Tiny Spectrum Analyser - Any Good?

I found a case on eBay that someone is making with a 3D printer (I think). It required a little "pocket knife modification" but overall made a decent case for it.

 

I have the Nano VNA-F ($92) and have never tried to read the screen as it is easier to run the NanoVNASaver program and use my computer screen.

 

I'd like someone to make one in the same package as the Nano-F, metal case and 4.3" screen. I had a 2.8" Nano, and it worked well but was a little small for my taste.

 

bought one early spring before I redid all my antenna's (rotatable di-pole, dual bander, 6m Ringo, GMRS repeater plus 6m/2m/70cm & 2m yagi) Best money I ever spend. Especially for tuning the MFJ-1785 rotatable di-pole tri bander.
Compared to my MFJ antenna analyzer, The Nano-VNA does tons more things and seeing a graph not just a meter is great + greater frequency range, sweep coax, duplexers, line loss, Smith chart, find attenuation, measure coax, find bad spot and see SWR , Especialy if you multi swr dips. The photo is a 6 foot jumper connected to a dummy load and the VNA.it's supposed to be a relatively straight line. This is a bad piece of coax. Let's see you find this with a meter
FYI- Anybody want to buy an MFJ antenna analyzer? Really contact me

 

This looks like the Christmas present that I wanted years ago, that did not exist. I could have been developing new antennas for the R. Signals while I was serving years ago

 

Much like " a picture can save a 1,000 works " anything with a graphing screen saves lots of time .

Point being many of the antenna analyzers with only meters - can do many more things than just what the meters appears to show - it just takes more effort , writing down and doing math to get what the meters reading can be used with math / formulas to combine to make many other information about what we might be looking for , here is one of about 26 videos from the Atlanta Radio Club with Martin F. Jue , check YouTube for the other 20-some videos .


Of course now with all these other very low cost goodies like the nanoVNA , TinySA etc.
I do like analog stuff , because so much of he digital gets me stuck , not as computer literate as needed to keep things working ;(
Right now my nanoVNA v2 Plus4 is bricked and as far as I can find , my Macbook will not work with reloading / updating firmware .
So keeping my MFJ 269 as a backup , is handy .

 

Sounds like you have long sightedness. Get some reading glasses...
Then you will enjoy using this great tool.

 

Best tool in the shack.
So easy to use with a pc or laptop to store the swept data. You can recall old data and compair with a new sweep.
Knocks spots off the mfj and at a fraction of the cost...
Runs longer than the power hungry mfj, recharges from the pc its uploading the data to.
Fits in my shirt pocket, and can be used when portable to verify a knockup antenna in the field, better than carrying a swr meter...
If you haven't tried one yet, then it's high time you did.

 

Great for the price! Install NanoVNA Saver on your laptop and away you go with a nice big easy to read screen. I use mine all the time and don't know how I built antennas with out one in the past.

 

Most people think "20/20" vision means that their vision is good, but it means that you can see something clearly from 20 feet away that the average person would be able to see from that distance.

 

Where is it made?

 

I have both the 2.8" and the 4" NanoVNA. These are superb tools for messing around with antennas and RF filters/amps. However, looking at how visually similar internal hardware appears to be, I was naively hoping it was just a firmware update to turn one of my NanoVNA into a tinySA! The reviews seem overwhelmingly positive, so I will order mine very soon! For the price, I think it's rude not to.

 

Based on this OP, I bought a tinySA. Obviously its not an Anritsu but is sure is handy for many portable measurements. I think it will open up many antenna and RF opportunities for experimentation, that only a few years ago, needed an HP spectrum analyzer, ad so on.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what can this "tiny Spectrum Analyzer" do that an antenna analyzer can't? If I have an antenna analyzer, do I need a spectrum analyzer as well? Why?

Thanks,
Ali.

 

A spectrum analyzer is aimed at displaying the various frequencies with their power.
It is basically a device that receive and display information of the spectrum.
A network analyzer is aimed at identifying how the power is propagating in a device.
The power can be transmitted, or reflected. Among its many possible uses, it is a nice companion to tune antennas.
It is basically a transmit device.

If you want to tune an antenna with a network analyzer you will need aditional equipments
- tracking generator or noise source
- Reflection bridge

So to answer your question, both tools are complementary but can not replace each other.
If your main objective is to transmit using commercial transmitters, then I would recommend to start with the analyzer, as there is always a need to check that your antennas are behaving well.

Hope it clarifies.
73.
Ghislain F4HGA KX4UX