AndrejaKostic]

Here's a hint: There's a stimulus option in the menu, and you can select the start and the stop frequency there. After you change the frequency, you'll need to recalibrate. The NanoVNA always does a fixed number of measurement steps (101 between the start and the stop frequency, if I remember correctly), so if you really want a usable measurement, you should first set up the start and stop. Otherwise, you'll get very large step sizes between measurements. PC software (say NanoVNA Saver) allows for more measurement points by automatically concatenating multiple measurements and then presenting them as one.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks for the tip.

[@allsortsabouteverything]

Excellent video Fred. And as usual plenty of information. Spooky that me and a mate were talking about baofeng stock antennas just last night on 2m. I said that tbh I wouldn't give the aerial to a child to pick his nose with😂😂😂. They really are a danger to the radio. Personally anything that I can't SWR below 2.5:1 doesn't get attached to my radio. Even at that level I would still use a tuner to protect the rig. Just one last thing fella,,,,,,. I can't understand why you are not a licensed ham cuz you got so much passion for the hobby. Even if you only stick at foundation level people like yourself are a real asset to the hobby. Plus you could put all of those very nice rigs you own to good use👍👍 I started in CB radio myself but just got a bit tiered of the one band restrictions, hence I took my foundation and then moved on to my intermediate level and I'm happy where I am now. I might move on at some point to the full license but I'm definitely not in a hurry to get there. Also just cuz you got a ham licence don't mean you have to abandon the 11m band,,,, I still use it and I must say I enjoy it more now because I can keep coming back to it(like an old comfy pair of trainers😂😂😂) but I've also got that option of the rest of the bands to boot. Bonus is that you can now do you ticket for ham radio on-line👍👍. Anyway Fred I'll be following this little series of vids with much interest so you keep up the good work and just think about what I've said,,,,,,,, trust me. Not all hams have their heads stuck where the sun don't shine😎😂😂😂 73. 2E0LFD Baz.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks for all the information Baz. Yes i will get around to the foundation one day.

[@janbundell6434]

Thnx for the vid Fred....take care mate......Bob

[@James_Bowie]

'Antennalyzer'. I like it.

[@allsortsabouteverything]

Yeah I thought that was a perfect froidulent slip. Fred you need to get onto the Oxford dictionary and claim your prize 👍😂👍

[@James_Bowie]

@@allsortsabouteverything froidulent ... sounds like Curly (soitenly). 😛

[@dafyddr8678]

Oh Fred what ya like eh... you put Network Analyzer in the description ! Great video though.. May have to get one of these myself

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

I think its one of those words which can be spelt with a Z or S. Anyway iam terrible at spelling ;-)

[@charleswills4554]

Ill have to get myself one of those. Very interesting. 73s ,Take Care ,Be Safe. 514 Ontario, Canada

[@americaswayout4489]

It appears short, but when attached to the radio and using your body as the ground plane it might drop in resonance?

[@God-yb2cg]

That explains why I can't get my baofengs to reach inside the supermarket like 100m or 200m away, also explains why my UV-5RA gets hot on the right side after few minutes of PMR446 chat >_> Looking forward for the long antenna analyses.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

May or may not be the reason. My set up is prob not 100% correct. More likely to be the walls of the supermarket blocking RF.

[@God-yb2cg]

@@CB-RADIO-UK I assume a combination of both, also waiting for two Nagoya NA-771 to arrive in the mail, will see if it improves penetration.

[@allsortsabouteverything]

A lot of supermarkets are actually pharaday cages to prevent you using your phone and only be able to use "their" WiFi so as to monitor stats.

[@MtWesley2011]

I purchased one last week from Amazon for $40, for the same purpose except in the Ham Bands. I tested a rubber duck antenna and a mag mount mobile after setting the range from 144 to 148. My VNA showed both of them to be basically flat across the entire range selected under than 1.5 to 1. I then scanned an off center fed dipole in the 40 meter band 7.125 to 7.300 band and found it to be under 3 to 1 for the entire band. Now need to compare the antennas with a friends Antenna Analzyer.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Hi. Yes it would be interesting to see how the Nano compares to a radio antenna analzyer.

[@joistein]

Fred you forgot to use gloves. 😂😂Happy Easter 🌼🌻🐰🐣🐣

[@Bernard-John]

hi,interesting video,good to know,and not so expensive,but i just wonder how accurate for so little money,thanks from Rotterdam..

[@derdrolftesinn]

The resonance also depends on its ground. This must be in mind

[@pda49184]

Great new word to describe a VNA.. Antennalyzer ... It's difficult sometimes, as testing the antennas resonance away from it's working environment can lead you astray.. There are various 'ham' You Tube channels showing people using these over priced, (£1000 + in some cases) , analysers .. What most of them always fail to tell you, is how to calculate out any errors with the antenna and feeder that's not at the working height or location that it will eventually be placed. Try trimming an 80 meter half wave dipole at 1/2 wavelength above ground, ha-ha.. Nice bit of kit for sensible money Fred... I'm off to my 'vertigo' therapy now...

[@ammocraft]

Yep, just spent the morning sorting my new 80-10EFHW. Completely different once I got it up at working height from it's initial build and test, so was lowering, trimming, and lifting far more than I wanted to.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks Pete. Yes iam not sure how accurate these meters are or if my method is correct. Main reason i bought it was for tunng forthcoming dipoles.

[@pda49184]

@@ammocraft Ha-ha.. Great fun ain't it ... Another thing you're fighting is impedance verses resonance.. A dipole that is hung horizontally generally has a feed impedance of 70 ish ohms... So right away you have an issue . If you invert it at approx 45 degrees the impedance gets nearer 50 ohms at the central feed point, and you know that when you reach a low VSWR here, you're near your chosen resonant length. Then you have to consider a 1 : 1 current balun to prevent your feed coax from resonating too much RF.. It's a massive subject, but I love it.

[@ammocraft]

Pete. Jamieson Not only that, but when you change the height above ground, comparative to wavelength, the impedance also changes.....hence the matching sections on dipoles like the G5RV and ZS6BKW that attempt to be multi-banders. I’m currently running the EFHW and a trapped vertical, but it’ll change again soon, I’m sure! 😂

[@pda49184]

@@ammocraft . Yes.. Lou Varney (G5RV) was probably the first multi-band antenna designer to achieve resonance from 80 through to 10 meters without a tuner/matcher or using traps/loading coils. But the design specs need to be followed to the letter to achieve that versatility. Feeder lengths and height above ground without nearby obstacles. In reality he was selling a dream to most hams I know ...End feds with an Unun, in my opinion are a better bet and easier to experiment with to achieve a good match on HF bands. As my old friend G2RO used to say. " Spend as much cash on your antenna and feeder that you spend on your transceiver and await the sunspots"..

[@julianrobertson3303]

Hi Fred , Many thanks for all of your helpful videos , I was wondering if you could possibly try your antenna analyzer & see what the swr is like on the Baofeng standard stock antennas ? . Julian

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Hi Julian. I did the stock antenna on the first Nano video if you take a look back. I will be doing another test comparing the two types once my coupler adapter arrives so keep watching.

[@paulhotson5820]

The antennas need to be lengthened for your desired frequency. Thanks for sharing

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks Paul. Iam hoping the 771's will be too long.

[@DavidLopez-bz4rj]

ALWAYS reset calibration before new calibration.

[@artdodd2932]

Nice

[@davidsaunders1125]

Hi Fred. Portable radio antennas are designed to be used held against your head. If you hold the brass base, and hold the antenna near your head, the resonant frequency will magicly move onto the required band! Not doing this is what causes the bad reviews of what are pretty good Chinese clones! The Nano is a fantastic piece of kit. The Nagoya clones are especially good! M0iiZ

[@desbelfastireland9982]

THANKS FRED .. KEEP SAFE .DES CREAN BELFAST IRELAND 68CT022

[@3ccdmike]

Nice, thanks. 296

[@derdrolftesinn]

You should calibrate with the cables if you use them. Greetings

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks

[@stuartcrane9409]

Fred can you do a video with this device on 27mhz?

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Testing the Antron 99 on 11m kzbin.info/www/bejne/raGwqap4qbd0rbM

[@chiIinviIin]

First and a like!

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

FIRST :-)

[@niftyfiftycampingadventure795]

Thanks for the upload. Just bagged a Sark 100 swr Analyser from www.banggood.com for about 60 quid delivered.. However that one just Does HF up to 60Mhz..

[@tonydavidson4719]

Hello Fred great Video's I just bought one thanks. Could you do a basic video on the calibration and which connection is which. Mine came with 3 connections apart from the 2 pigtails. But i am not sure which connector is the Open, Short or Dummy Load. So I would appreciate a basic Video please on calibration. Many thanks Tony CT3907

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Tony try this vid. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXnChnd-oJKepqc

[@tonydavidson4719]

@@CB-RADIO-UK Many thanks thats the ticket.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Yeah, well maybe not the best test for that type of antenna. The radio may be using your body as a capacitive coupling for ground plane and you have not got one at all. That aside, it might have been better if you had put it onto one of your antennas just to see how good it is. But it is what it is. Personally I would rather have one that reads it out on digits in ohms, swr, frequency etc but you will not get that for £40, though i am surprised the Chinese have not got a good one for around £60 by now, but I suppose there is not a big enough market for them to make it worth their while. Interesting none the less Fred.

[@ammocraft]

If you plug it into a laptop and use something like NanoVNASharp or NanoVNASaver, it becomes much nicer to use.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@ammocraft Ok, but the Laptop is not always with you in the field, but I get the point. I would rather have something that has all the info on it digitally. Just a personal choice.

[@ammocraft]

bob fourjs A tablet is part of my standard comms gear these days.....but I do also have an older MFJ analyser I tend to use when I’m setting up antennas.

[@shanecardey9743]

Time is money man get to it