VNA6000 6GHz Portable Vector Network Analyzer | Hacker News Reader

VNA6000 6GHz Portable Vector Network Analyzer

tindie.com

46 pointsshrthnd16 comments

The closest thing that existed like this when I was in college almost a decade ago was an MFJ antenna tuner. It would tell you the impedance at a single frequency, only one port, and that was it. Stopped at... As I recall, 300 MHz. Cost around $250. Anything better was EASILY four figures.

I can buy one today that goes to a GHz or so for under $100, plots a full smith chart, measures both S11 and S21, and even does TDR. Absolutely insane how far things have come.

Still in the range of hundreds of thousands to millions for equipment to measure a wide range above 6GHz to 100GHz (or even just barely above 60GHz), right?

I'd be interested if there is anything cheaper.

Yes, house-level prices for the equipment. Frequency extenders up to 1.1 THz are available (in rectangular waveguide) or 220 GHz in coaxial.

I really like my original NanoVNA; it is an extremely useful device. (I used it this past week to align an AM radio receiver.) And there's a Plus version that goes up to 4 GHz that goes for around $225. So this unit sort of completes it on the "high end" for hobbyist VNAs

I don't really need to go up to 6GHz yet, but it's good to know there will be reasonably priced options if/when the need arises.

There is no mention of its measurement accuracy in the specs nor in the comparison table against the higher priced units from other vendors. Accuracy is a different animal from the dynamic range in that table and the repeatability given on the VNA6000 home page. So that begs the question: how accurate is it and how does its accuracy stack up against other options?

Edit: spelling.

Accuracy will largely depend on calibration standards used. A good set of those that goes up to 6 GHz will cost many times the cost of this device.

That's part of it, but linearity and the device's own return loss (a good cal kit can only do so much) are also substantial factors.

Is linearity a problem in these sorts of devices? I'm not sure where it would come into play. I'm assuming this does IF processing in software and it doesn't have a classical detector where linearity would be a problem.

Yes, return loss and directivity of the bridges/directional couplers in there is a big factor. It directly corresponds to usable dynamic range after calibration. If your directivity is only 20 dB at 6 GHz, 110 dB of dynamic range at the detector won't do anything for the quality of the final measurement. So an honest way of specifying dynamic range would be for a fully calibrated device. Giving that they say it has 110 dB, I don't think that's the case here.

The linearity is shown in the "Example measurements" graphs

This is true. The VNA can only provide repeatability and precision, and it's the calibration kit's job to provide accuracy.

Priced at $790, it seems grossly overpriced compared to the LiteVNA64 at $125, with similar specs (50kHz-6.3GHz)

That is a clone of the older V2 hardware, with specs exaggerated and much more noisy, according to here: https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-v2.html#comparisons

The earlier version, the V2Plus4, has been compared with professional instruments by many users (linked on the website), so this one being higher end should be at least as good.

It will be tested by youtubers and we will get a bit better view if we buy 2nd hand gears or this one.

Can someone explain what this piece of tech does?

Somehow all things radio is a mystery to me. (Any good YT intros are much appreciated too)

Just ordered it and waiting for it.

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