Nanovna-h Firmware

[Brayan Sedillo]

DfuSeutility can be used to interact with the STM32system memory bootloader or any In-Application Programming (IAP) firmware,running from the user Flash, thus allowing internal memories programmingthrough USB.

Synchronize DiSlord's version 1.1.01 code, including admittance display and remote screen.

The use of MS5351 as a replacement for Si5351 is officially supported from this release. It can be modified via CONFIG>EXPERT SETTINGS>MORE>MODE.

The released firmware file name contains SI with the initial value using Si5351 and the file name contains MS with the initial value using Ms5351.

No matter which firmware, you can still modify it through the EXPERT SETTINGS menu.

Synchronize DiSlord1.0.71 version,

Now you can set the time through the "Expert Setting" menu.

Both the newly sold NanoVNA-H Rev3.6 and NanoVNA-H4 Rev4.3 have installed a 36.768kHz crystal, and the LSE can be used to keep the time correct after shutting down.

Add a 6x11 font version to the 2.8-inch NanoVNA-H to enhance readability as much as possible while maintaining dual-column display. Thanks to DiSlord for providing the new font file.

The NanoVNA-H update file containing B in the file name uses 7x11 bold font, and the file containing L uses 6x11 light font.

NanoVNA-H4 uses a larger screen, which can display 7x11 bold fonts well. Only the bold font version is available.

Based on the source code of DiSlord version 1.0.69, merge the source code of NanoVNA-H and NanoVNA-H4, which can be specified by TARGET when compiling. NanoVNA-H uses larger fonts, the display layout is adjusted for larger fonts, and you can set whether to use large fonts on NanoVNA-H by USE_FONT.

Modified based on DiSlord version 1.0.45 firmware. I uses a larger font similar to tinySA to display the menu and Marker point information, so the AA version is no longer provided.The default si5351 harmonic switching frequency is modified to 290MHz to ensure that si5351 can work normally in most cases. On the NanoVNA-H rev3.5 version, I tested that it can still ensure good measurement accuracy up to 1.8GHz, so this version allows the maximum frequency to be modified to 2GHz. If you want to get the latest features, you can start compiling from DiSlord's NanoVNA-D project.

1.Fix the problem of insensitive touch screen;

2. Fixed the problem that the center frequency is higher than 1G;

3. Fix the problem of mark residue;

4. Update ChibiOS to 18.2

5. Correct the battery display ratio

6. Allow saving Smith display format settings

Make sure to select the correct version, depending on whether you have the H or H4 variant. The wrong firmware makes the device unusable for the time being. You can still write the firmware directly on the chip, but you will need the appropriate hardware.

Please make sure to select the correct firmware. If you flash the firmware without H4 on a NanoVNA H4, the device is defective for the time being. You can still write the firmware directly on the chip, but then you need the appropriate hardware.

Thank you to RJ Juneau (ylabrj / VA3YLB) for sharing with us his NanoVNA firmware update guide for idiots. NanoVNA firmware is updated fairly often, so this is a good reference guide for those who want to test the latest code as updating the firmware is a multi-step process. He writes

As of 2022 there are many badly performing clones on the market. V2/3GHz NanoVNA uses parts like ADF4350 and AD8342 which are costly and clones have been cutting costs by using salvaged or reject parts.

See official store and look for V2 Plus4/V2 Plus4 Pro versions only to avoid getting a bad clone. We have stopped selling V2.2 versions since October 2020, so all V2 hardware that are not Plus or Plus4 are not made by us and we can not guarantee performance.

Hi,

I want to report a possible issue in measuring the phase with NanoVNA V2. (or maybe just my clone do this ?)

I have an SAA-2N and I made a comparison with my older NanoVNA H, with the latest firmware. The SAA-2N has the V2.74 Blackmagic firmware installed. I must mention that the previous phase measurements with H were quite good, as expected, according to my knowledge about the phase change at the resonance of a quartz crystal. So the phase must have a shift at the series resonance and a rapid reverse flip at the parallel resonance.

I measured a 16 MHz quartz crystal and a "T" filter to see the difference between phase measurements and the results are in the images below:

- NanoVNA H sweeping the quartz crystal: H_quartz_1.jpg and H_quartz_2.jpg

- NanoVNA V2 sweeping the quartz crystal: V2_quartz_1.jpg and V2_quartz_2.jpg

- NanoVNA H sweeping the filter: H_filter_1.jpg and H_filter_2.jpg

- NanoVNA V2 sweeping the filter: V2_filter_1.jpg and V2_filter_2.jpg

Both H and V2 were calibrated with the same fixture and sweep frequencies.

In my opinion, there may be a problem in the phase measurements of V2.

Can anyone measure a quartz crystal to see if it will get the same results?

Thank you very much.

Thanks a lot to John Gord and at the same time I apologize for the confusion created... Indeed, NanoVNA V2 starts with measuring the phase on CH0, that is on reflection (S11) and not on CH1 "through" (S21).

Thus, I was quite stupid to fall into the trap of not carefully checking the markers. So please excuse me for the confusion.

I attached the images with the correct phase measurement. So, pay attention to what is displayed on the screen! NanoVNA V2 does not start the same as NanoVNA H or H4.

Case closed. No issue.

In 2019 I bought a handy little tool called a Vector Network Analyser. These devices usually cost thousands of $$ but recently with the aid of very flexible, stable and affordable frequency generators from Silicon Labs, such as the Si5351A, a whole new range of rf products has been made available at very little cost.

At around $800 The VNWA3 from DG8SAQ ( -kits.net/introducing-DG8SAQ-VNWA3) is already a cost-effective unit. It uses two Analog Devices AD9859 signal generators ( ) and three of SA612 double-balanced mixers and offers a detection bandwidth from 1kHz - 1.3GHz. It is a unit that requires a USB connection to a computer which in turn needs some software to show the results and graphs.

This design was further developed by edy555 (aka 'ttrf') in Japan and his version, the original NanoVNA, offered an all-in-one solution using a Silicon Labs Si5351A as the signal generator ( -generators/cmos/device.si5351a-b-gt) including a 2.8-inch colour touch-screen. Gen Hu further developed this hardware design and it became known as the NanoVNA-H (but they are compatible firmware-wise).

The NanoVNA I bought happened to be a Chinese clone of the NanoVNA-H. Everything seemed to work okay and I was able to use it to test various filters and antennas. After subscribing and following the NanoVNA forum for a few weeks I noticed that people were discussing upgrades to their NanoVNA by way of installing newer firmware. I got intrigued by this and wanted to see if I could also upgrade my NanoVNA with one of the latest firmwares.

Flashing the firmware resulted in an error because the chip that is used in my NanoVNA (STM32F072C8T6) only holds 64kByte of program (flash) memory. This means I cannot upload a 87kByte piece of code into a 64kByte chunk of memory.

A little bit of research on the NanoVNA forum and the ST MicroElectronics website shows that a bigger version with 128kByte flash of the chip exists. The part number is STM32F072CBT6. Everything else (pinout, supply voltage, physical dimensions) is exactly the same.

After uploading the new firmware the NanoVNA is switched on for the first time and it all looks good. Notice that there is now a small battery indicator icon in the top-left corner. An additional diode is required to make the icon show some voltage level, but this feature was never present in the old firmware.

Very happy to see that the firmware upgrade went pretty much effortlessly and I didn't have to worry about bootloaders, eeprom or anything else. Everything just works and the device now runs the latest firmware.

Spring cleaning in my shack. While stocks last, I'm giving away sets of 2 old stock PCB's for my QRP-Labs broadcast band filter for postage cost only. Checkout: =bc-filter and if you like it, fill in the webshop order form to get yours.

When I got my hands on a used NanoVNA H4 I couldn't resist looking inside to see if it was using shielding for the RF components. Turned out it did so I bought the right one. But one thing I noticed was the component silkscreen for a micro SD-card slot without the slot it self and because it still contained the original software which didn't mention anything about saving images to SD cards, I didn't do anything with it.

Recently I updated the NanoVNA H4 with new firmware from the groups.io/g/nanovna-users group found in the file section "Dislord's Nanovna -H Firmware". That version does support writing the screen and the SP1/SP2 data to the SD card. So I searched my junkbox for a micro SD-card slot donor and found one on a WEMOS micro sd card shield (which is cheaper then buying a new slot). using a little patience, solder and desoldering I removed it without damage from the donor.

I connected a QRP-Labs NanoVNA adapter to the H4 and recalled the 30m BPF calibration settings. Double tapped the lower mid area on the screen (indicating bw:1000Hz 401p) and a notification told me that a image was stored. Took the SD card out of the H4 and looked on my computer to the result. Turned out everything works as expected.

I have no way of testing this, but [Edit: Peter Marks in the comments below confirms that these steps do work on macOS. Please see his comments for additional information.] The dfu-util homepage says that you can install the program from Homebrew this way:

Now we are ready to actually upload the firmware. If you are using a .bin firmware file, use this command to write the new firmware (of course, ensure that you replace ch.bin below with the path to your actual file):

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