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Reviews For: FAA-450 HF - 450Mhz+ antenna analyzer

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : FAA-450 HF - 450Mhz+ antenna analyzer
Reviews: 4MSRP: $228 + s&h
Description:
Touchscreen interface with real glass screen. Thick aluminum casing. Has smith chart. 3rd party firmware available which adds functionality like seeing 5 custom frequencies at once on screen live. Perfect for multi band antennas! Also has a S21 port. If you order the prebuilt and calibrated unit (only $228+ s&h but you supply battery) it will only be calibrated to 150 mhz (the 2 I bought were this way).
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.elekitsorparts.com/product/faa-450-antenna-analyzer-eu1ky
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1143.3
PE1DHI Rating: 2023-01-13
If it is working, it is nice piece of equipment Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It is a nice piece of equipment with a very nice GUI. Is does the job flawlessly. I love it!

But...
If it works. When the temp is below then 15 deg celcius, the analyser display freeze.
The included battery is also very poor, so I modified is to an external power connection with a powerpack.
The software freeze item is annoying, I can only use is in a heated environment above 15-17 deg. I already updated the firmware, but does not solve this issue.

Never the less I use it indoor to tune the HF antenna. But taking it into the field is a no-go.
N6KD Rating: 2021-06-14
Initial software poor - KD8CEC vastly improves, RF board died Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Initially, I was a little disappointed in the unit as it took many pokes of the display to get some functions to respond. The KD8CEC firmware upgrade eliminated that issue and provided a much friendlier user interface. Recently, the unit became sporadic and finally quit providing reasonable measurements. The internal button battery was replaced which did not change anything. The display works but the measurements are not correct. My guess is that the RF board has an issue - but a replacement unit is $40 plus postage - so decided to get a Nano.
AD0AR Rating: 2020-07-27
Excellent for the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update:
WowWEE! After installing the DH1AKF firmware I was able to conduct a hardware calibration and was able to achieve reliable 1300 Mhz operation!
I scanned my 1292 mhz antenna and compared it to the SWR meter on my IC-9700 and it corresponded fine! Best bang for the buck for one color touchscreen analyzer to go from 1-1300 Mhz for $228!!! Super!

Original:
Had it for over 2 years. Excellent device! HF through 450 Mhz!
Unit needs a unprotected no button style 18650 battery.
It has helped me make numerous antennas, verify antenna installations. Mine came with the open/short/load for calibration for 50 ohms. It has numerous memories for calibrations and appears it can be calibrated for non standard impedances too.
I also used it for calibrating a few diplexers for vhf/uhf splitting and allowed me to reduce losses in them to achieve a flat SWR.
Very versatile, allows for screen shots, saves to a removable easy access micro sd card.
Best bang for the buck by far!
G4VRR Rating: 2019-12-10
Excellent Antenna Analyser Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Another thumbs up for this analyser. I bought mine before the re-jig that includes the S21 port and RTC, but I've since purchased the upgrade kit to bring it up to latest specification. The service from Elekitsorparts is rapid to say the least. I've gone through Wolfgang, DH1AKF's firmware additions and then all of Ian KD8CEC's firmwares one by one. This is hands down an astonishingly good analyser for the money, but the many useful additional capabilities tend to make it a bit of a no-brainer.

The scope of capability included in Ian Lee's final firmware was only eventually limited by available memory. I recommend checking out what this device can do beyond analyser function.

Issues? not really, but you have to unseat the RF board to flip the jumper when calibrating and that's not something I want to make a habit of doing. Also, the lower edge of the 10 gauge anodised aluminium front panel window makes tapping the lower control areas a bit awkward. Neither of these perhaps subjective comments are worth docking any stars for.

I have a "Mini60" analyser too, but the FAA-450 is a Cadillac by comparison. I would buy the FAA-50 again in a heartbeat.

A big thanks to Yuri, EU1KY for developing this great device.