FA-VA5 antenna analyzer received, built

I received my FA-VA5 in the mail today after a week-long delay in Chicago. Customs? USPS? Interference from Putin? Who knows, but it arrived today and went together in just under an hour.

The FA-VA5 is almost identical to the FA-VA4 that it replaced. The main difference in construction are the new analyzer's USB jack and the use of a cardboard spacer used when installing/soldering header pins.

The USB jack's small circuit board is insulated from the main board by an almost-transparent mica insulator. The circuit board is then soldered to the main board by flowing solder across 16 pads to their corresponding pads on the main board. Be sure that each pad has a solder bridge to its corresponding pad and that no unintentional bridges exist between adjacent pads.

Flex 6300 Vs. Apache Labs Anan-10e on FT8

Since buying the Anan 10E a few weeks ago I've been comparing it with the Flex. The KH1/KH7Z DXpedition provided a great test for each rig's software regarding noise mitigation, especially on the low bands with summertime QRN.

For a description of the test set-up, click here.

As might be expected, each radio/software has advantages over the other. I like SmartSDR's (Flex) presentation and ability to zoom in on a signal (or pile-up) and see detail with great resolution. openHPSDR (Anan) can zoom in as well but visual resolution seems to become a bit grainy at some point, at least compared to SmartSDR. This may seem like a small detail but it is important in how I go about working a rare DX station on CW. I like to see the pile-up in as much detail as possible in order to determine exactly where to place my TX VFO.