How much do I need to spend to get a decent SWR meter?

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JoshuaHufford

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Been thinking about getting one. There are so many to choose from and the price range is huge, don't even know where to start.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

mmckenna

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"Decent" means a lot of different things to different people.

It really comes down to what you are expecting it to do, and how much "error" you are willing to accept.

For a simple HF, VHF or UHF meter, you can get a cheap MFJ meter pretty inexpensively. Same with the stuff out of China.
If you are looking for something that will do more, you can get some Diamond units that will do HF, VHF and UHF usually covering up to a few hundred watts.

Those are usually good enough for amateur/hobby use.

The "gold standard" is the Bird 43, but that's probably beyond what you are looking for. Great if you are doing professional stuff, but usually a bit much for hobby use.

In addition to looking at an SWR meter, consider some of the lower end antenna analyzers. They'll tell you a lot more about your antennas and are handy if you are building your own antennas. They won't (usually) measure RF power, so testing transmitter output would be better left to an SWR meter/watt meter/directional watt meter.
 

JoshuaHufford

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Maybe what I am looking for is an antenna analyzer. I only receive, at some point I'm considering getting my license but for now I'm content with where I'm at. Most of what I like to listen to is at 160MHz and 890-960Mhz. I would like trying to build some of my own antennas at some point.

I'm not looking for the best thing out there, but I don't want to waste money on something that isn't even worthwhile and isn't going to tell me anything useful.

Thanks for the input.
 

mmckenna

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For receive only antennas, getting measurements "close" is usually good enough.

If you really want to test receive antennas for resonate frequency (where it should work best), then the antenna analyzer is the way to go.

An SWR meter needs a transmitter to send the signal, so useless with just a receiver.

If you are going to get your amateur ticket, then you'll likely want an SWR meter as part of your test gear. You don't need an expensive one to tell you what your antennas/transmitter is doing, though. You do need one that covers the right frequencies.

I have both, a Bird 43 along with various slugs for different frequency bands and power levels, a 100 watt 50Ω terminator and various test cables and adapters.
At work, I've got one, along with a spectrum analyzer with tracking generator, that will do antenna analysis. My go-to tool for checking antennas is the antenna analyzer. Usually the SWR meter is just used to check transmitter output.

If you have the budget, get the antenna analyzer now, that'll do more for you. Eventually you'll want an SWR meter, but that can come later when you get your license.

Or, find a local ham that has one, and see if they will assist you.
 

mmckenna

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Well do you have a suggestion for an analyzer?

Great info.

Not really. The one I use at work is about $25K.
Rigol is the one I keep hearing amateur radio operators talking about. Never used one myself, so I couldn't really recommend it. Might search around on this site. I know people have talked about them here.
 

K4EET

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JoshuaHufford,

When I "sweep" my antennas to see where they are resonant at, I borrow a friend's RigExpert Antenna Analyzer. Very easy to use and does a lot more than just showing the SWR across a range of frequencies. Here is RigExpert's Home Page:

https://rigexpert.com/

Here is a comparison chart of the various RigExpert Models:

https://rigexpert.com/antenna-analyzers-comparison-table/

What you will need to determine is what frequency bands you will want to test your antennas for. The comparison chart shows the different frequency ranges on the first line. The broader the range (going from left to right), the more expensive the model will be. Once you settle on the frequency range that you need, this webpage lists their dealers:

https://rigexpert.com/where-to-buy/

Of course, there are other antenna analyzers out there. I have also used an MFJ Antenna Analyzer but I find it not as user friendly as the RigExperts models. The MFJ models can be found at the following webpage:

MFJ Enterprises Inc.

Let me know if you have any questions on what I've mentioned here.

Cheers! Dave K4EET

P.S.: As has been mentioned, if you seek out an Amateur Radio Club in your area, I would think that one or more members have an antenna analyzer and that they would be willing to help you test your antenna(s) so you wouldn't need to buy a fairly expensive antenna analyzer.
 
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pan189

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I like the MFJ-225, it includes 2 meter.
Sometimes it pops up for 30% less on Asian web sites....
 

VE1GAT

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prcguy

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I've owned many different antenna analyzers and have used most. This is my first choice over anything for the price and it covers 1MHz to 1300MHz. N2061SA NFC RFID Antenna Analyzer RF Vector Impedance Test Meter UV 1MHZ~1.3GHZ 615284497691 | eBay

There is a slightly cheaper version that goes up to 200MHz if that's all you need and these also do 2-port through loss measurements to test lengths of cables, filters, duplexers, etc. Nothing I have seen comes close to the performance and accuracy of these for the price.
 
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