For years, I’ve wanted to gather a bunch of hams and compare antenna analyzers. Today, at long last, I got the chance to do this. After the monthly ARROW breakfast, nine of us including Bruce KE8FSP, Dinesh AB3DC, Don AC8TO, Ed AB8OJ, Harvey KB8MUP, Rich KA8BMA, Sam K8NOS, Ul N4IYL, and yours truly gathered in a city park near my house to compare antenna analyzers.
We took measurements on two different antennas: a 2m/70cm vertical and my 40m/20m inverted V antenna that I set up at Field Day and other events. I haven’t yet analyzed all the data we gathered, but here are some photos:
We really had a blast comparing the antenna analyzer measurements and features. I’ll be writing a lot more about this in future posts. Stay tuned.
Koos van den Hout PE4KH says
I was hoping for a SARK60 analyzer in the line-up, to see how cheap compared. Anyway, looking forward to the report!
David, K2DBK says
I’ve got the Autek RF Analyst which I’ve had for years, and I’m very curious to see how well it stacks up against the others.
Dave New, N8SBE says
Sorry I missed the bake-off. I came back sick from my recent trip out west, and have missed work, as well.
Dan KB6NU says
It’s too bad you were sick. We really had a blast doing this. It would have been fun to include your analyzer as well.
Curt K8AI says
The only, really useful ones are the ones that measure complex impedance. There are only a few that will give you the sign of the reactive component (in rectangular coordinates) or the degrees of phase angle (polar). For example, the MFJ 269b/c gives you the magnitude of reactance as “X” but leaves you guessing whether it’s capacitive (-) or inductive (+). This defect alone would make me choose, first the VNA or second, one of the Rig Expert or Autek models over the rest.