Question
Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge?
Answer Options
- A) Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
- B) Antenna analyzers compute SWR and impedance automatically
- C) Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
- D) All these choices are correct
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
An SWR bridge or directional wattmeter can only measure SWR and power at a single, fixed frequency. To understand an antenna system’s full performance across a band, a time-consuming process of manually tuning the radio and recording data points at many frequencies is required. An antenna analyzer simplifies this greatly.
An antenna analyzer sweeps across a range of frequencies and automates the measurement and calculation process. The main advantage is that antenna analyzers compute SWR and impedance (Resistance and Reactance) automatically. It can plot these results on a graph versus frequency, instantly showing the antenna’s bandwidth, resonant frequency, and how the complex impedance changes across the band, all without requiring external calculations or tuning the transceiver.
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