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Reviews For: VK5JST Aerial Analyzer

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : VK5JST Aerial Analyzer
Reviews: 44MSRP: 95 +post
Description:
This is a design from Australia and put out as a kit by one of the Amateur Clubs there. It covers 1.3 to 31 Mhz
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.users.on.net/~endsodds/analsr.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00444.7
K7MDO Rating: 2009-01-04
Best kit in years! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Received my kit from SCARC.org.au in Australia just before Christmas. Got it together by New Years and am extremely happy with it, both as a kit and as a tool. Very easy build.

Some suggestions I have are to pop rivet the battery holders on the ouside bottom of the unit. This allows you to change the batteries without opening the case. Also add a chassis mount BNC or a -259 for direct attachment to your coax.

PA0FRI Rating: 2008-07-22
Cleverly designed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The designer calls this 'AERIAL ANALYSER' a simple tool with the accuracy of a grip dip meter. This is not doing justice to a cleverly designed piece of equipment. It compares favourably to many commercial analysers, even more so if one looks at the price – performance ratio. Most hams are mainly interested in low SWR @ 50 Ohm and take measurements to they can adjust aerials or antenna tuners in the HF region. At times they are interested to know the input and output impedance of broadband amplifiers.

This is one option to home-brew at a reasonable price is a very usable piece of equipment and it has a professional look when finished. If one puts the kit together without making any mistakes then it will work perfectly first time round. A bonus is that the schematic is supplied and you’ll know it functions on the inside. And then afterwards you may opt to apply below mentioned modifications.

The range can be extended above 31 MHz by letting the oscillator works up to 60 MHz. At the high end of those frequencies the output on TP1 is too low to obtain reliable and useful measurements. For up to 50 MHz it is an usable and a worthwhile extension.

If you have to choose between a RF1 analyser or rolling your own from this kit then the latter is the better option.
See for some mods:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~pa0fri/Diversen/VK5JST/Ant%20analyzereng.htm
VK5LA Rating: 2008-06-08
Just Brilliant! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for a couple of years now and I'm well pleased...The kit went together without any problems but you'll need to go slow and steady as it's not a first timers kit.
My unit is stable, accurate and the handiest piece of test gear I own. I have used it over and over for adjusting moxon's, loops, verticals and dipoles.
Like many others, I run mine from 10 2500mA AA cells and added a DC/charge jack, a 10 turn pot for the fine frequency adjustment, and an S0239 socket in addition to the Banana plugs to make the unit even more versatile.
The fact that this is a kit should make it a compulsory item that every new ham must build as a part of getting their license!
You will learn a lot about electronics and have a very useful piece of test gear at the end of it.
KF7NN Rating: 2007-11-19
great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
came together nicely, although it soon lost the
program and would only display squares. I got the
software off the internet and reloaded the pic,
works good again! i also installed 10 nimh cells
and a charge jack, in addition i brought out the
serial port to a stereo jack to program it easily.
seems to be accurate as far as i can tell, at least the rig agrees. took me about 4 hours to complete.
VK2VE Rating: 2007-08-31
Great little Unit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just finished the unit a couple of days ago after having the kit sitting here for a few months awaiting the time to put it together. It went together very well. Only minor complaint is that the spacing used on the bannana sockets was not the standard 3/4" used on almost all similar equipment. I'll probably change them for a BNC soon, anyhow. Works well and will be a great adjunct to the test gear here.
VK3PE Rating: 2007-05-20
exccellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just finished building my Analyser. I purchased a PCB and PIC and used the junkbox etc for the rest of the parts. All went together easily although i had problems with final output level. Could not get the 3v p-p. Double checked everything and could not find problems. Finally I found that the PN2222 transistors i used had a reverse pinout to that shown in the instructions! Turned them around and no more problems. Now I need to do some serious antenna building after more than 10 years inactive on the bands.
Glenn VK3PE
VK5HPC Rating: 2007-03-31
Highly recomended Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have now built two of these analysers, one for myself & one for my AR club. Provided you have some experience in constructing electronic projects you will not have trouble, but you must take things slowly & think about what you are doing & you won't go wrong. Once built, they are easy to calibrate & set up. I modified mine with a set of 10 2400Ma/Hr NiMh
"AA" cells & external charge jack, as it tends to be heavy on the batteries. I have used it to set up & wire dipoles, OCF's, a Buddipole & my Hustler 5BTV at my QTH with excellent results. Good work, Jim !
G8OFZ Rating: 2007-03-04
Great kit, Excellent value for money, fun to build! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi, I actually found out about the VK5JST Analyser whilst idly trawling through analyser reviews on this site.
I followed up the links and had to have one - purchased on line. It arrived at my door in the UK six days later, complete down to the last nut & bolt. It was easy to construct and measures everything that matters. Many of the commercial offerings purport to measure this & that but they are just playing with algorithms based on assumptions that may not be correct.
Jim, this is an out & out winner and fantastic value for money!
The PICAXE X28 coming fully loaded was a real bonus.
If you want an Antenna Analyser for HF and don't want to be ripped off, this is for you.
TK5EP Rating: 2007-03-03
A bargain ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi all, i also order this analyser in kit and i must say it is a real bargain for this price !
No parts missing, easy assembly and a fun to use.

I can only recommand it !

73, Patrick
VK2FNET Rating: 2007-01-04
Great device at a good price! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got this device via mail order.

Worked first go (actually i thought it didn't work, before i realized the brightness pot was turned down).

Almost all parts were supplied, i had to buy a few more IC sockets to sit all the ICs for a few cents which is about my only complaint.

I went with the banana plugs opposed to installing an SO-239 connector directly like another reviewer did, so i can make adapters to fit different connectors (PL-259, Type-N, BNC, etc).

I haven't owned an MFJ to compare it to, but reading the reviews regarding their build quality i am happy with my purchase.

Tuned a quad loop with it today and it was resonant first go. :)