Stick 230: compact, lightweight, powerful, and multitasking

The palm-sized Stick 230 is the only one capable of continuously measuring up to 230 MHz for 16 hours on a single charge.

The analyzer is equipped with a monochrome screen e-paper of 200*200 pixels. Menu and on-screen prompts use English. For convenience, the user can enable screen inversion in the settings.

The six input keys on the front panel are protected from moisture.

The Stick 230 has a built-in SO-239 type antenna connector. There are also ports for USB 2.0 Type-C and USB Type-C charging.

Thanks to the latter, a powerful Li-ion 3.7 V type 18650 battery, included with the device, is fully charged in 3 hours. It is not used at all if the Stick 230 is connected to a PC or charger via USB.

At 7.3 inches x 1.6 inches x 1.3 inches, the antenna analyzer weighs less than a smartphone (6.5 ounces with the battery installed). The Stick 230 is easy to hold in your hand due to its narrow shape, which really resembles a stick.

At a load of 50 ohms, the output power of the device is -10 dBm.

With a modest size, the VHF analyzer demonstrates powerful internal potential. The Stick 230 measures the most useful parameters of antennas, cables, lines, filters, and more in the range from 100 kHz to 230 MHz with a 1 kHz minimum frequency step.

The Stick 230 measures and displays results in four preset ways: Single and Multé modes as numbers, and HAM and Free as numbers and charts. The user will have to select the most appropriate one and click OK.

The single mode shows the standing wave ratio (SWR) and returns loss, amplitude, and phase angle, as well as the value of active (R) and reactive (X) resistances, taking into account the sign, inductance (L), and capacitance (C) in parallel and series modes at the same frequency.

The last two indicators are sometimes displayed with a negative value. This does not mean that the device is broken because this is contrary to the laws of physics, and you need to quickly exchange it for a new one using RigExpertCare. Actually, this is a hint to the user about how much inductance or capacitance should be added to the circuit to compensate for the reactive component of the impedance.

The Multimode way allows you to measure SWR at different frequencies at the same time for happy owners of a multi-band antenna. The result is displayed in the form of stars, which are assigned certain numerical values. The more stars – the lower the SWR of the antenna in this range.

In fact, this mode can work in two ways. In the Stick 230 settings, there is a “Band Search” option. Just its value affects the operation of Multimode. When the Normal way is selected, the analyzer measures quickly, but there is a risk of missing the narrow resonance of the antenna or inaccurate determination of resonance frequency. In the Deep mode, the measurement speed is reduced, but the possibility of mistakes is minimized.

The HAM mode is, of course, intended for the convenience of radio amateurs. It measures and displays the SWR diagram of the antenna in one of the fixed amateur bands: 2.2 km, 630 m, 160 m, 80 m, 60 m, 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m, 12 m, 11 m, 10 m, 6 m, 2 m.

In this mode, two vertical lines are displayed to the left and right of the chart, which limits the range. Sometimes the resonance of an antenna can go beyond its limits but remain close to them. In this case, the Stick 230 will still determine the SWR value.

In free mode, the user classically measures the SWR and receives the result in the form of a chart in a given frequency band.

This mode is useful for survey measurement of the antenna in a wide frequency range or for measuring the SWR in a very narrow predetermined area.

By default, the Stick 230 measures 50 Ohm devices. But if, for example, a broadband transformer with an output resistance of 450 Ohm is involved in the process, for correct measurements, the user should adjust this value in the settings: 12.5 Ohm, 25 Ohm, 28 Ohm, 37 Ohm, 50 Ohm, 75 Ohm, 100 Ohm, 150 Ohm, 200 Ohm, 300 Ohm, 450 Ohm, 600 Ohm – the wide range allows the Stick 230 to measure a variety of devices is made it universal.

Compact, lightweight, powerful, and multitasking, the Stick 230 is also equipped with Bluetooth 4.2 BLE Single-mode, Class B. All this makes it an excellent companion for work at home and in the fields. And considering that it stably measures at temperatures from -15° to +40° – even in conditions close to the far north or the African desert.