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Reviews For: Array Solutions AIM 4170 by W5BIG

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : Array Solutions AIM 4170 by W5BIG
Reviews: 64MSRP: 520
Description:
Antenna analyzer measures the complex impedance (magnitude and phase) at each frequency of interest in the range of 0.1 to 170 MHz. An advanced program running on your PC is used to calculate several parameters, including WR, R+X, Mag, RL, Angle, and plot the results vs Freq or on a Smith Chart.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.w5big.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00645
K4ELO Rating: 2012-08-08
Super analyzer Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Used to use the 259B. What an upgrade. Anyone who likes to experiment with wire antennas really needs this analyzer. Best things for me are being able to look at a graph of swr by frequency and seeing what the antenna efficiency is at a particular frequency. And being able to save these results to a file for comparisons when you make antenna changes. I love it.
X_W7XV_STARK Rating: 2012-03-26
Great Equipment & Great Company. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The AIM 4170 and ARRAY SOLUTIONS rate a solid 10 in my book. I have had the 4170 for about one year. I bought it before I started rebuilding my station after having been off the air for several years. I have a very small area in my backyard for antennas. Placement and tuning of the antennas was very critical.

The AIM 4170 saved me time and money. It also helped me get the very best performance from my equipment in the space critical environment that I was stuck with.
The AIM 4170 allowed me to see the actual performance of the antenna across the entire band with a single sweep! It displayed numerous measurements of the antenna’s performance in an easy to read graph which I could save for future reference. It has been very helpful to see how the performance of my antennas has changed over time and in various weather conditions. I can’t imagine running my station without this analyzer. It has become the most frequently used piece of test equipment in my station.

There is another reason I love this company. Several weeks ago I returned a piece of equipment that was not working well with my old desktop. During the return exchange an error in the refund process occurred. I did not notice the error. Recently Array solutions contacted me and notified me that an error had been made. The company then credited back to my credit card the amount that I was due. It was a significant amount of money.
I have never had an experience like this. Have you?

Array solution’s equipment is the best of the best. Their honesty and integrity is outstanding! They have my highest recommendation and my future business.

W7MLS
G3UJE Rating: 2012-02-01
A very excellent and professional product. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered this analyzer online from the W5BIG site last Friday (27/1/2012) and was astounded when it arrived in the UK at 11am on the following Monday. Obviously, I am still getting used to all the features of the device but so far I am very impressed with the customer service and the overall quality of the product. Being a keen experimenter with LF antennas, I have very quickly realised that I should have purchased the AIM 4170C a long time ago! It seems to do exactly what it says and is beautifully engineered. I can fully endorse the copious praises made within other reviews on this site and would like to thank the W5BIG team for an extremely professional product.
VE3PBE Rating: 2012-01-05
Great Tool for Tough Jobs! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Every job has a RIGHT tool. This AIM 4170C IS aboslutely the right tool for RF system tuning.
Great service, with excellent uncluttered software.

Living in a very tight Urban subdivision (4'-8' apart) where aestheics force stealth and attic antennas.
However, the attics are pyramid-shaped roofs with soffits, gutters, down spouts, facia and roof valleys are all metal.
It's really rough to find something to work from 40-10M with any gain or directionality.

Using the 4NEC2 design software (reviewed on this site) I found a wire beam geometry that could work.
However, determiining all the real affects of the surrounding objects, house wiring, velocity prop. changes using 12ga insulated wire, roof attenuations, etc., were too tough to model in software. This the job the 4170C was built to do.

The AIM 4170C became the right tool to use. With my laptop, I could plot the theoretical band response vs actual. After installation, I found about a 2MHz discrepancy. With this new ratio I pruned my installation and used the SWR prortional audible tone feature to do the fine tuning. I got to SWR 1.2 on 40M and 1.45 on 10M as a natural resonance.
With MFJ low-end tuner I got the whole thing to tune beautifully from 80-10M. The 4170C also showed bad connections in my Co-ax with it's TDR function and ant. potential for 2M.
I now have one antenna with 1 coax cable, no balun, for all my HAM work!
Thanks, W5BIG! Great product!

Only problem now is the household touch lamps modulate with transmissions over 20W output!
Next project.
KB7AZ Rating: 2011-09-13
Essential for Antenna Design and Tuning Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The AIM-4170C is a truly five-star performer. I live in an antenna-restricted area and build my own stealth antennas. The AIM-4170C has been instrumental in getting my antennas properly tuned. I recently retired from being an RF communication design engineer, and the AIM-4170C provides the same types of measurements that I am used to using. The TDR function shows the impedance vs. distance and the absolute phase and amplitude measurements give me the information I need to design matching networks. The Smith Chart presentation helps visualize the system under test. I use the AIM-4170C with a small laptop computer, which also powers the analyzer, and taking the laptop along is more than worth the effort.
W1HFN Rating: 2011-09-06
FANTASTIC! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Probably the best ham radio accessory I ever bought. Every time I use it, I find some new feature that amazes me. In the past, when I built an antenna(lots of them in 52 years as a ham) I never really knew its characteristics. You do not get too much info from an SWR bridge, the 4170 tells you so much more.
W1ZST Rating: 2011-08-07
Essential for Antenna Work Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The AIM4170C gives a fast graphical picture of each antenna I have made or installed. It was critical to quickly adjust the traps on a 6BTV w/ radials and takes the guesswork out of it and eliminates many one-at-a-time measurements. It set up in minutes and the software is easy to install and use. The only "issue" was getting the right COM port. I used a USB-to-serial adapter w/ no problem.

Scanning is quick and makes it fast and easy to see effects of nearby objects, different feed cables, etc.

I got a real person (friendly and helpful) when I called about the order, since the unit was backordered.

Highly recommended and lives up to the great reviews here on eHam.
F1BZF Rating: 2011-06-14
A must Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Very useful item. Able to sweep on frequency. Software updates with documentation free and a forum for help.
Why waiting for else ?
AF2RF Rating: 2011-01-20
only two regrets Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I regret I waited so long to buy it, it is incredible! I regret I didn't wait longer, to get the newer UHF capable one! Now I have to buy another one!
W2OZ Rating: 2010-08-13
AIM4170 works with Window Eyes Screen Reader Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I am back in the antenna hobby better than ever! Thanks to Bob W5BIG and the Array Solutions AIM4170/688D, of all the antenna analyzer makers contacted over the last several years most of whom never answered my request for a serial ASCII text output of the readouts, but the AIM has a very complete interface with the screen reader WindowEyes V7.2 by GWMicro.com. Beside the graphical screen outputs of scanned antennas, the option of Excel .CSV files allows for textual examination of data in a few seconds the full 2m band was scanned on my target antenna with 16 reading averaging ,frequency increments of 10 KHz and all the antenna parameters saved including both series and parallel equivalent resistance and reactance. Also very useful 1 the Distance to fault' mode for finding velocity factors and characteristic impedance , 2 the Tone , varying tone in the 'Tune mode of the Point Data' mode where one frequency of interest can be entered the excitation continues and the antenna SWR can be adjusted by minimizing the audible tone pitch. Bob has been instrumental and patient in taking the risk with me and answering my crazy questions, but his AIM has made this blind EE capable once again.