Vector Network Analyser

Because I'm always tinkering with antennas, a few months ago I saw this and decided to buy one. Probably the best thing I ever bought! The NanoVNA comes in many different flavours. The one I got was the NanoVNA-H. At the time of ordering I thought that the screen would be a bit small, but it is manageable. It measures all kinds of things, half of which I don't really understand. But for measuring impedance, SWR and insertion loss its just great. It can be used for lots more measurements when using the other channel connection like length of cable runs and fault finding etc. but I doubt I will ever use them. Like they say 'Its better to have it and not use it than not have it at all'.

If you are struggling with the screen, there's no need to worry because there is free software, NanoVNA-Saver, that solves that problem. A typical snapshot is shown above. I can now build stuff and test it there and then with this nifty little device. As with all these devices, there are a lot of fakes out there so it pays to read the vendor's feedback. I do recommend that any radio operator should have one in their toolbox.