Three versions of Nooelec SAWBird H1 LNA
I made following comment on SARA mailing list 3/11/2025.
“I was talking about the Nooelec SAWBird H1 LNA, which it turns out has 3 versions.
- What Nooelec themselves call the “Retail Version” – the one in a black case.
- A barebones version with an internal 50 ohm resistor that can be switched in place of the antenna by shorting two pins on the board.
- Another barebones version WITHOUT said option to switch out antenna and in a resistor instead, which is apparently the only version they currently have in stock, and which can only be obtained by emailing them directly.
Worth saying that it is expected that the retail version will be back in stock soon.
Much of the discussion following my post was about whether (2) above is an old version of (3) and consequently no longer in production…..but Ted has one, so perhaps a cheeky offer to him might get hold of it, for anyone who is interested?
Andy”
Adrian gave following response:
“Andrew,
I see, thanks.
. Since Nooelec throws around the Barebones naming for so many other LNA’s, and as you said they don’t publicly list the “Option 3” secret Bareboones HI LNA w/o the 50 ohm resistor, I thought maybe they confused your request for one of the other LNA’s that potentially cover the HI frequency also.
Yes I am well aware of the little Ohm’ed beast. I also happen to own one.
. In the photo I’ve circled the 4 pin connector on mine (as is indicated in the datasheet picture) that is located beside the SMA RF input for yet another way to power the LNA through a Bias T as well as the two other pins for the control of the switch for the 50 ohm resistor to place in and out of the input to the LNA..
As you can see in the other picture I have a few other Barebones for other frequencies besides 1420 MHz. Some are more designed for satellite receptions like Iridium or WX sats but also they happen to cover the 1612 MHZ and 1665 -1667 MHz OH maser frequencies that hopefully I’ll also be able to detect if I ever get a large enough dish.
Adrian
KJ6GYC”
