One tool I used in the fox hunt Saturday was my TinySA. It’s a spectrum analyzer about the size of a NanoVNA if you’re familiar with those. In the attached picture, I’m monitoring a chunk of spectrum from 130mhz to 160mhz, Which would place the 144.300 mhz fox signal near the middle. Notice the strong signal… -23.7 dBm at 144.68mhz. This is my portable radio set at 1 watt, transmitting from the other end of the couch. If the signal is that strong, you’re pretty close.
My intention was to connect this to a decent antenna on my truck, probably a 1/4 wave on a mag mount and monitor the signal strength as I drove around, noting the signal strength. We ran out of time this go around and didn’t use it in that way, but at one point as Logan was trampling in the weeds With it, he said the signal was around -25dBm. He was close but missed it.?
Anyway, just thought I’d share. It’s not a must have in every toolbox, but I’ve used this little $65 analyzer multiple times since getting it. The difference between this and an S-meter on your radio…. The readout is in dBm, making it a little easier to know if you’re getting hotter or colder.
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Eric Presser - KD?CEN