MFJ-993B internal balun review

The MFJ-993B auto antenna tuner includes an internal balun, this article is a review of that balun.

screenshot-29_09_16-10_02_24The schematic shows the balun as a Guanella 4:1 balun with the usual external link to one of the coaxial antenna sockets. (The label “Z balanced” is misleading, clearly one of the terminals is grounded and this is the unbalanced connection to the coax connector via a link. The antenna connects to the left hand terminals.)

Unlike almost all ATUs with an internal balun, this is a current balun (to their credit), but a 4:1 balun.

There are two aspects of balun behaviour that are of particular interest:

  • choking or common mode impedance; and
  • impedance transformation.

Continue reading MFJ-993B internal balun review

Shack entry / ATU configuration for my G5RV with tuned feeder

At MFJ-993B on my G5RV with tuned feeder I discussed first impressions of the replacement ATU.

This article documents the physical layout.

The antenna is a G5RV with tuned feeders (Varney 1958). The tuned feeder is home made two wire line using 2mm diameter copper spaced 50mm.

img_0594

Above at the right, the open wire line terminates on a home made balun on the feed line entrance panel, see
Design / build project: Guanella 1:1 ‘tuner balun for HF’ – #4 for details of the balun. This is all under the building eaves, but it is waterproof… the area is regularly jetted with high pressure water to clean insects away. Continue reading Shack entry / ATU configuration for my G5RV with tuned feeder

Is the premises main earthing conductor ok as a lightning down conductor

Upon reading Rationale for sizing of lightning down conductor a correspondent asks whether his premises 4mm^2 main earthing conductor ok as a lightning down conductor.

Intended purpose of electrical installation ground electrode

The usual source of current on the premises main earth conductor would be a fault energised by the incoming supply. To understand the implications, lets review the supply system. Continue reading Is the premises main earthing conductor ok as a lightning down conductor

Rationale for sizing of lightning down conductor

The lightning ground conductor shown at Mast ground rework might at first seem excessive, this article sets out the rationale.

GroundRod02

The connection to a 2.4m copper clad steel driven electrode (under the green cover) is 35mm^2 copper.

The nature of lightning protection sizing

Lightning protection sizing is a risk management regime driven by the mechanisms of lightning and variation in distribution.

It is not surprising then that regulatory standards in different distributions broadly use similar design methods but set different practices for implementation in the jurisdiction.

So, let’s go standards shopping… what we are looking for is guidance on the energy (or work) that is directed to heating the down conductor, and choosing a conductor size that will sustain not just a single stroke, or an average stroke, but most events that may include many strokes in a short period of time. Continue reading Rationale for sizing of lightning down conductor

Demonstration video of Cadweld Oneshot Plus ground rod connection

I showed in Mast ground rework the use of a Cadweld Oneshot Plus thermite weld of the ground conductor to the ground rod.

Responding to reader interest, I have made a little video demonstrating the process.

cadweld21

Above is a pic of the demonstration piece with crucible and slag broken away. Continue reading Demonstration video of Cadweld Oneshot Plus ground rod connection

Effective RF resistance of a braided solenoid – Gilbert’s coil measurements

(Gilbert 1996) gave a set of measurements of impedance of several inductors wound as a single layer close spaced solenoid of RG-213 coaxial cable.

Of particular interest is the measurements of the 6t solenoid as there are several measurements well below the self resonant frequency of the inductor.

Key geometry details used in this analysis are:

  • cable OD 10.287mm;
  • conductor OD 8mm;
  • mean solenoid diameter 117.4mm (ASTM D-2729 pipe + RG-213);
  • cable length 2.213m; and
  • solenoid length 6*10.287mm.

clip-218Above is a plot of Gilbert’s measurements from 1 to 5MHz, and curve fits.
Continue reading Effective RF resistance of a braided solenoid – Gilbert’s coil measurements

Mast ground rework

When I moved here about eight years ago, I quickly installed a small mast and associated ground system for the station. The grounding of the mast itself for lightning protection was a temporary solution, and less temporary than planned. This article documents the rework.

GroundRod01Above is the temporary solution. A 2.4m copper clad ground rod was driven into the clay, and a couple of short 25mm^2 tails connected to the mast tube. The long term solution was to be tidier and allow the mower / brushcutter to be used to trim grass without fouling the earth rod or cables.

The plan is to cut to bent top of the earth rod, drive it below ground level, and make a new tail of 35mm^2 (#2) cable and Cadweld it to the ground rod. Continue reading Mast ground rework

MFJ-993B on my G5RV with tuned feeder

This article is an analysis of why my recently acquired MFJ-993B will not match my multiband antenna system on most bands above 20m. The MFJ-993B replaces an Ameritron ATR-30 which was capable of matching the antenna system on all HF amateur bands.

A detailed analysis is performed 18.15MHz on the first problem band.

Configuration

The antenna system uses a tune feeder configuration.

G5rvTuneFeeder

The alternative tuned feeder arrangement described at (Varney 1958).

In this case, the open wire line is 9m of home made 450Ω line (2mm copper wires spaced 50mm air insulated), a 1:1 current balun and 0.5m of RG400 tail to the ATU.

A 470K 1W metal film resistor and a 2095-100 gas discharge tube in parallel are connected in parallel with the ATU antenna terminals to reduced static build up and modest transient protection.

Impedance was measured looking with a Rigexpert AA-600 into the cable end that plugs onto the ATU, at 18.15MHz is is 4.7-j69.5Ω.
Continue reading MFJ-993B on my G5RV with tuned feeder

Exploiting your antenna analyser #25

Find coax cable velocity factor using an antenna analyser without using SOL calibration

A common task is to measure the velocity factor of a sample of coaxial transmission line using an instrument without using SOL calibration.

Whilst this seems a trivial task with a modern antenna analyser, it seems to challenge many hams.

We will use a little test fixture that I made for measuring small components, and for which I have made test loads for SOL calibration. We will find the frequency where reactance passes through zero at the first parallel resonance of an O/C stub section, this is at a length of approximately λ/2 (a good approximation for low loss coaxial cables above about 10MHz).

We will use a little test fixture that I made for measuring small components, and for which I have made test loads for SOL calibration.

The text fixture used for this demonstration is constructed on a SMA(M) PCB connector using some machined pin connector strip and N(M)-SMA(F) adapters to connect to the instrument.

VfMeasurement01

Above is a pic of the test fixture with adapters (in this case on a AA-600). Continue reading Exploiting your antenna analyser #25

Exploiting your antenna analyser #24

Find coax cable velocity factor using an antenna analyser with SOL calibration

A common task is to measure the velocity factor of a sample of coaxial transmission line using an instrument that supports SOL calibration, an AIMuhf in this example.

Whilst this seems a trivial task with a modern antenna analyser, it seems to challenge many hams.

There are a thousand recipes, I am going to demonstrate just one that suits the instrument and application.

We will use a little test fixture that I made for measuring small components, and for which I have made test loads for SOL calibration. We will find the frequency where reactance passes through zero at the first parallel resonance of an O/C stub section, this is at a length of approximately λ/2 (a good approximation for low loss coaxial cables above about 10MHz).

The text fixture used for this demonstration is constructed on a SMA(M) PCB connector using some machined pin connector strip and N(M)-SMA(F) adapters to connect to the instrument.

VfMeasurement01

Above is a pic of the test fixture with adapters (in this case on a AA-600). Continue reading Exploiting your antenna analyser #24