LRS member Brian Flynn GM8BJF talked about The Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) at the meeting of the LRS on Wednesday 25th March 2015.
The club is now the proud owner of a 6GHz VNA thanks to the generosity of Norrie GM1CNH. The instrument is an HP8753C with the 6GHz option.
Brian GM8BJF is the custodian of the instrument and serves as its "minder".
A VNA is a useful instrument for measuring the response of one-port devices such as antennas and two-port devices such as amplifiers and filters. Measurements can be made over the range 300kHz to 6GHz with the HP8753C. The talk covered the operation of the instrument along with some background on transmission line measurements and include a demonstration of it in use. Several members brought along items to be measured.
Note: "DUT" = Device Under Test.
Brian first demonstrated the ability of the VNA to measure and display the characteristics
of a diplexer for a 70cm repeater.
Among the items brought for measurement was this 3.2GHz antenna.
Pete GM4BYF: "mInd where you're poking that thing, Andy"!
Bernie GM4WZG needed to get a good look at the VNA display.
After Brian's excellent and well-illustrated talk we repaired to the hotel bar.
L-R: Malcolm GM3TAL, Andy MM0FMF, John GM8OTI, Pete GM4BYF.
Briain GM8PKL, Mike GM8KCS, Brian GM8BJF, Tim MM0TKE (visitor), Melvyn GM4HYR,
Peter GM4DTH (in part)!