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Reviews For: RigExpert AA-54

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : RigExpert AA-54
Reviews: 71MSRP:
Description:
RigExpert AA-54 is powerful antenna analyzer designed for testing, checking, tuning or repairing antennas and antenna feedlines in the range of 0.1 to 54 MHz. USB connection to computer.
Product is not in production
More Info: https://rigexpert.com/discontinued-products/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00714.9
AF6JL Rating: 2013-11-05
Great Software support Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my unit for over 2 years and am very pleased with it. I can easily home-brew wire antennas and tune commercial models to operate as I require. I have used Windows XP and more recently Windows8. Recently I had a problem with the drivers being properly applied (windows would not identify the device) A few emails to the support address solved the problem. They asked me to send screen captures of my device file etc and, using these, told me how to make it play. Timely and accurate help. Good product and support
W9RRR Rating: 2013-10-20
If you play with antennas... this is the 1 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have used antenna analyzers before from M__ and they were big and bulky and "dumb". THIS one is great! Love the graphing display. Makes tuning my Buddipole a snap!
VA3KAH Rating: 2013-09-08
Antenna Analyzer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have only used the analyzer for less than an hour, and can attest that it is a well made, easy to use and functional unit. I bought the AA-54 based upon good reviews on eHam. The unit is the right size and construction for hand holding in the field. The display is bright and intuitive, and can be read without glasses by older hams like me. Testing SWR is easy and the controls are intuitive. For setting up my antennas, and troubleshooting wire antennas this unit can't be beat. After years of using a grid dip meter and trial and error trimming, this unit makes it a cinch to see your SWR over its entire 54 MHz range. Zoom in easily to read SWR and impedance in detail. The software installation is easy and amount of detail from stored measurements (or live if connected) is incredible. I highly recommend this for anyone - beginner or advanced.
N7MCH Rating: 2013-07-31
Easy to use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I never had the need for an analyzer until I ran into a problem with a new antenna - first time homebrew. After researching all available out there, I decided on the RigExpert AA-54. Within the first hour of receiving it, I was able to set it up, analyze the antenna in question and fix the problem. The AA-54 is a great unit for the first time user and has all the needed features in an easy to use lightweight configuration. For the price, I think its the best buy out there.
W6HSC Rating: 2013-07-15
Superb and accurate instrument Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The instrument is simply excellent and accurate! It makes competing portable units appear very sad and lacking. The only improvement to the AA-54 would be the AIM-4170C, but that requires a computer which essentially makes it less than portable.

Another big plus for the AA-54 is the use of two AA batteries. I have thought abut buying the AA-230, but I just don't need it. I heartily recommend the AA-54.
VK2IN Rating: 2013-07-05
Excellent! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I did a bit of reading which compared the various analyzers, eg MFJ-259 and the Youkits etc.

I'm so glad I bought this one! I echo the 5/5 rating from the other reviewers. Its so capable with many features and it's accurate to boot!

IMO any ham that loves to build home brew antennas (or tweak commercial ones) needs a competent analyzer. This is by far the best of the bunch, IMHO. You'd be bonkers to buy anything else except if you're on a tight budget the Youkits FG-01 would do an adequate job at a slightly cheaper price.
KG4FMQ Rating: 2013-06-12
Very nice analyzer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my first analyzer, and every ham or radio person should have one! I did a lot of research on the Mighty Fine Junk models, and I was not impressed with them. I have also used one, and did not like it. Now the Rig Expert AA-54 on the other hand is a very QUALITY product! Sure its more expensive, but you get what you pay for, and test equipment should not be cheap, and poor quality. This meter does just about everything you could want, and is very accurate. You can even tie it to a PC to recover data, or plot antenna radiation patterns. This is the tool to have in the shack! Bottom line....I would buy it again! You cannot go wrong with any of their models!
WA4NUN Rating: 2013-05-21
Simple and easy power tool Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been wanting an affordable antenna analyzer for quite a while that would easily allow me to experiment with wire antennas that work well on two or more bands with a single feed. There are others that will do it, but they line up hoops and you have to start jumping through them. After watching the ARRL You tube video and many others, as well as the eham revues on this and other rig expert analyzers, the decision was a no brainer. Fan dipole in any configuration up to five bands, push just a very few buttons, and read the SWR on all five input ranges. When it is right....then go back in the house and hook it to the radio. After using the very simple graphing etc to check my existing single band antennas, moving on to the three more complex multiple band antennas should be a breeze to tweak to max efficiency without touching the radio. The software interface adds much more power that I have not touched yet. Me thinks I have a lot of goodness to look forward to.
WW6M Rating: 2013-03-30
Great Analyzer--No Support! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I emailed the folks at Rig Expert a question about the firmware on my AA-54 and updating it. I never got a reply. Even though I purchased it late last year (2012), the firmware was 2 generations out of date. Additionally, the software that came on the enclosed disk was Windows 98 era! It would not work on an XP system. So I downloaded the latest software, installed the latest firmware and everything is O.K. I just don't get why they don't respond to legitimate questions when they have a support site, and why in the world they would include Windows 98 software in a 2012 shipment...
KU7PDX Rating: 2013-02-09
Worth the extra cost over a MFJ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've put off buying an antenna analyzer for some time. I always thought that I could get away with the old way of measuring wire out and then manually tuning the antenna length up. While this is the "cheap" way to do it, it is a huge hassle if you want to run portable or ever want to try out something new at home.

When I first started looking for a good analyzer, I started where everyone else pretty much does: What is the "best" and what is the "cheapest?"

Well, the "best" would be something like a Timewave AntennaSmith and at $1,000 for the TZ-900 I would certainly hope so. It's what any broadcast engineer that works on AM stations would get, why not amateur radio too? :-)

The "cheapest" would probably end up being something like the MFJ-259B at around $290. You can save $20 if you don't need the analog meters for the MFJ-249B. I thought it was interesting how their antenna analyzers take 10 AA batteries, definitely not appreciated given the reviews I've read. Also, I've noticed that in video reviews, the MFJ units tend to creep in measurement as they "warm up" (or maybe just as the batteries go dead).

Up until about a month ago, I really thought I had settled for something in the middle, the YouKits FG-01. Sure, the manual is almost in English, and you have to get the special sized batteries from somewhere like eBay or Amazon.com, but man that screen is pretty nice! Well, that is until I realized the screen was barely larger than a postage stamp. :-(

This finally brought me to the RigExpert series of analyzers. Perfect 5-star reviews and only costing a bit more than MFJ for their AA-54. Sure, it doesn't do VHF/UHF, but I don't need a box that does everything kinda okay, I needed a box that does one thing extremely well.

The AA-54 has a large screen and the controls are extremely intuitive. Sure, I did have to reference the manual a bit, but now that I have a basic understanding of the button labels I'm confident the manual will just live on the shelf. Another great feature is that it only takes 2 AA batteries! No need to buy the bulk battery packs at Costco just to get my antenna tuned up!

The final selling point for me was that a PC could be connected to the AA-54 to download data. Not just a Windows PC though, they also support Mac OS and even Linux. Well, they'll support anything that supports a COM port as they've published the communication protocol on their website.

I did notice that my unit was shipped with an older firmware, but the latest firmware was published 12/24/2012 so I completely understand. The firmware update process was extremely easy on my Windows 8 computer. I've also interfaced my AA-54 with my MacBook running AAplot.

My latest project has been a portable dipole antenna for 10 through 20 meters (kinda like a Buddipole) and that took about an hour to get dialed in and to get the measurements documented for future deployments. My next project will be a quick deploy fan dipole antenna for 20/40/80/160 and know that the AA-54 will be worth it's weight in gold!