These eBay attenuators any good?

[Alex Eisenhut]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1dB-3dB-5dB-6dB-10dB-15dB-20dB-30dB-6GHz-2W-SMA-RF-Attenuator-/262176080490?hash=item3d0ae9826a:g:-zkAAOSwnipWYmWZ

There should be a "marketplace" section to discuss various experiences with sellers and their products...

[AF6LJ]

An SMA attenuator is hard to mess up in that frequency range.
Bot do take note the VSWR is okay but not great.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I think that for the price, I'd want to see a little more data. Is the attenuation +/- 1 db over the range? Is the VSWR 1.2 at 6 GHz and 1.05 below 3 GHz? Lots of things you might want to know.

Bob

[ConKbot]

I doubt they are really good for 2w, they look like they are a bit smaller than minicircuits 1w attenuators. And +1 to a vswr vs freq and attenuation vs freq plot would be reassuring.   Since they make them, maybe they can provide them if you ask.

[AF6LJ]

What for $9.00?
They are dirt cheap....
Would I buy them to be used as test equipment?
Nope...
For a beginner and for use in a piece of gear I was building they are fine.

[cncjerry]

find one of the attenuators taken out of an HP SA for less than $50 and you can go from 10 - 70db with a battery and a few switches.  There are also attenuators in 1dB that are pulled from analyzers as well.

[uncle_bob]

find one of the attenuators taken out of an HP SA for less than $50 and you can go from 10 - 70db with a battery and a few switches.  There are also attenuators in 1dB that are pulled from analyzers as well.

Hi

At least around here, surplus attenuators are a "sub $2" sort of thing when you find them for sale.

Bob

[Alex Eisenhut]

Thanks all, but I'm such a hoarder I just found a box full of Huber Suhner SMA attenuators! 

[David Hess]

At least around here, surplus attenuators are a "sub $2" sort of thing when you find them for sale.

The last time I visited the HAM swap meet around St. Louis which is hardly a hotbed of surplus electronics these days, I was happy to pick up an assortment of NOS Minicircuit SMA attenuators for $5 each.

I have a whole collection of used Tektronix BNC calibration attenuators from Ebay and they all tested good.

As far as these Chinese ones, $8 seems reasonable if you have a way to roughly verify their performance since the seller is not going to want bad feedback but I have found name brand NOS SMA attenuators on Ebay for less than that before.