Some pretty woolly thinking on measuring Thevenin equivalent source impedance of a ham transmitter

A ham seeking to optimise his station based on some measurements with a VNA and some modelling of a matching network posted the results of a test in the process.

The radio is an Icom IC-7300. I bypassed the built in tuner, transmitted a tone into my external tuner, adjusted it for SWR=1. I then disconnected the tuner from the radio, and measured the impedance looking into the tuner with a VNA. Surprisingly, (to me anyway) the result was a pretty good 53-j3 Ohms at 14 MHz.

What should we / have expected? It is an interesting case to study. Continue reading Some pretty woolly thinking on measuring Thevenin equivalent source impedance of a ham transmitter

Last update: 3rd May, 2021, 6:37 PM

Collins 30-L1 on FT-8

After a lot of grief with Excel trying to open and fix some 10 year old spreadsheets… finally…

I was recently asked about FT-8 on the Colling 30-L1 linear amplifier considering my article Collins 30L-1 and AM.

The first thing to note is the Colling 30-L1 manual cautions against AM and FSK:

That said, what are the reasons for such a prohibition? Continue reading Collins 30-L1 on FT-8

Last update: 2nd May, 2021, 9:37 AM

Logging temperature meter (ltm) v1 – prototype trial run measuring ECT

Logging temperature meter (ltm) is a ESP8266 based temperature measurement and logging device.

Above is the prototype, but for this test a small thin film NTC thermistor was attached to the existing engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor. Continue reading Logging temperature meter (ltm) v1 – prototype trial run measuring ECT

Last update: 28th April, 2021, 6:33 PM

N6THN’s novel balun – flux leakage

N6THN’s novel balun presented measurement of the Insertion VSWR of the subject balun, and N6THN’s novel balun – an explanation gave explanation that included mention of flux leakage as a contributor to the quite high inductance per unit length of the transmission line formed by the two windings.

A correspondent suggested that with a ferrite core, flux leakage is insignificant. This article calculates the coupled coils scenario.

The balun as described

Above is the ‘schematic’ of the balun. Note the entire path from rig to dipole. Continue reading N6THN’s novel balun – flux leakage

Last update: 21st April, 2021, 11:03 AM

A handy 230VAC 15A inline power meter based on an inexpensive module from eBay

This article describes a simple and inexpensive inline power meter for use as a test instrument.

CNC routing

The box cutouts were done on a CNC router, but they could be done with hand tools.

Above, calcs of feeds and speeds for the CNC router. The box is actually ABS, but cutting speed for Polycarbonate is the same.

Above is the tool path for one side of the box. The cutouts suit the 7P-2 strain reliefs. The gcode is generated from a custom Python file using a custom library of common shapes that I use. Continue reading A handy 230VAC 15A inline power meter based on an inexpensive module from eBay

Last update: 20th April, 2021, 6:16 PM