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Dallas 3:48am #16466

Good point on ESD. Thin metal, plywood, paneling, or Masonite might be a better material choice. I will make up a new one.
Thanks,
Dallas, N5fee

Jerry,
Did you have a look at the User Guide I edited, located in the files area?
I used feedback from several members to make sure the user interface info was fairly clear.
... Larry

Bill,
That's good to know.
I am curious if you can remember what "newbie start here" document got you going with the nanoVNA.
Finding technical information of any sort is much easier with the web than when we were young.
When I was 10, I was digging into every encyclopedia I could find to figure out how a radio worked,
but never found anything that did more than name a bunch of elements (microphone, oscillator, etc).
I eventually bought an ARRL Handbook (a major expense!) which helped considerably,
but the handbook of the time did not have much to say about complex impedances.
I had no idea how to gain access to anything better.
Digging about in the wiki or the web at large for information on VNA's is pot luck at best.
Most of it would be incomprehensible to somebody starting out.
And terribly discouraging.
Telling somebody in that situation to just poke around out there
and follow the rabbit holes is not good advice, IMHO.
Way too many rabbits.
As stated before, I'm a retired EE with a career in digital design.
By no means an RF engineer, but I have a fair grip on the fundamentals.
The couple of nanoVNA guides I saw mentioned as of mid 2019 did not
adequately describe how to use the standalone menus of the nanoVNA.
I did eventually find that FlexAndHex tutorial, which I can recommend.
There might be better out there.
At the start of this thread, I asked what the preferred firmware for a
classic nanoVNA might be. The answer is not obvious.
The firmware repositories may not state what hardware they are intended for.
There is no document that compares the various possible firmware repositories.
A bunch of information popped up in the responses that really should be in the wiki.
That was my experience, perhaps my tolerance for poorly documented
user interfaces is lower than yours.
My preferred user interface is a unix shell prompt, most 10 year olds today
would have a much easier time than I with my android phone.
Or perhaps you stumbled upon a decent tutorial more quickly than I.
.
Jerry, KE7ER

Hi Jerry,

I started with one or two files that looked from the titles like "newbie start
here". I may have been directed to the first one from a message posted here. I
quickly found out how to turn it on. Then I found how to calibrate it, how,
why, when. I already knew enough about it to run it and avoid damaging it
before the battery could be charged:)

I never saw or used a VNA before. I almost never heard of a VNA before. I
quickly found out about the expensive ones. This one is good enough.

When I was 10 I learned about the libraries. Not the software files. The book
repositories. For younger list members libraries are places where they have
books of all sorts that you can borrow. You can do research in libraries to
help find the books you may want to borrow. People called librarians will even
help you find what you are looking for. In the library you can look up
explanations of the new words that you encounter while reading those borrowed
library books. I learned to use the libraries when I was 9. I am very sure
adults can learn to use them too.

If that sounds like a lot of work you can go to the internet and use Google or
other search engines. They function close to the same as the libraries with
maybe a little more duff. When you encounter new words and ideas by all means
follow the rabbit holes to an understanding. Yes..it takes time and effort. I
already did it. I cannot do it for you. The authors here cannot do it for you.
You must consume it for yourself.

To be fair I have used sweepers with markers and O'scopes so the basic idea is
not entirely unfamiliar. At this time I am acquiring a better understanding of
Smith charts :)

Books and articles about ideas and concepts that are new to you come with
bibliographies. Those will point you to other books with even more
information. That is akin to those pesky 'links' on the web pages.

73,

Bill KU8H

On Sat, Aug 8, 2020 at 10:11 PM, Larry Rothman wrote:

And given all the hardware choices out there these days, there should
be a comprehensive description of each, specs, differences, firmware
suggestions, suitable host software, ...

IT SURE WOULD BE HELPFUL!! I ended up ordering a nanoVNA-F Why?? I haven't the foggiest. If I may paraphrase from a private email: it is worse than trying to buy a car.
Thanks, larry

Hi Jerry,

I started with one or two files that looked from the titles like "newbie
start here". I may have been directed to the first one from a message
posted here. I quickly found out how to turn it on. Then I found how to
calibrate it, how, why, when. I already knew enough about it to run it
and avoid damaging it before the battery could be charged:)

I never saw or used a VNA before. I almost never heard of a VNA before.
I quickly found out about the expensive ones. This one is good enough.

When I was 10 I learned about the libraries. Not the software files. The
book repositories. For younger list members libraries are places where
they have books of all sorts that you can borrow. You can do research in
libraries to help find the books you may want to borrow. People called
librarians will even help you find what you are looking for. In the
library you can look up explanations of the new words that you encounter
while reading those borrowed library books. I learned to use the
libraries when I was 9. I am very sure adults can learn to use them too.

If that sounds like a lot of work you can go to the internet and use
Google or other search engines. They function close to the same as the
libraries with maybe a little more duff. When you encounter new words
and ideas by all means follow the rabbit holes to an understanding.
Yes..it takes time and effort. I already did it. I cannot do it for you.
The authors here cannot do it for you. You must consume it for yourself.

To be fair I have used sweepers with markers and O'scopes so the basic
idea is not entirely unfamiliar. At this time I am acquiring a better
understanding of Smith charts :)

Books and articles about ideas and concepts that are new to you come
with bibliographies. Those will point you to other books with even more
information. That is akin to those pesky 'links' on the web pages.

73,

Bill KU8H

bark less - wag more

On 8/10/20 11:19 AM, Jerry Gaffke via groups.io wrote:

Bill,

A few quick questions, one word answers are fine:

Was there a specific tutorial that got you over the hump
in figuring out the nanoVNA well enough for a first successful use?
If so, which tutorial?

Did you step into this having already used some other VNA?

Jerry

On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 07:08 AM, Bill Cromwell wrote:

I am happy with the WIKI and the group files. I went from zero to

successful

use of my nanoVNA strictly on the info I found through the group and

the WIKI

:)

.