In Aug 2018 QST John Portune (W6NBC) described an improvement he made to ordinary windowed ladder line.
Above is his improved line, it is ordinary windowed ladder line fitted into black foam water pipe lagging.
Continue reading Portune’s magic windowed ladder line
A simplified design for small broadband RF transformers using medium µ ferrite core for receiving use. The specific application is an input transformer to a nominally 2kΩ receiver at around 9MHz (a panadapter).
The characteristic of typical medium µ ferrite mixes, particularly NiZn, are well suited to this application.
This article continues with the design discussed at BN43-2402 balun example, but using a 2t primary and 16t secondary for a nominal 1:64 50:3400Ω transformer (though at high ratios, the transformation is only nominal).
Lets consider a couple of simple starting points for low end and high end rolloff. Continue reading Another small broadband RF transformer using medium µ ferrite core for receiving use – 50:3200Ω
This article continues on from Implementation of G5RV inverted V using high strength aluminium MIG wire documenting review after 12 months operation under a wide range of temperature, humidity and wind conditions.
Above is a view of the steel mast with the Inverted V G5RV rigged from the top of the 11m mast using a halyard though a purchase on a small gibbet to offset the antenna and feed line from the mast. There are lateral guys at 7m height, and the left hand one is non-conductive synthetic fibre rope. Atop the mast is a 2m/70cm vertical. Continue reading Implementation of G5RV inverted V using high strength aluminium MIG wire – 12 month review
This article reports initial impressions of an Anytone AT-D868UV hand held VHF/UHF dual mode (DMR/FM) radio.
Above, the AT-D868UV, purchased for about A$225 incl post from Hong Kong. This model had a GPS though that is unusable on ham DMR networks, so it is wasted money if you like. They may be more expensive through online shops that collect GST, and of course in countries where tariffs are applied to make them great again, prices may be higher.
Continue reading Anytone AT-D868UV: initial impressions
The WSPRlite flex requires external low pass filters for each band of operation.
Since my experiments will be conducted on the 40m band, the following low pass filter meets the requirement. The inductors and capacitors make a seven element Chebyshev filter as designed by G3CWI for use in a 50Ω system.
Above, the filter is assembled on a piece of matrix board with two BNC connectors. The inductors are fixed with hot melt adhesive, and the whole thing served over with heatshrink tube. It is not waterproof. Continue reading 40m filter for WSPRlite flex
I bought a remote speaker-microphone (RSM) for a DMR portable from eBay (~$12 posted). Experience says that these suffer RF ingress which is seriously bad in DMR due to the amplitude modulation of the transmitted signal.
This RSM had somewhat improved filtering around the electret compared to others I have purchased. Continue reading Another RFI mod of a speaker mic for DMR use
Continuing from WSPR for A/B tests – a discussion – part 3.
Another technique for exploring the relationship between paired variables is a regression model. In the case of these experiments, a simple model that is a good candidate is that SNR_B=m*SNR_A+b, a simple linear regression. A simple solution is to find m and b to minimise the sum of squares of errors between the predicted SNR_B and measured SNR_B.
Above is a frequency distribution of data extracted from a month studied in 2011. There are almost half a million spots on 40m contributing to this analysis, so it covers a wide range of propagation conditions during the month, and includes all stations spotted by all stations. Continue reading WSPR for A/B tests – a discussion – part 4
Continuing from WSPR for A/B tests – a discussion – part 2.
Above is a frequency histogram of the experiment log.
I used the Shapiro-Wilks test for normality earlier, it is one of many, and they each have strengths and weakness, or sensitivities to some types of non-normality if you like.
We could shop for a normality test that is less bothered by the rounded data. Pearson’s Chi-squared test is an obvious choice as it compares the frequency histogram on chosen classes with the expected distribution if the data was normal. So if we cleverly make the classes 1dB, we might have a test that is not sensitive to the rounded data. Continue reading WSPR for A/B tests – a discussion – part 3
One frequently hears FM radios on the VHF bands that high or low in modulation level which exacerbates the problem of copying stations whilst mobile.
The defence often given is that it is so hard to measure frequency modulation, that it take an expensive deviation meter and they are scarce.
This article explains how to make accurate measurements using equipment often found around ham shacks, and could certainly be cobbled together from the resources of a few ham shacks. The figures and example given apply to nominal 25kHz channeled radios, adjustments are need for narrow channel radios.
There are three steps where calibration is progressively transferred through a measurement chain:
The usual method of calibrating a modulator is to use the spectral properties of an FM signal.
One could use a spectrum analyser to find the calibration point, adjusting the modulation level and detecting the null of the carrier or sidebands according to the Bessel function.
Since the instrumentation is used to detect the null of a carrier or sideband component, and the null is very sensitive, a narrow band receiver can be used for the calibration procedure.
This is a procedure to calibrate a frequency modulator at a single modulating frequency using an SSB receiver to detect the first carrier zero.
The modulation index is now 2.4, and therefore the deviation is 2.4kHz.
The technique is very sensitive and very accurate, and error will mostly be attributed to the accuracy of the modulating frequency.
You have read about it, click to listen to a demonstration. This demonstration uses an SSB receiver with a 3.5kHz IF bandwidth, but I have used the technique with receivers with a 10kHz IF bandwidth, you just hear more of the sidebands, but concentrate on the carrier beat and null it out. The test receiver could be a high quality communications receiver or a scanner with a BFO. You could sample the modulated signal at the carrier frequency, or by sniffing some signal from the IF of a super-heterodyne receiver.
Having calibrated a modulator, we can set a receiver up to demodulate that signal and calibrate its output voltage against the known deviation of the source.
Above, an oscilloscope is connected to the receiver output and the volume control is adjusted until the peak voltage is 2.4 divisions, corresponding to peak deviation of 2.4kHz. Continue reading Adjusting modulation level on FM mobiles etc.
Continuing from WSPR for A/B tests – a discussion – part 1.
Above is a frequency histogram of the experiment log.
The histogram uses 1dB intervals for the bars, so it chunks the data into discrete bands, and that hides an important issue with WSPR SNR data, its granularity is 1dB, so it is a very coarse measure given the spread of the data.
Lets compare the probability distribution of the measured difference data with an ideal normal distribution.
Above is a quantile-quantile (Q-Q) plot of the raw data and an ideal response with the same standard deviation as the raw data. The data is for 4508 points, so these dots each typically represent a large number of observations, more so in the middle region. Continue reading WSPR for A/B tests – a discussion – part 2