The Fastest Antenna Analyzer: Chameleon SA-1 SWR Meter

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Күн бұрын

The Chameleon SA-1 is a compact easy to use antenna analyzer that will help you measure SWR and tune your multi band antenna, like the Chameleon PRV System or Wolf River Coil Silver Bullet 1000. The meter measures SWR from 1:1 - 19.9 in a frequency range of 1.6 MHz to 160 MHz.
Chameleon CHA SA-1 SWR Analyzer chameleonantenna.com/shop-her...
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Timestamp
00:00:00 Chameleon SA-1 Antenna Analyzer
00:01:35 Features and Specs of the Chameleon SA-1
00:03:31 Using the SA-1 SWR Meter
00:13:15 Chameleon SA-1 Secret Feature
00:15:30 My thoughts on the SA-1 Antenna Analyzer
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Пікірлер: 81

@donausmus4281 2 ай бұрын

I like it. There is obviously still a place for my Rig Expert 230. Will order one of these for quick set ups.

@ehayes5217 2 ай бұрын

...eliminating unnecessary features/functions is what makes this attractive; no, it's not an antenna analyzer/VNA, but it's certainly more convenient than just using a conventional SWR meter👍😃🇺🇸

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

That's the goal of it! One thing that does one job perfectly! It would the same thing as why bringing a QRP radio for POTA and SOTA why you can all all the feature of a Yaesu FTdx-101MP HF/50MHz 200W Transceivers FTDX-101MP!

@wheeler7973 2 ай бұрын

I think for me I would spend $25 more and go with the Rig Expert AA-35. Although it’s not as small and portable as the Chameleon. I think the extra features is worth the extra $ and larger size.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

If you don't have a QTH analyzer - it's a no brainer to get the Rig Expert. We never said that the CHA SA-1 should be your main antenna analyzer!

@wheeler7973 2 ай бұрын

@@Chameleon_Antenna I'm sure it will be a great success. I'm not knocking it by any means, I just don't think it's for me. I much prefer to have one good tool for everything I may need.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@wheeler7973 exactly! You get what you need! 👍

@forgottenamericana 2 ай бұрын

Great analysis as always!

@davewhite7679 2 ай бұрын

At the risk of being too technical, an antennas' "resonant" frequency and its "lowest VSWR" frequency are not the same. The resonant frequency is the point of zero reactance. VSWR is just an indication of proximity to 50 ohm impedence. KZ9V

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

And the SWR is just what you need on POTA and SOTA - which is why we designed unit! You don't need anything else!

@jerryKB2GCG 2 ай бұрын

This is a $200 swr meter, not an antenna analyzer. Way too expensive for something that is an swr meter only.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

What would you like us to do to cut the price to a point where you like it?

@Eric10179 2 ай бұрын

I agree. Rather just use my nano VNA

@jackflood2441 2 ай бұрын

@@Chameleon_Antenna. I would say it is a bit expensive, I just ordered your Mpas antenna from HRO and I will be getting it really soon. I have not had to deal with your technical support or your product yet. I am assuming, the Mpas 2.0 I will be receiving is going to be of high quality. I guess $200 wouldn’t be too bad if there is great after purchase technical support, and the product is of great quality.

@N2YTA 2 ай бұрын

@@jackflood2441my hope is to not require after purchase technical support.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@N2YTA Usually - nobody has any issue with the product if they understand how to use it. We've videos, user guides and tons of ressources for that!

@Jan_Talcott_100 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for the review.🙂

@bebopwing1 2 ай бұрын

It seems like a good, simple SWR meter, and if it's rugged and holds up well, I don't mind the price so much. I hate those little pigtails for 9-volt batteries, but I do appreciate a 9-volt instead of AA's because I find 9 volts much less likely to leak when compared to your normal alkaline AA. I do appreciate Chameleon being in the chat; it's good to see y'all interacting with consumers, and some of the savage responses make me chuckle, ha!

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

Savage comments are always flying when someone post a Chameleon Antenna review! People take a product out of context and then they attack. We make GREAT products - but not everyone can afford them - that's probably why!

@RobertPantazes 2 ай бұрын

Hi Michael, does the SA1 display have problems in high or low temperatures? I had an MFJ (RIP) analyzer and during summer Field Day in the heat of the day the screen letters would disappeared. Thank you for the great videos. Robert Pantazes, W2ARP

@daveengstrom9250 2 ай бұрын

Looks like a good tool. I don't have any analyzers as I am just starting to put a system together.

@chrisharris5327 2 ай бұрын

About $100 too expensive for what it is.

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

But is it really? What do you perceive the value of something like this to be? It's price is in line with comparable meters by MFJ, Comet, and Rigexpert.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

OK - post a list similar products that are cheaper - ANY even the Chinese ones. I'll wait...

@toybuns775 2 ай бұрын

I think I will pass too. I don't want to carry a laptop to see the band curve. I like to see the entire band to know where if I should lower or raise my vertical. Yes I can get a mental picture by scanning the entire band manually but that seems like too much work. Still hard to beat the nano for the price and features

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

I always say, do what works best for you.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

In the field for POTA and SOTA, you don't need the curve and the laptop! You ONLY need to know the lowest SWR of the frequency you operate.

@toybuns775 2 ай бұрын

Don’t get me wrong, I like this product and I own many things from Chameleon- all of which are top quality. I also think it’s important to support our vendors because we just lost a big one. I will put this on my list but I want a MPAS first

@N2YTA 2 ай бұрын

I have one and I like it for exactly the reasons Michael described. I just think they could/should have made it physically smaller.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

I think that for the future version we should be able to cut about 25% to 30% of its current size…

@acepharmer 2 ай бұрын

KO4JAY. What would be your suggestion for your first antenna analyzer? Thanks for all the videos.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

It will depend of what you want to do with. My first analyzer was the first RigExpert which I bought about 16 years ago because it was covering HF, VHF and UHF. I needed all of it! If you need all of it too the the RigExpert AA-650 would last you forever but it’s a little pricey but it’s great! We’ve about 6 or 8 of those at the shop. Now if you don’t need that then the AA-230 ZOOM should be excellent for you. It’s also about half the price and will last forever.

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

My first antenna analyzer, so many years ago, was an MFJ-259D. It served me very well, but for the same money today, I'd look at the Rigexpert AA-230 zoom. Some people like to start with a NanoVNA because they are inexpensive. They are good, for the money, but require a steeper learning curve and are not quite as 'out of the box' useful as the other meters.

@9999plato 2 ай бұрын

Rig Expert.500 Buy once with no regrets. I own chameleon products the EFHW Encomm2 works great looks great. It was my first antenna. I own 2 of them. The MPAS looks great as a paperweight. My results are poor in comparison to other small lightweight designs. I do not recommend it but dont let me dissuade you some people experience is the best teacher. That thing had me jonesing for it but if you watch the demos where people gush on about it being the best thing since sliced cheese they are at the ocean. Its a frequent location to falsely boost your expectation of day to day performance.performance. Some steel fishing leader line and a bold seagull would probably do just as well as an antenna and you would not need such a nice bag to bring it home. I dont hate on chameleon. They dont give me free stuff to promote their products in the best light so you will get the unfiltered truth from me.They say if you dont have anything nice to say say nothing, that's well and good but when that advice cost people money, well its bad advice. Beware of video demos of products because as they say dont believe half of what you see and none of the reviews on the interweb. You have to have first hand experience to get the opinion of someone you trust.

@camoon1 2 ай бұрын

I have one and find it useful for POTA use with my QRP rig. Every mw needs to count!

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

We made it specially for the POTA/SOTA people!

@johnkaelberer237 2 ай бұрын

Looks like a good meter if all you want to know is the SWR. It does not give the "R" and "X" values which are very important to know when setting up your antenna for maximum performance. Impedance is important. For quick and dirty set up, if you don't mind the price point, it might work for you. I'll pass. Good, fair review Michael.

@chrisnmichelle0218 2 ай бұрын

Good for portable operations like pota with whip and coil antennas 😊 OMG, just looked up the price, I take back my previous comment, 😆

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@chrisnmichelle0218 I’m genuinely intrigued at why people think a USA product like that is too expansive? We pay our USA vendors, manufacturers and employees very well. Can you find better and cheaper made in the US. What can we do better?

@chrisnmichelle0218 2 ай бұрын

@Chameleon_Antenna you guys print your own circuit boards? I did not know that, that would be a bit different. I just figured the inside would be full of made in Taiwan, China, or Japan...

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@chrisnmichelle0218 We try to get as much USA made as financially possible! But when customers are used to get the cheap stuff from Asia, they think we would do the same in order to get the cheapest price. We can’t! 99%of our sales are from USA made products. This is why our quality is so high!

@johnkaelberer237 2 ай бұрын

@@Chameleon_Antenna You are selling a simple, basic SWR meter for $200.00. It's not an analyzer. Knowing what basically is inside of the box, there is a huge profit for everyone you sell. Is every part in the swr meter made in America ? No, I didn't think so. Stop using the "Made in the USA" as an excuse for your overpriced products. Money is tight and too many inexperienced people buy something like this only to find out later they need something like a Rig Expert. Now they have $200. invested in a very basic tool that does not do what they need. Save a little more money and get an actual Analyzer such as a Rig Expert. You'll be $$$ ahead and have a far more useful tool. There is so much more to knowing what your antenna is doing than just knowing the SWR. If you just want to know what the SWR is, look at your radio, most have built in SWR meters.

@angelscomputers 2 ай бұрын

Another ridiculously expensive product from Chameleon

@dcfartsniffer4908 2 ай бұрын

It's not because you can't afford it that the product is ridiculously expansive! I can't afford the New McLaren 750S Coupe - I'm not going on their page or car review pages to tell them that...

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

But is it really? What do you perceive the value of something like this to be? It's price is in line with comparable meters by MFJ, Comet, and Rigexpert.

@angelscomputers 2 ай бұрын

It is. Look at the features. You can’t compared that analyzer with a RigExpert one. For what it is (pretty much an SWR Meter is quite overpriced like everything Cameleon

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@angelscomputers It's ok - it's not for everyone! We don't compare the CHA SA-1 to the RigExpert.

@angelscomputers 2 ай бұрын

Well, KV9VBR did, he compared with the other brands including RigExpert in his previous reply. Anyways, like others I’m free to have my opinion and that is a very expensive SWR meter and as usual the sponsored reviewer and Chameleon gets ticked when viewers points out an overpriced product, it’s pretty usual.

@scottdunbar4898 2 ай бұрын

Hmmm....fathers day???

@xszl 2 ай бұрын

1:1 - 19.9 ? Why not 1:1 - 1: 3 as it has always been? How bad / good is 1: 1.5 at this scale ? It was ok when 1: 3 was the max reading. I think I like my oldscool analog meter alot more. Its ok for a 2nd meter I guess alltho overpriced and no 70cm.

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

Ummm, the scale is the same whether it's 1:1 to 3:1 or 1:1 to 19:1. The only difference is that the range is extended. Old school analog meters would be terribly imprecise if they extended to 19:1, but it really doesn't matter with a digital meter.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

Unless you build you UHF/VUF in the field for POTA/SOTA - those two band are useless for what it has been designed for.

@chrisnmichelle0218 2 ай бұрын

Way too much money 💰 for too little... seems more like a $65 price point, not $200... just saying, it's cool, but not for that

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

We really want to know what we can do to serve you better? How can we cut the price? Should we fire our American workers and cut the wage from $20+/hour and hire illegal emigrants crossing the southern border illegally at $5/hour?

@chrisnmichelle0218 2 ай бұрын

@Chameleon_Antenna tell me what makes this worth it... I see an injection molded case, 2x8 back lit 1980's LCD, and probably 15 bucks in electronics on the inside. Metal case for durability, multi color LCD for easier viewing, and a knob that doesn't protrude out that will get broken in my go bag, an internal rechargeable battery, etc.... What it does, it does well, but it doesn't fit the market at that price.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@chrisnmichelle0218 Let me me see what we can do about that for the next version - but that will require to move the production in China and cut American jobs and this is what we’re trying to avoid at as much we can…

@johnkaelberer237 2 ай бұрын

@@Chameleon_Antenna Quit being such a Drama Queen Chrismichelle.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@johnkaelberer237 🤡

@JonathanKayne 2 ай бұрын

I’ll be real and say that you could just get a chelegance MC-750 antenna and not have to deal with messing around with fine tuning the whip length. It really irks me that literally nobody else has been smart enough to etch band markings directly onto the whip. Instead we force ourselves bring extra gear like tape measures and antenna analyzers.

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

Band markings are relative and can shift depending on the local environment. The scales are good to get you in the ball park but a meter of some sort will be required to fine tune your antenna.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

It doesn't work that way! The CHA PRV (MCC) has been designed to be used on just ALL existing support platforms! It's VERY versatile - that being said, each configuration require a different loading of the coil (distance height are all different) but the SS58 whip is ALWAYS fully extended which maximize your TX. The moment you change the length of the radiator - you change the TX performances.

@JonathanKayne 2 ай бұрын

@@KB9VBRAntennas and yet 99% of the time using the markings on the mc-750 gets me spot on, or within an swr of 1.5:1 or better

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

@@JonathanKayne same here - every time I measure the coil distance from the feed point on the CHA PRV, I’m 99% of the time close to what I need! You just get used to use you gear!

@JonathanKayne 2 ай бұрын

@@Chameleon_Antenna ahh but the difference between you and me is that I don't need to fiddle with a tape measure to get to that point since it's marked on the whip. My point is that there are tons of antennas that are sold where this would absolutely be useful and I only see chelegance doing it. If I need a tape measure to get my antenna into tune than that presents two problems: I now have to remember to pack a tape measure which adds weight to my kit, and I have to spend more time fiddling with the antenna which means less time on the air.

@andrewwilliss6500 2 ай бұрын

Nope, a $70 Nano VNA is quicker, easier and has a better display!

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

Better display - well next time try to borrow a CHA SA-1 and try it in the field and let us know! I've a NANO VNA and you can't anything under the sun!

@andrewwilliss6500 2 ай бұрын

@@Chameleon_Antenna My nanoVNA F is very readable in sunlight. Agreed that the older small display VNA's are ordinary even in just daylight!

@RobertPantazes 2 ай бұрын

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 ай бұрын

That's a good question. LCD or Liquid Crystal Displays can turn black in extreme cold and hot. This display looks very similar to the dot matrix display found on the MFJ-259 series analyzers. I don't know if it shares the same heat and cold tolerances as the MFJ model.

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

No - the CHA SA-1 is great in any weather!

@Chameleon_Antenna 2 ай бұрын

But like any electronics, you don’t keep them in direct sunlight for a long period of time waiting. I design and test A LOT of antennas and I like to take pictures of the analyzer readings, setting and others. In Phoenix, if I live my iPhone in the sun for about 5 to 10 minutes it will shut down!