Hi All,
Warning controversy ahead :-)
I've been following the threads on this group for a while now and there have been some really excellent postings on various topics.
The subjects of calibration, reference planes, poor back to back SMA connectors and other similar issues seem to have been the dominant subjects over the past week or so.
I think we are in danger of loosing sight of the fact that we are talking about a < $50 instrument. At that price its almost a disposable item and yet folks are discussing cal kits that are good up to many GHZ (and would probably cost more than a box full of Nano VNA's) and comparing results against very expensive commercial VNA's.
There may be so far undiscovered errors in both the firmware and software, which would make sub dB calibration errors inconsequential in comparison, yet everyone seems fixated on the hardware.
The firmware and software development effort is to be commended and I'm highly appreciative of what has been released so far. I'm just concerned that in the mad dash to get new features rolled out, we may be missing something more fundamental that will come back to bite us at a later stage.
I'd suggest that rather than trying to squeeze the last fraction of a dB of performance from very low cost hardware, it may be more productive to concentrate on improving the firmware and software, adopting the correct measurement methodology and terminology and trying to establish a strong foundation for any further enhancements.
Just my observation, your milage may vary.
Regards,
Martin
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Regards,
Martin - G8JNJ
