if you are a ham ,General Class... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: vallywally5
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 12:29:10 pm
content: ja , good day to all off you and peace in your mind/elswere you want ;if so, what do you consier are the most 0ne hundred (just joking) measurements aparature.Why this question ?1. why not2. a life experince of others may be " a school" for me/new generationSo, my interes is in your first , lets say three best measurements aparature you consider to be most important in ham activity ....thanks a lotP.S. suyplimentar question : if you have a oscilloscope and a spectrum analyzer , which one you select ? (from a ham point of view, not a professsional electronist )Merci.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 12:44:04 pm
content: Multimeter, tape measure, wall clock.

author: Dan123456
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 01:19:07 pm
content: My god… I think I’ve had a stroke reading this threadNa, JokesI’m just having some friendly fun with you mateFrom what I understand, you are looking for somewhere to learn about HAM radio’s?I am not into it myself but have heard that most larger cities usually have a HAM club and have heard they are pretty excited to get new people in to keep it goingOther than that, YouTube as always is an amazing resource and I’d imagine old books on the subject are still pretty good for a lot of stuff tooHope that helps a little

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 01:34:40 pm
content: Quote from: Dan123456 on November 04, 2023, 01:19:07 pmNo, unfortunately that is not vallywally5's situation and question, I believe:Quote from: vallywally5 on October 25, 2017, 10:23:36 am

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 02:04:46 pm
content: I am assuming you do not wish to fix a radio but evaluate your system. An antenna analyzer is great for this and the new ones are amazing, but a cheap oldSWR/Power Meteris frequently all you need. Most problems I see are because of less than optimal antenna system, Feed line,Connectors and Antennas. You can easily loose half your power in your antenna system,Between a Scope and a Spectrum, definitely the Spectrum. But this mostly evaluates the output of your radio, which these days if pretty good with the exception of some of the hand held VHF radios. The FFT functions on the new scopes are nice also, but not as easy to use as dedicated SA. The little new inexpensive SAs appear to be quite capable apparently but I do not have one.Definitely theMultimeterandTape measure, and some sort ofantenna analyzeror SWR meter (even though many radios incorporate this function)Sometimes with an antenna analyzer,things look pretty good until you apply real power to the antenna, that's why I include a SWR/Power Meter.If you wish to spend some money and get all sorts of information about your antenna system, the Digital Vector Wattmeter by N8LP does all sorts of analysis.http://telepostinc.com/lp100.html

author: vallywally5
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 11:23:04 am
content: Thanks for your answers ; well it was a simple questiongood job for ebastler and Wallace Gasiewiczbonne sante pour Dan123456 , 73 !

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 01:54:12 pm
content: There are no simple questions, just complex answers. HA!Juste une blague

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 02:03:30 pm
content: Best person to ask about ham radio around here is member bd139 -https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=143772He has some very good experience with the hobby.

author: Fryguy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 04:53:30 pm
content: The three most useful pieces of equipment for a ham are these :1. Multimeter - for checking all kinds of basic stuff at any time .2. Vector network analyzer - primarily for designing/checking/tuning your antennas and coax cables in "dry-run-mode" with no real hf power on them .3. SWR/Power meter - to get a live view of your antenna tuning and radiated power , when you put real hf power on your antennas .A good multimeter is easy to find and not that expensive - but the other two . . .The spectrum analyzer is a great tool if you want to repair and/or fine-tune transceivers , filters and amplifiers - but it's not needed , if you don't want to go deeper into the hardware . And that piece of equipment will be really expensive (if it is a good one from a known manufacturer) !I don't add the tape measure here because . . . . everybody already owns one - who doesn't ?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 05:37:25 pm
content: Quote from: Fryguy on November 05, 2023, 04:53:30 pmSure. My post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek -- and trying to counteract Gear Aquisition Syndrome.When thinking about "most useful tools", is a pretty good indicator to consider which ones are "most often used", I'd say...

author: Fryguy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 06:09:13 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on November 05, 2023, 05:37:25 pmQuite right - but that was not the question of the TS .If you narrow it down , it says : . . . the three most important pieces of measuring equipment in ham activity . . .And i consider the most important measuring equipment to be that , which helps you preventing the destruction of your ham radio equipment and getting top results ! How often you use it is not essential . . .

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 06:20:13 pm
content: Lots of antenna analyzers do the VNA stuff for antennas. Like Smith chart and Impedance.

author: fourfathom
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2023, 07:17:32 pm
content: Quote from: Wallace Gasiewicz on November 05, 2023, 06:20:13 pmBut AFAIK there is no reason to buy a ham "antenna analyzer" when the NanoVNA (either version) goes a great job for less money.Oscilloscope vs spectrum analyzer? I have multiples of each, but if you're getting started in electronics, or even just ham radio, I would get an O'scope first. The TinySA spectrum analyzer is incredibly useful and quite inexpensive, so get that as your starter SA.About the TinySA and NanoVNA, I got those because they were so cheap and I wanted to see how well they performed. The answer is: well enough that I use them all the time, when I don't want to lug around the heavy and expensive stuff.

author: p.larner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2023, 06:19:40 am
content: my most used tool is 1 tape measure 2 nanovna 3 dmm 4 scope,used to have an old hp rectum paralyser,got it to align a ts-430,it then got used as an expensive bandscope for a while before flogging it.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2023, 09:59:25 am
content: For the "mainstream hams" the nanovna and a cheapo handheld multimeter is all they need (checking the shorts, batteries, cables, etc). In last 3 years almost all mainstream hams here acquired their own nanovna (I recommend them the H4 usually). We are regularly building and tuning antennas for their home qth and for sota/ff (mainly EFHW4010 or 8010), as well as 2m/70cm jpoles and yagis.Oscope and other test rigs weighting more than 250g are not needed for the mainstream hams, unless you do repair or development..

author: Fryguy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2023, 07:43:18 pm
content: Do you own a tape measure , iMo ?

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2023, 12:35:22 am
content: You don't need to go big to gain some insight or learn.How about the low tech tools you already own or can make easily?Your radio receivers are already quite capable tools.Don't underestimate the tape measure for all things antenna.Sound card/even mobile phone allows a lot of AF stuff, signal generation, signal analysis.Simple field strength meter and power meters based on diodes and even a analog movement.Amplifier and headphone.Reasonably cheap things like a RTLSDR receiver?Vy 73Hendrik