NanoVNA

Except for radios, hams don't like to spend a lot of money on things. Recent technology, however, has brought us equipment with fantastic bang for the buck, such as the ICOM IC-7300 transceiver. The NanoVNA is one of these things.

NanoVNA All I knew about VNAs (Vector Network Analyzer) was that they looked sophisticated, and they were expensive. The NanoVNA changed all that.

The NanoVNA is a two-port device that covers a staggering 50kHz - 1GHz frequency range (now tops out at 1.5 GHz for the model I have, after a firmware update in 2019).

At first, what attracted me was the low price, I heard US$50. This is for a tiny one with a 2.8 inch display. The price in C$ in early 2020 is around $60. There is a larger model available with a 4.3 inch display for around C$150. Upon reflection I bought the larger model, which is a good idea for old eyes.

I won't go into the theory of VNAs, there is loads of information on the internet and youtube. This is necessary because the NanoVNA does not come with much documentation.

Until now I was not able to measure SWR above 2 meters. Good UHF test gear was too expensive. With the NanoVNA you can scan your antennas on wide or narrow frequency ranges. And that's just a small part of what the VNA can do.

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