I absolutely love these 2 videos! Thank you! Given I have 2 Frequency Counters, I REALLY had a need for an RF Power Meter. This seams to meet that. I would have love to have seen more on that aspect of this instrument. Perhaps you could do a video of that?
So I'm pretty excited to find this. I'm considering using one of these to check our racers power output and frequency before the race. We limit to 200mw and I feel like we have a few guys who's transmitters aren't well calibrated.
Hi, first thanks for all your great videos, I am learning a lot from them. Now the questions: 1 in your videos you connect the antennas directly to the usb adapter and directly to the computer, if you had to use an 10 meter extension, will you use a long USB cable or an antenna cable extension? , how about a transmission test? (point the antenna to a parking spot 300 meter away drive there and check how well are you receiving the signal)
Hi Andrew trying to understand mw vs dbm and when using an online calculator I see 1100mw it comes back as just over 30dbm is this not to much for the power meter ? Sorry if in being a newbie! Thanks Idor
Me again. I don't know much about RF and RF measurement so this could be a really stupid question. Can you attach an antenna to the meter and test how efficient it is? I know you use the "point an antenna out the window and count access points and measure signal strength" method for WiFi but developing a repeatable testing procedure for a 5.8GHz FPV Tx, and the antenna being used, would be of great benefit to the RC community.
+James Lamb If you had access to a RF anechoic chamber then you could use it to get an idea of an antennas performance. Using it in the lab there is to much interference and reflection one thing I did not mention in the video is this unit is sensitive and the readout will fluctuate without anything connected and it picks up RF pollution.
+andrew mcneil hello I just wanted to ask if you are going to make any external cell phone antennas projects? Some to stick on the back of my cellphone case or inside the batter compartment. I seen the video for a tablet wifi antenna you made but what about Data/cell service?
looks a handy tool indeed! i used a mfj-259b antenna analyzer a lotyears ago to design mainly my shortwave antenna`s and doing great except that the max freq is about 520 mhz for this, i would like to have something like this but which is capable for 2,4ghz, i think this would be very expensive? i didnt see anything from mfj what gos beyond 520mhz. any ideas?
Hi Andrew, i have to ask u, how can you connect the usb to the laptop when the socket is in the frontpanel, did you make a extra usb socket on the back of the unit, i was thinking about it, its more handy dan a usb socket in the frontpanel.
Hi Andrew, in your video you demonstrate it on higher frequencies which look great. However I can't see anything measured in the MHz range, myself and a friend bought this kit and it is very unstable on Channel A. Did you test yours in the MHZ range at all and do you still use it? This is the video of the behaviour on my friends unit: th-cam.com/video/VYtGDr_qtQU/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/sCLSvnQGb5E/w-d-xo.html
To be honest I have not turned this on in about 3 years but no I don’t think I ever tested it in the MHz range. At the time I got this there was a thread on the eevblog forums and I can’t remember anybody commenting about poor performance in the MHz range.
@@andrewmcneil Thank you for the quick reply, I'm a member of the EEVBlog and posted in the thread on there earlier, strangely enough just after you replied someone replied on there and said there is a "Bug" with this unit and theirs suffers too. I'm "TheBay" on EEVblog, just checking back there now and someone has linked a post to a QRP forum detailing this issue. Might be worth a read if you're interested.
@@dalerobinsuk Will do I do have a project in mind for this because it has excellent data logging and graphing capabilities but it is on a long list of things to do. Interesting that the bug is in the lower frequencies though as it is usually the other way around.
@@andrewmcneil Yes you would think it would be the other way around, but as the least significant digits are in the KHz range not the Hz range higher up it's a software issue, if it was the analogue front end you would see it more as the 5.8GHz board is a pre-scaler and just multiples, so any error/fluctuation in the analogue front end would be multiplied and really noticeable.
You need to get you units right. If you put 1000mW into it with out attenuator you will kill it. 1000mW is +30dBm. I have one of the units its a peace of crap. I don't recommend it to anyone.
I absolutely love these 2 videos! Thank you!
Given I have 2 Frequency Counters, I REALLY had a need for an RF Power Meter. This seams to meet that.
I would have love to have seen more on that aspect of this instrument.
Perhaps you could do a video of that?
So I'm pretty excited to find this. I'm considering using one of these to check our racers power output and frequency before the race. We limit to 200mw and I feel like we have a few guys who's transmitters aren't well calibrated.
excellent video, very useful to me. Thanks.
Hi, first thanks for all your great videos, I am learning a lot from them. Now the questions: 1 in your videos you connect the antennas directly to the usb adapter and directly to the computer, if you had to use an 10 meter extension, will you use a long USB cable or an antenna cable extension? , how about a transmission test? (point the antenna to a parking spot 300 meter away drive there and check how well are you receiving the signal)
Hi Andrew trying to understand mw vs dbm and when using an online calculator I see 1100mw it comes back as just over 30dbm is this not to much for the power meter ? Sorry if in being a newbie!
Thanks
Idor
Me again. I don't know much about RF and RF measurement so this could be a really stupid question. Can you attach an antenna to the meter and test how efficient it is? I know you use the "point an antenna out the window and count access points and measure signal strength" method for WiFi but developing a repeatable testing procedure for a 5.8GHz FPV Tx, and the antenna being used, would be of great benefit to the RC community.
+James Lamb If you had access to a RF anechoic chamber then you could use it to get an idea of an antennas performance. Using it in the lab there is to much interference and reflection one thing I did not mention in the video is this unit is sensitive and the readout will fluctuate without anything connected and it picks up RF pollution.
+andrew mcneil hello I just wanted to ask if you are going to make any external cell phone antennas projects? Some to stick on the back of my cellphone case or inside the batter compartment. I seen the video for a tablet wifi antenna you made but what about Data/cell service?
looks a handy tool indeed! i used a mfj-259b antenna analyzer a lotyears ago to design mainly my shortwave antenna`s and doing great except that the max freq is about 520 mhz for this, i would like to have something like this but which is capable for 2,4ghz, i think this would be very expensive? i didnt see anything from mfj what gos beyond 520mhz. any ideas?
Andrew how does one have a private consult with you?
Hi Andrew, i have to ask u, how can you connect the usb to the laptop when the socket is in the frontpanel, did you make a extra usb socket on the back of the unit, i was thinking about it, its more handy dan a usb socket in the frontpanel.
Hi Jos yes I just soldered wires to the headed pins to extend out to the back
I can't find part one, has it been uploaded yet?
+James Lamb Here James th-cam.com/video/6Ib0HI1puB8/w-d-xo.html
+andrew mcneil
Thanks Andrew, don't know how I missed it the first time, a senior moment maybe. Cheers again.
u did forget to say that you have to shorted channel A or use a 50ohm BNC terminator, befor you u adjust the potmeter P2
Hi Andrew, in your video you demonstrate it on higher frequencies which look great. However I can't see anything measured in the MHz range, myself and a friend bought this kit and it is very unstable on Channel A.
Did you test yours in the MHZ range at all and do you still use it? This is the video of the behaviour on my friends unit: th-cam.com/video/VYtGDr_qtQU/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/sCLSvnQGb5E/w-d-xo.html
To be honest I have not turned this on in about 3 years but no I don’t think I ever tested it in the MHz range. At the time I got this there was a thread on the eevblog forums and I can’t remember anybody commenting about poor performance in the MHz range.
Just looked at your video and I would contact the company originally mine shipped with a faulty chip and they replaced it without any issues
@@andrewmcneil Thank you for the quick reply, I'm a member of the EEVBlog and posted in the thread on there earlier, strangely enough just after you replied someone replied on there and said there is a "Bug" with this unit and theirs suffers too. I'm "TheBay" on EEVblog, just checking back there now and someone has linked a post to a QRP forum detailing this issue. Might be worth a read if you're interested.
@@dalerobinsuk Will do I do have a project in mind for this because it has excellent data logging and graphing capabilities but it is on a long list of things to do. Interesting that the bug is in the lower frequencies though as it is usually the other way around.
@@andrewmcneil Yes you would think it would be the other way around, but as the least significant digits are in the KHz range not the Hz range higher up it's a software issue, if it was the analogue front end you would see it more as the 5.8GHz board is a pre-scaler and just multiples, so any error/fluctuation in the analogue front end would be multiplied and really noticeable.
You need to get you units right. If you put 1000mW into it with out attenuator you will kill it. 1000mW is +30dBm. I have one of the units its a peace of crap. I don't recommend it to anyone.