Author Topic: Vector Network Analyzer  (Read 4573 times)

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Offline mountainmanTopic starter

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Vector Network Analyzer
« on: March 12, 2017, 11:11:59 pm »
Hi,

haven't yet seen a EEVBlog where VNAs are explained.

I know how to use one to adapt a antenna (They spit out the smith chart and the bandwith chart i need), but i've never understood how they actually do the measurement.  :-//
AFAIG (As far as i'd guess) they're a more or less a high frequency LCR meter. Pls correct me if i'm wrong.

Would be great to have a few episodes on these:
- How to use em
- How they actually do work
- A teardown of a VNA

Professional VNAs
http://www.keysight.com/de/pcx-x2015001/network-analyzers?cc=DE&lc=ger&tab=x901102
https://www.anritsu.com/en-US/test-measurement/devices-components/vector-network-analyzer
https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/us/products/test-measurement/network-analyzers/pg_overview_64043.html

The poor man's VNAs
http://pocketvna.com
http://miniradiosolutions.com/

Regards
Mountainman
 

Offline mcinque

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2017, 12:27:29 pm »
Would be great to have a few episodes on these:
- How to use em
- How they actually do work
- A teardown of a VNA
Agree, that would be very interesting.
 

Offline Bicurico

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2017, 05:04:03 pm »
In the past, I found this very nice reading to understand the differences: http://www.testandmeasurementtips.com/how-spectrum-analyzers-differ-from-network-analyzers/

Regards,
Vitor
 
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Offline brumster

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2017, 04:44:01 pm »
I'd like to see one used, too, would find this interesting. I've read up a bit anyway but always good to get a Pro's angle...
 

Offline rx8pilot

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2017, 06:18:03 pm »
Yes - VNA is such an interesting tool that is tough to wrap your head around. Why it exists, what it can accomplish, the myriad of traps they offer, calibration, interpretation, etc......
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Offline Lukas

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2017, 06:21:51 pm »
When reading about VNAs, don't forget to take a look at this guy's blog: http://hforsten.com/improved-homemade-vna.html
 
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Offline metrologist

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2017, 07:53:55 pm »
I read a lot about the N2PK and wanted to build one. I started collecting the more difficult components and never got to the board. Anyway, I think that would be a very educational and useful project on the subject.
 

Online JPortici

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2017, 12:54:34 pm »
I'll add my +1 on this. This is still one of those subjects where if you don't already know, don't bother to ask.

 A video on VNA with maybe some non-obvious application (like putting a capacitor to find self resonance)
 

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2017, 12:03:36 am »
I made a series tutorials about using a VNA for beginners. See  http://www.pa4tim.nl/?cat=26

I want to make video' s to accompany them but I do not know if I still can do that because the only thing I did not think about was the video edditing.

My modern fast laptop just died (for the 3rd time and now definitive) and now I use a very nice but rather slow Toshiba Tecra S1 (with a wopping 750 MB mem) a dear friend gave me, (it is running Linux) and I do not know if that is usable. I hear horror stories about massive amounts of memory, huge drives and hex-cores... :-// I'm now in the middele of recording a review from an isolated Siglent scopemeter I borrowed for this. A nice start for a you tube channel but I hope I can do the edditing.
www.pa4tim.nl my collection measurement gear and experiments Also lots of info about network analyse
www.schneiderelectronicsrepair.nl  repair of test and calibration equipment
https://www.youtube.com/user/pa4tim my youtube channel
 

Offline Brumby

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Re: Vector Network Analyzer
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2017, 12:31:06 am »
Video editing is going to vary depending on what software you are going to use - but I would like to offer my observations ....

I have a product from Cyberlink called Power Producer.  I have run it on a dual core Athlon processor that is a few years old, with 2GB RAM.  The import and editing I found to be quite reasonable - it's the "production" step that takes the time.  That is, the process of taking the result of all the editing and creating the output video file.  A 4 minute video took a big chunk out of an hour elapsed on my system.  Fortunately, you can just fire this off and walk away.

I suspect this will be similar for any video editing software - but the better hardware facilities speed up the end-to-end processing time.
 


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