Hi all,

Just received new tool to improve radio station! the new antenna analyzer from Rig Expert which will give you all parameters from your vertical or horizontal antenna:

Caracteristics:

Frequency range: AA-30: 0.1 to 30 MHz, AA-54: 0.1 to 54 MHz

Frequency entry: 1 kHz resolution

SWR measurement range: 1 to 10
SWR measurement for 50 and 75-Ohm systems
SWR display: numerical or easily-readable bar
R and X range: 0…1000, -1000…1000 in numerical mode, 0…200, -200…200 in graph mode

Display modes:
– SWR at single or multiple (AA-54 only) frequencies
– SWR, R, X, Z, L, C at single frequency
– SWR graph, 100 points
– R, X graph, 100 points

RF output:
– Connector type: UHF (SO-239)
– Output signal shape: rectangular, 0.1…10 MHz (AA-30) or 0.1…10.8 MHz (AA-54). For higher frequencies, third or fifth (AA-54) harmonics are used.
– Output power: about + 13 dBm (at 50 Ohm load)

Power:
– Two 1.5V, alcaline batteries, type AA *
– Two 1.2V, 1800…2700 mA·h, Ni-MH batteries, type AA *
– Max. 3 hours of continuous measurement, max. 2 days in stand-by mode when fully charged batteries are used
– When the analyzer is connected to a PC or a DC adapter with USB socket, it takes power from these sources

Interface:
– 128×64 graphical backlit LCD
– 6×3 keys on the water-proof keypad
– AA-54: multilingual menus and help screens, AA-30:menus and help screens in English language
– USB connection to a personal computer

Dimensions: 22·10·3.6 cm (9·4·1.5”);

Operating temperature: 0…40 °C (32…104 °F)

Weight (including batteries): 400g (14 Oz)

* Ni-MH batteries are not included with the analyzer. Users can purchase these batteries with a corresponding charging adapter.

Let’s have a look here:

 http://www.rigexpert.com/index?s=aa54

For example , I realised some technical measures of my Home made 4 elements Moxon designed by Dave*30DA016 (http://www.dx4.us/  ) which is at 7m off the ground and we see that I have to reduce the dimensions of each elements to have a new central frequency nearly around the 27.555Mhz.

For this test, the best is to be the closest as possible from the antenna, but in this quick overview, I made the measurements from the shack.

Results may vary depending on the length of coaxial cable you have.

I did some tests on some home made verticals and in this case, I did not see much difference between the results outside and inside shack (maybe in this case coaxial line didn’t change really the characteristics). Anyway, the best would be to connect the AA-54 with a short coax. to the antenna!

The main menu of the analyzer

*First measure: 27.555Mhz

So the SWR is correct but R value is not really at 50 ohms so I think it will be interesting to try reducing the size of antenna to be nearly perfectly tuned around 27.555Mhz

*Then:

You can locate the central frequency with the buttons on top of keyboard and we see that the frequency which you can find R=50 ohms is around 27.389Mhz , so next step could be to reduce all antenna dimensions and see the the results..! 😉

Let’s wait spring or summer time to test it really ! More to come soon!

Stay tuned!

Diégo*14IR184