Where to buy

Official stores

Safe places to buy an original NanoVNA V2:

• Official store on Tindie

As of March 2023 there are many clones of our earlier S-A-A-2 design sold under various names. Beware that many have exaggerated their specs (for reference the official S-A-A-2/V2.2 specifications can be found below), and some variants are highly noisy due to using incorrect or lower quality parts, while using measurements and graphs from original equipment to deceive unaware customers. Some users have also reported software incompatibility. See official stores above and look for NanoVNA V2 Plus4 and VNA6000 versions only to avoid getting a bad clone.

Beware that nanovna .com is not owned by the original developers of either V1 or V2 NanoVNAs, and is being used to mislead users into buying clones from one clone manufacturer. These clones are not supported by any updates from the developers.

The following stores have sold at least one bad clone.

• Banggood
• Eleshop
• R&L electronics - still selling clones despite being asked not to by the original developers

Achievable performance (V2 Plus4 Pro, calibrated, IFBW=0.8kHz, AVG=20)

Measurement comparisons

Several users have tested clones of the NanoVNA V2 design, some claiming higher specifications than the original. We also checked out a few clones ourselves. The clones are based on earlier designs intended for either 1GHz or 3GHz, and some have tried to extend the frequency range using harmonics without understanding the design. Furthermore, none of the clone sellers seem to understand the role of the high frequency components and have substituted generic parts, which worsened the trace noise noticeably.

The performance of the NanoVNA V2.2 clones start to degrade before 2GHz, and would not have passed our standard QC requirements for the earliest 3GHz V2.2 version:

Note: the above plots are uncalibrated to show the amount of noise of the raw data from the hardware.

It is likely that the clone sellers measure dynamic range based on the lowest instead of highest data point of the noise floor, so actual practical dynamic range is 20-30dB lower than claimed.

Some NanoVNA clones use harmonics to exaggerate the frequency range, which gives wrong measurements because the strong fundamental signal at the receiver creates interference at the harmonic frequency, giving a stable but incorrect measurement. These clones usually come in a plastic enclosure to save cost.

If you need a VNA with higher frequency capability, see VNA6000.

All clones are based on the older V2.2 design, which if replicated well can only reach 60dB dynamic range @ 3GHz. Any clones advertising higher performance are exaggerating the specifications and likely perform worse.

Note: Hugen/Zeenko is selling S-A-A-2/NanoVNA V2 based products without permission after being asked not to several times by the original developers. These clones exaggerate specifications by pushing components beyond datasheet limits, and give wrong measurements at the higher frequencies advertised. Please be aware that buying these clones do not support the original developers. There is no support or updates for these hardware versions, which run outdated firmware. Thank you for your understanding.

Comparisons with professional VNAs

Many users have compared the NanoVNA V2 Plus4 with professional instruments. When using the same calibration kits, the measured data and smith chart matches well.

Here is one blog post from AE5X comparing it with a FieldFox:

https://ae5x.blogspot.com/2021/07/1-to-4-ghz-nanovna-2-plus4-vs-keysight.html

DD1US compared it with a HP-8753E:

https://www.dd1us.de/Downloads/Brief comparison of NanoVNA V2 with a professional VNA HP-8753E.pdf

To get an idea of what kind of measurement noise is achievable, here are some sample measurements we made of a cascaded SAW filter and a power amplifier using a NanoVNA V2 Plus4 (click the images to view them at full size):

Note that some averaging is needed to get the NanoVNA V2 Plus4 to near 100dB dynamic range.

User groups / Forums

Discussion forum
https://groups.io/g/NanoVNAV2

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nanovnav2/

How to use NanoVNA V2

VNA basics

A VNA (Vector Network Analyzer) measures the frequency dependent reflected and transmitted power of a high frequency network (RF Network).

The NanoVNA measures the following:

• Reflection coefficient: S11
• Transmission coefficient: S21

Using the above measured data, the NanoVNA can calculate the following items:

• Return loss
• Insertion loss
• Complex impedance
• Resistance
• Reactance
• SWR

Required components

To use the NanoVNA for one port measurements (e.g. analyzing antennas), you will need the following:

• NanoVNA main unit
• SMA coaxial cable, male to male
• SOLT calibration kit: Short, Open, and Load

Performing measurements

The basic operation and menu structure of V2 is very similar to the original NanoVNA.

• Configure the measurement frequency range:

  Select STIMULUS > START and STIMULUS > STOP.

• Calibrate:
  1. Enter the CAL menu and connect a SMA male to male cable to the NanoVNA port 1.
  2. Connect the OPEN standard to the cable and select the menu item "OPEN". Wait for the menu to highlight.
  3. Connect the SHORT standard to the cable and select the menu item "SHORT". Wait for the menu to highlight.
  4. Connect the LOAD standard to the cable and select the menu item "LOAD". Wait for the menu to highlight.
  5. Select "APPLY". The calibration is now active and you can start performing measurements.
  6. Note: on NanoVNA V2 Plus4 and later hardware, isolation calibration is automatically done during OPEN and LOAD steps, and there is no separate ISOLATION calibration step.

For a more detailed description of the calibration methods and measurement options available in the NanoVNA V2, please refer to the user manuals below.

Documentation

User manuals

Menu maps

Firmware downloads

For firmware releases go to the Hardware versions page which lists the latest stable firmware builds for each NanoVNA hardware variant.

There are also experimental firmware releases at downloads.

Firmware sources are at https://github.com/nanovna-v2/NanoVNA2-firmware

Software

See Software downloads.

Specifications

The following are the specifications of NanoVNA devices manufactured by HCXQS/NanoRFE.
Beware of clones using lower quality or salvaged parts.

Parameter	Board version	Specification	Conditions
Frequency range	V2_2, V2 Plus	50kHz - 3GHz	-
	V2 Plus4, V2 Plus4 Pro	50kHz – 4.4GHz	-
Frequency resolution	All	0.01MHz	-
System dynamic range (calibrated)	V2_2, V2 Plus	60dB
	V2 Plus4	90dB	AVG=20, 1GHz
	V2 Plus4 Pro	90dB	BW=1.6kHz, AVG=5, 1GHz
		96dB	BW=1.6kHz, AVG=20, 1GHz
S11 noise floor (calibrated)	All	-50dB	f < 1.5GHz
		-40dB	f < 3GHz
Sweep points	V2 Plus4	1 – 1024 points (with NanoVNA-QT software). More points (up to 65535) are possible depending on the performance of your PC.	-
Sweep time	V2 Plus4	0.25s	Default sweep settings
	V2 Plus4 Pro	0.16s	Default sweep settings BW=10kHz
Power supply	All	USB, 4.6V – 5.5V	-
Supply current	All	500mA typ	No charging
Battery current, charging	All	1.2A typ	-
Battery capacity	V2 Plus4, V2 Plus4 Pro	3200mAh	-
Operation ambient temperature	All	0℃ - 45℃ *	* by design, not tested in production
Ambient temperature during battery charging	All	10℃ - 45℃	-

Note: NanoVNA V2 Plus4 Pro now allows measuring crystals by an adjustable bandwidth setting. All other hardware versions can not measure crystals because of the rapid switching of the test signal.

Schematics and PCB layout

The schematics and PCB layout files of the V2.2 version are available here:

https://github.com/nanovna-v2/NanoVNA2

The NanoVNA V2 design is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA and commercial use without specific permission is forbidden. You need to obtain specific written permission every 3 months to sell hardware using this design.

V2.3 and V2.4 designs are confidential and proprietary, and reverse engineering is forbidden.