Identifying and testing unknown antennas

[Shaw]

Hi all,

I've got a bunch of rubber-duck antennas at home in a box, I know some are 900Mhz and some are 2.4Ghz ones.  Of course they all look the same which is annoying.  Is there any simple way for me to test these?

I don't have a full electronics lab, but I do have a Rigol 100Mhz scope and multimeter... I don't have a signal generator or spectrum analyzer, which I suspect are the two pieces of required kit.

Any suggestions on a quick and easy way to identify these would be great. 

[WarSim]

Without a signal generator or network analyzer, I can't think of anyway at the moment.

[Rasz]

http://pe2er.nl/wifiswr/

or just get a wifi card and try all the antennas checking signal strength of a known ap

[vk6zgo]

http://pe2er.nl/wifiswr/

or just get a wifi card and try all the antennas checking signal strength of a known ap

Nice project,but being "rough as guts",I would go with your second suggestion!

[WarSim]

I agree the second suggestion is much better than my no idea option. 

[olsenn]

What are you trying to measure? SWR can be measured with a spectrum analyzer and a bridge or coupler. impedance can be measured with a multimeter or LCR meter, but it's safer if you measure this at the frequency you're operating at. More advanced measurements really call for a network analyzer and more specific equipment

[babysitter]

Look out for the local ham radio club. You might find that certain guy that loves to do exactly that, there.

I second the method of hooking it up to a Wifi card, and try to get the best estimation of field strength you can get -
with windows, netstumbler is your friend and wl under linux, I think.

Be careful when tightening the connectors.