| ON3PCO |
Rating:      |
2010-05-13 | |
| Perfect Analyser |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I built this aerial/antenna analyser from 'Down Under' succesfully ! Because of the perfect 'building plans', it was not that difficult to get all the components on the right place on the PCB, though you've got to have some soldering experience. The biggest challenge for me was to complete the instrument case without ruining it because I'm not a pro in mechanical stuff :-)
You can see parts of my 'operation analyser' via www.ON3PCO.be then click the 'Project'-button and then select the upper project.
73, Paul - ON3PCO
a Dutchman in Belgium
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| STAYVERTICAL |
Rating:      |
2010-05-04 | |
| Great instrument |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Feeling the need for an antenna analyser but not wishing to pay big bucks or suffer poor quality, I decided to try this analyser kit. The kit arrived promptly and contained everything except one small nut for one of the binding posts. I had plenty of spares so this was not an issue. It took me a week to construct this kit, as I checked each resistor, diode and transistor before and after inserting it into the pcb.
I also took the advice in the build instructions to lift several components 1 to 2 millimeters off the pcb to reduce stray capacitance.
The frequency switch gave me the same problems as others with orientation, but I did not drill another locator pin, and I also just modified the knob with a spot of paint, so that it aligned with the flat of the switch.
Also, when it comes to bolting the "hot" red binding post to the pcb, use a thin insulating spacer, otherwise the bolt is too large and will short to the ground plane.
The electronics went together well, but I would not say this was a beginners kit. I also put the frequency switch stop to give six positions, and wound a 16 turn coil around a nail, then removed it and fitted it to the sixth position. This ended up giving a frequency range from 24Mhz to 60Mhz on the last position. Checking, with various resistors, it seemed accurate up to at least 58Mhz and was only a few ohms off at 60Mhz. Perhaps this good result was due to lifting the bridge components off the ground plane. I used a chisel to gently remove the card guides in the lower box, which gave enough room to put my own 10 AA cell battery holder in the bottom. You can use either 10 NIMH cells (each has 1.25V) or 8 Dry Cells (each has 1.5V) with two dummy cells. After the alignment procedure, the kit worked perfectly first time.
I found the most daunting task was drilling the box, cutting out the LCD panel hole and so on. So a great experience with an inexpensive and useful kit, and I know the build quality is good. In addition, the software is freely available, editable and downloadable into the PIC chip, and the alignment procedure is ridiculously simple.
So if you are a beginning kit builder, get an experienced ham to help, otherwise it should present no difficulty.
Also, there are some very good resources on the web outlining construction, and a series of youtube videos (if they still exist) created by user "byronlocal" who shows the construction of his vk5jst analyser.
Now, for the antenna fun. |
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| LA4UOA |
Rating:      |
2010-04-15 | |
| super |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Got the analyzer today,David VK2SSH bouhgt the kit and made it for me,it work very very well,and so easy to use,compared to other analyzers,thanks to good friend David i am a happy owner of a super analyzer.If you looking for a good analyzer,i think this is what you looking for. |
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| KE5DYY |
Rating:      |
2010-01-07 | |
| Good kit! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The kit was appropriately challenging to put together and seemed to work quite well. I have been very pleased.
I have been able to use the analyzer in the lower range of the 50 MHz band as well as HF frequencies.
The kit that I had required some modifications of the PCB because the rotary switch did not have the lug in the correct place. That was a bit difficult but did go together with a little modification of the board.
There are other sources on the internet that suggest that the voltage settings for the trimmer potentiometers be set differently than what the instructions in the kit suggest. Using those slightly lower voltages seemed to help that stability of the frequency quite at bit.
Another drawback to the kit is that you have to remove the entire front of the case and the PCB in order to change out the batteries.
Overall I was very pleased with how it performs and excited by what I learned in building it. |
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| G3XDH |
Rating:     |
2009-12-08 | |
| Nice piece of kit |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Finally got round to building it after buying the kit 12 months ago .. (got scared when I examined the package)
Not too difficult a build .. (my first project harder than dead easy) ..
Also used http://www.xs4all.nl/~pa0fri/Diversen/VK5JST/Ant%20analyzereng.htm as a guide to building .. glad I put the recommended fuse/diode combination in!!!!!!!! ..
Only thing to say is because was my first time with I/Cs wasn't aware that the sockets were marked to coincide with the mark on the I/C .. 3 of mine are the wrong way round so have had to mark them with a spot of paint for the possible future event of removing and replacing
get it .. build it .. |
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| PA0RCL |
Rating:      |
2009-09-09 | |
| Great value for money |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought my VK5JST analyser from a fellow ham who no longer needed it, so my experience is confined to the use of the unit, not the actual building of the kit. For the invested money, it is a pretty accurate instrument because of the digital readout.
According to VK5JST his analyser is a simple tool comparable to a grid dip meter. This is a far too modest statement!
The only comment I have is about the coarse tuning as I find it a litte too coarse, whereas the fine tuning is a litte too fine in my opinion. Perhaps one day I will replace the unit's polyvaricon by a varicap, controlled by a 10-turn pot. Nonetheless, I give this analyser a five without any hesitation. |
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| VK2CU |
Rating:      |
2009-08-11 | |
| Works Well, Great Value! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Bought mine two years ago, and in that time I have tuned several HF antennas. This unit is easy to construct, works very well, and unlike some commercial competitors, you can make sure your quality control exists! Another advantage is that like an old Heathkit, if it breaks, you can fix it! I'm not saying all this just because it comes from a fellow VK, it really is a great product and far cheaper than any equivalent. If you have a licence, you can build this.
73's
Justin VK2CU |
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| G6CPZ |
Rating:      |
2009-05-09 | |
| Excellent kit. Does what it says on the box. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have had a lot of kit building, & general constructing experience over the last 30 years, & this rates with the very best. My first thought was PROFESSIONAL. Well designed,with a well thought out pcb (I've seen some with more trackside wiring than topside due to poor design!!!). The whole experience from ordering to building to using was brilliant. It's a v.good piece of test equipment. Most of my thougts have already been written by others, so I will not repeat them. |
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| VK2FADZ |
Rating:      |
2009-03-29 | |
| Highly recommended |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This Antenna Analyser is a very useful device for a radio Ham. It is well designed and the PCB is of good quality, so constructing it is straight forward for an experienced solderer. A few tips of advice are:
(1) Test the connections on the rotary switch before soldering because the rotary switch can be different to that shown in the component overlay diagram.
(2) Before plugging in the Picaxe chip, check that the voltage at TP2 is double the voltage at TP3 and TP4, with a 50 Ohm resistor across the input terminals at 2 MHz. Also make sure that the voltages at TP2 ,TP3 and TP4 never exceed 4.7 Volts at the lowest frequency 1.3 MHz and higher frequency ranges by adjusting potentiometers P1 ,P2 and P3. Otherwise the Analogue to Digital Converter in the Picaxe chip can be damaged, resulting in erroneous impedance and SWR readings. I had to order a new Picaxe chip to get it working correctly.
(3) An electric drill will make completing this kit easier, to drill holes in the plastic case of the right size for the switches, input terminals and fine tuning potentiometer.
The Picaxe chip was delivered already loaded with the software. However, I found it was easy to connect the Picaxe chip (when plugged into the PCB) to the serial port of a PC using alligator clips. Then the software can be modified. I put my call sign alongside the battery voltage.
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| PE2BZ |
Rating:      |
2009-01-28 | |
| Well Done !! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
It took me just 5 hours to build the kit and get it to work (including 1 hour to locate a misplaced diode who was reverse mounted by myself...)
If any kind of measurement tool is worth it's money it certainly is this kit.
Now, my shortwave antenna experiments are a lot more fun !!
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