Re: What accessories do I need for a TinySA Ultra?
Absolutely no need to buy a second calibration kit.
The kit supplied with the nanoVNA is good
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Designer of the tinySA
For more info go to
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Re: What accessories do I need for a TinySA Ultra?
What is the second calibration kit for the NanoVNA for? Or what kit should I buy off of amazon to do it? I have the calibration kit that came with the NanoVNA, can you post a link to the one I should get?
And maybe some links to attenuators that are worth buying?
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Re: What accessories do I need for a TinySA Ultra?
For the VNA you need a second calibration kit, to get a second 50 Ohm load and barrel connector to do the ISOLATION step of the calibration process -- for S21 type tests. Amazon has inexpensive kits.?
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For the SA you need a handful of attenuators. The one you put first in line at the radio's antenna port is the most important. It must be able to dissipate the max power you expect to test. If you have only HTs to test (10W max power) that first attenuator is inexpensive. If you need to test at 50W, expect to pay much more...
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Personally all my attenuators are multiples of 10dB because their effect is easy to calculate -- divide by 10... E.g. 5W thru 10dB = 0.5W, thru 20dB = 0.05W etc...?
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Most here recommend a total of 60dB for a 1-5W input. I like 80dB... Don't be afraid to experiment?
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Re: What accessories do I need for a TinySA Ultra?
Also some higher-power attenuators. I have some 5W, 10W and one 50 watt attenuator (that one is 30 dB). If you're concerned about wearing out the connectors on the TinySA, just get a few straight-through or right-angle SMA male to female adaptors. Put one on the TinySA and leave it there. Then it will wear out, not the one on the TinySA.
I don't know if you'd need a DC blocker or not. I do not have one and never needed one. All of the RF equipment I have used already had DC blocked and only had RF on the output. Note, if you are going to connect something with higher power and suspect DC is on the output, you'll need something a lot bigger than the one you referenced.
I have various telescoping antennas that came with various SDR modules I've purchased over the years. Just about anything will work. One of mine has an MCX connector on it and I had to come up with an adaptor for MCX to SMA.
Also, as an addition to my last post, you can stack the SMA adaptors. I have two 20 dB and one 10 dB attenuator stacked to use with my HP 435B power meter. The maximum power to the 8484A power head I have is 10 microwatts.
Zack W9SZ
On Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 7:39?AM Zack Widup < w9sz.zack@...> wrote: The main things I think of are a set of attenuators and some in-between adaptors for the various connector types. I have 2 watt SMA attenuators (male on one end, female on the other ehd) covering 1 to 10 dB in 1 dB increments, and then more attenuators up to 30 dB. I have attenuators rated to 18 GHz because I do a lot of microwave stuff, not just with the TnySA. If you don't plan on going that high in frequency, the ones rated to lower frequencies are fine. I have a bunch of SMA to BNC, N, UHF and TNC adaptors of various types (male to male, male to female, etc.) Also some cables longer than the ones that come with the TinySA with male SMA's on each end.
Zack W9SZ
I'm new here and new to my TinySA Ultra and NanoVNA. Trying to keep it affordable, I'm just trying to figure out what accessories I should buy first and which ones I should still buy but can wait until later. What attenuators should I get first? I have an assortment of connectors/adapters and I have these two attenuators, . And a 15w 0-500Mhz Dummy Load
Is there anything I should buy to protect the SMA connectors with adapters on the TInySA like some people have mentioned? And do I need anything for the antenna? Someone mentioned a DC blocker like this, Is there an upgraded antenna worth buying? I'd like to have a second one on hand as backup anyway.
I'm wanting to test out some Ham radio handhelds and my mobile Anytone AT-778UV Ham Radio. They are UHF/VHF. And then I'd also like to test out some CB radios.
I've been reading mixed reviews on everything so I figured I'd ask here before I started ordering things I don't need or end up ordering the wrong things.
Thanks for the help.
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Re: What accessories do I need for a TinySA Ultra?
The main things I think of are a set of attenuators and some in-between adaptors for the various connector types. I have 2 watt SMA attenuators (male on one end, female on the other ehd) covering 1 to 10 dB in 1 dB increments, and then more attenuators up to 30 dB. I have attenuators rated to 18 GHz because I do a lot of microwave stuff, not just with the TnySA. If you don't plan on going that high in frequency, the ones rated to lower frequencies are fine. I have a bunch of SMA to BNC, N, UHF and TNC adaptors of various types (male to male, male to female, etc.) Also some cables longer than the ones that come with the TinySA with male SMA's on each end.
Zack W9SZ
I'm new here and new to my TinySA Ultra and NanoVNA. Trying to keep it affordable, I'm just trying to figure out what accessories I should buy first and which ones I should still buy but can wait until later. What attenuators should I get first? I have an assortment of connectors/adapters and I have these two attenuators, . And a 15w 0-500Mhz Dummy Load
Is there anything I should buy to protect the SMA connectors with adapters on the TInySA like some people have mentioned? And do I need anything for the antenna? Someone mentioned a DC blocker like this, Is there an upgraded antenna worth buying? I'd like to have a second one on hand as backup anyway.
I'm wanting to test out some Ham radio handhelds and my mobile Anytone AT-778UV Ham Radio. They are UHF/VHF. And then I'd also like to test out some CB radios.
I've been reading mixed reviews on everything so I figured I'd ask here before I started ordering things I don't need or end up ordering the wrong things.
Thanks for the help.
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What accessories do I need for a TinySA Ultra?
I'm new here and new to my TinySA Ultra and NanoVNA. Trying to keep it affordable, I'm just trying to figure out what accessories I should buy first and which ones I should still buy but can wait until later. What attenuators should I get first? I have an assortment of connectors/adapters and I have these two attenuators, . And a 15w 0-500Mhz Dummy Load
Is there anything I should buy to protect the SMA connectors with adapters on the TInySA like some people have mentioned? And do I need anything for the antenna? Someone mentioned a DC blocker like this, Is there an upgraded antenna worth buying? I'd like to have a second one on hand as backup anyway.
I'm wanting to test out some Ham radio handhelds and my mobile Anytone AT-778UV Ham Radio. They are UHF/VHF. And then I'd also like to test out some CB radios.
I've been reading mixed reviews on everything so I figured I'd ask here before I started ordering things I don't need or end up ordering the wrong things.
Thanks for the help.
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Re: TinySA Ultra exists DFU when connected to PC
Found the solution on the community.st.com forum:
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dfu-util -s 0:force:unprotect -a 0 -D firmware.bin
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Re: TinySA Ultra exists DFU when connected to PC
I am facing the same issue on TinySA Ultra - on my PC (Win11) it exits from DFU mode as soon as I connect it.?
On linux it stays in DFU, but I can't update the FW - getting the same error as you did.?
Were you able to solve this issue?
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Thanks,
Tom
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Had the same issue, I found if I set the marker to frequency mode then changed back to peak it worked ok.
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Dave
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Thanks Ian...
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I added some other functionalities also, so when testing is finished, I will create a new POST with a more meaningful subject description.
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ToniZG
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Hi Juan & Xavier,
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It seems it connect to the tinySA (basic) but it doesn't plot anything.
The tinySA Ultra (without +) worked a bit.
The FM band preset show 87.5 till 102 MHz not 108.
Waterfall and panafall doesn't work. Neither could I set a peak marker.
Peak marker menu has same spanish menu's at the bottom.
I didn't have time to check the other menu's this morning.
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Maybe it's a better idea to update the tinySA-App written by Erik based on the work of Oneofeleven with help from DiSlord and others than to make a new app from scratch.
You are very welcome to do so.
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73 Andr¨¦
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Suggestions for improvement:?
Display IF and video bandwidths and attenuator settings on the screen
It is customary to have the frequency legend at the bottom of the screen.
Best regards ,Don Brant
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Hi Juan There is commands available to activate carious modes As far as I remember q p disable the various modes Kind regards Kurt ? ? ? Regarding the preamplifier control, there is no USB command to enable or disable it remotely. It must be activated manually on the device.?
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
On Tue, Mar 11, 2025 at 01:17 PM, Juan M0WWA wrote:
Regarding the preamplifier control, there is no USB command to enable or disable it remotely. It must be activated manually on the device.?
Use the 'help' console command to get a listing of all available tinySA Ultra commands. For controlling the LNA:
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lna ? ? ?usage: lna off|on
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Herb
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Hi, It connect correctly to my tinySA but nothing to see in the spectrum window Perhaps the protocol is different?
Greetings Kees
Yes, WinSpectrum III should work with TinySA Ultra (non-Plus) and TinySA (non-Ultra) since all share the same VID and PID. However, this has not been tested, so functionality is not guaranteed.
73
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
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Regarding the preamplifier control, there is no USB command to enable or disable it remotely. It must be activated manually on the device.?
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73
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Yes, WinSpectrum III should work with TinySA Ultra (non-Plus) and TinySA (non-Ultra) since all share the same VID and PID. However, this has not been tested, so functionality is not guaranteed.
73
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Yes, WinSpectrum III should work with TinySA Ultra (non-Plus) and TinySA (non-Ultra) since all share the same USB "VID and PID". However, this has not been tested, so functionality is not guaranteed.
73
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Clean link:
Dan! you are not ?alone! We needed double expresos to realize that the link was wrong! Anyway No worries! We all are to young to get older. ?: )
73
Juan M0WWA
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Re: WinSpectrum III spectrum analyzer application designed for Windows users working with Tiny SA Ultra+
Greetings All,
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? ? ? ? Is it compatible with the original "TinySA Ultra" (ie without the "+" suffix)?
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73
Tom
VA7TA
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Donald S Brant Jr
Kurt Poulsen
Juan M0WWA