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write your own review of the AEA 140-525 Analyst.
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N7TRZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 21, 2007 01:32
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a must have for the VHF+ experimenter
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought mine new shortly after AEA brought them out. Having a graphic display of the SWR curve over a specified span really helps maximize bandwidth, giving you immediate visual feedback for small changes. You can even get tuned cavities fairly close with this, though its obviously not a replacement for an IFR. It does tend to eat up AA cells, so a wall wart is a must-have for extended sessions.
....you can also use the unit to measure return-loss to check coax loss at a particular frequency, or to check for lossy connectors and adapters.
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MAZZ1232002
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 18, 2006 08:40
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The Best for me
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought it brand new directly from AEA. Used it extensively to test many VHF and UHF antennas. Just fantastic, loved the way it graphed the SWR curve over a freq. range that the user programs. Professional grade instrument. Sold it and now I am in the process of buying another. I have a bad habit of selling stuff and then buying another but this one is going to stay.
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K9YC
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 11, 2003 12:02
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Good, but may not be worth the price for hams.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently borrowed an older version of this analyzer, a 130-500 VHF/UHF Analyst, from the rental stock of K9IKZ's business. It's a nice piece, and is well built. It also appears to be accurate.
This older unit provides SWR and the magnitude of the impedance at any frequency that you enter, and provides a graph of the SWR vs. frequency. The width of the display is variable over a wide range, but there is no way to know what that width is (that is, there is no readout of it). Perhaps the manual tells you, but there was none with the unit I borrowed.
The packaging is excellent, and the user controls are logical, more or less. The AEA case that K9IKZ bought for it is wonderful, probably the best case for test gear that I've seen. The graphical display of SWR is quite useful, and the data is believable. I did not have other instrumentation to compare the 450 MHz measurements I made, but the data at 2 meters compared well with an MFJ 259, as well as with the physical reality of the antennas I was measuring.
This is a 50 ohm analyzer, so it will give erroneous SWR readings when connected to 75 ohm cables, and there's no accurate way to get good SWR numbers unless the load happens to be a pure resistance. There's also no way to get R, X, and the phase angle of the impedance. To get that data, you need the much more expensive VIA Bravo ($2K).
As near as I can tell from the AEA website, the current version of this analyzer has the same functions.
I've also gotten quick and considerate email responses from current AEA management in response to questions and requests for a manual.
Jim Brown K9YC (ex-W9NEC)
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WA6DHJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 12, 2002 22:50
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Great analyzer!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just received my AEA 140-525 this morning. Tested it out and it works great . . . just like their VIA-HF that I've had for several weeks now.
This is a pricey unit: $595 (or $650 for the 'kit' that includes the [very nice] case, the 'wall-wart' power supply, and the PC software and cable).
It operates differently than the VIA-HF . . . the display is different, the function buttons operate differently, etc. but all the info is available for analyzing within its frequency range, both digitally and graphically.
As the previous poster mentioned . . . the User's Manual is out of date . . . with many errors. Really surprising considering the general quality of the unit. (My VIA-HF manual had numerous errors also).
The people at AEA 'claim' they are rewriting all the manuals . . . time will tell.
Even with the 'errors', the unit is so simple to operate and figure out that it really doesn't matter.
So . . . despite the above . . . the unit still earns a "5" from me.
DON K6IOU (formally posted as WA6DHJ or GOODGUY)
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WA6GPL
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 18, 2001 22:05
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This does what its lower-frequency brothers do, provides a graphical display of SWR as a function of frequency, and does it very well. Minimizing the SWR for a single operating frequency doesn't tell you nearly as much as a curve. It has worked flawlessly for me. The instrument is expensive, justifiable only if you want to both tune and understand your antenna, or if you are a club or a group. (If all you want to do is cut a dipole to size, it's overkill.) One complaint---the documentation is out of date, and often wrong. They aren't even clear about what the current circuit is---they acquired it with an earlier company. They need to fix that, and are bound to.
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