## Skin depth in copper at 1.8MHz according to QRZ

Having just written again on skin effect and copper clad steel (CCS) conductors on HF, and the potential for less than copper performance, it was interesting to note a thread on QRZ where the OP asked for advice on the issue with budget CCS RG-11.

Two late posts as I write this were:

There really is no real issue with skin effect on HF bands with copper clad materials.

and…

At 1.8 MHz, the skin depth in copper is 0.654 micro-meters (.0000654 mm), so the copper cladding on the center conductor of most RG-11 type coaxial cables is more than sufficient for any of our current bands.

The specific advice above looks interesting, convincing even… but thankfully, the skin depth in copper is nowhere near either of the figures he gave. Continue reading Skin depth in copper at 1.8MHz according to QRZ

## Reconciliation of Duffy CCS model with N7WS ladder line measurements

In developing and implementing A model of current distribution in copper clad steel conductors at RF reconciliation against some other published data was important.

(Stewart 1999) published a set of measurements of the popular Wireman windowed ladder line products. His measurements were in the range 50-150MHz. They form the basis for most calculators on quantitative analyses at HF, despite the fact that it is a dangerous extrapolation for CCS construction.

Nevertheless, the directly stated measurements at 50MHz are a useful calibration point for reconciliation.

Above is Table 1 from Stewart, it sets out measurements of four Wireman m.products and a plain copper line.

The table below compares Stewart’s measurements with the CCS model and with TLDetails results (where available). Continue reading Reconciliation of Duffy CCS model with N7WS ladder line measurements

## A model of current distribution in copper clad steel conductors at RF

A model for current distribution in a conductor is that for a homogenous conducting half space with surface current parallel to the interface. Current density at depth d is given by the expression $$J=J_0 \cdot e^{(-(1+\jmath ) \cdot \frac dδ)}$$ where δ is the skin depth $$δ=(ω \cdot µ \cdot σ)^{0.5}$$, σ is the conductivity). This is a model for a plane wave in an infinite block of conductor, so there are some issues caused by curvature of the wire surface, more so towards the centre.

## Copper round conductor – 1.024mm (#18) single core

Fig 1 is a plot of the current distribution in a 1mm dia (#18) round copper conductor at 1.8MHz as implied by the model. Note that while the magnitude of current decays exponentially with depth, there is an imaginary component that hints a curl of the E and H fields within the conductor. Continue reading A model of current distribution in copper clad steel conductors at RF

## QRP quarterly on small transmitting loop efficiency

A correspondent recently wrote regarding the theory expounded in (Findling et al 2012), and their measurements and performance predictions of the AlexLoop Walkham, Portable Magnetic Loop Antenna by PY1AHD.

The authors give a formula for lossless Q (to mean no loss other than by radiation) without explanation or justification.

The formula is wrong, possibly a result of slavish acceptance of Hart’s two factor incorrectly applied (see Duffy 2015, and Antennas and Q). This error feeds into an optimistic estimate of antenna efficiency.

## Analysis of measurement data

(Findling et al 2012) presents a table of measured half power bandwidth for the Alexloop.

Taking the 40m case, lets calculate to Q for a lossless loop, Qrad in Findling’s terms.

Note that Q for the lossless loop is about half that of Findling. Continue reading QRP quarterly on small transmitting loop efficiency

## Workup of G5RV inverted V using high strength aluminium MIG wire

This article is a workup of replacement of my 2mm HDC G5RV and feedline with high strength 1.6 aluminium MIG wire to evaluate practical issues with use of an aluminium conductor.

The G5RV configuration is an inverted V, and although half a G5RV is 15m, the supports result in a 20m length of wire to the support. The configuration has a central support and simple spans for each leg of the G5RV to their respective supports. Continue reading Workup of G5RV inverted V using high strength aluminium MIG wire

## DHT22 (AM2302) input for the generic heating / cooling controller

The generic heating / cooling controller (hcctl) is a flexible bang-bang thermostat controller based on an ATTiny25.

The project has been expanded to accept the Aosong DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor. The DHT22 produces a digital output (signed tenths of a degree) has a range of -40° to 80°, accuracy of about 0.5°, and 0-99.9% RH and costs a few dollars. hcctl can be configured for either temperature or humidity sensing (not both simultaneously).

Above is a development prototype with the DHT22 being heated by a small incandescent dial lamp to test function.

## Effect of shorting turns on a tapped air cored solenoid at RF

The roller inductor in a Palstar AT2K will be taken as an example to illustrate the technique. This tuner is popular and has a very good reputation amongst hams, though (Duffy 2012 was less enthusiastic).

Above a pic of the internals of the AT2K. The unused roller induction section is shorted. Continue reading Effect of shorting turns on a tapped air cored solenoid at RF

## NodeMCU devkit V1 deep sleep

Low cost implementations of the NodeMCU devkit V1.0 abound on eBay, and are featured in lots of projects.

Deep sleep mode is used in a lot of projects, the MCU is but into sleep mode and it requires circuitry so that the  from the /WAKE pin (D0, GIO16) can pull the /RST pin to wake the processor up.

## The problem

The common schematics as above simply wire /WAKE pin (D0, GIO16) to /RST (yellow wire), but this disrupts operation of the reset circuit, which degrades development productivity. Continue reading NodeMCU devkit V1 deep sleep

## ESP8266 IoT DHT22 temperature and humidity

The objective is a module that will take periodic temperature and humidity measurements and publish them to an MQTT message broker.

This inital implementation is very basic, it is largely configured in code, though it does use DHCP. Later extensions might include a web interface for configuration of WLAN parameters etc, but for the moment the emphasis is assessment of reliability given some reports on the ‘net.

## Hardware

A module was purchased with on board CP210x USB to serial chip. The only other component needed was the DHT22 digital temperature and humidity sensor.

NodeMCU was chosen for the ESP2866 firmware because of the inbuilt support for ‘interesting things’, including the DHT22.

Above is a breadboard of the system for development. Continue reading ESP8266 IoT DHT22 temperature and humidity

## Review of Dodd’s WSPR based antenna comparison

Dodd espoused the merit of WSPR for antenna comparison in his article (Dodd 2011).

He documented a series of WSPR spots of his transmitter on 20m in a table swapping between antennas during the test period, one side of the table for each antenna. (Don’t be misled, the dipole is not half wave dipole but some non-descript multi band loaded dipole.)

He calculates the average for each data set and states:

The average from the dipole and the loop -16.74 and -17.0dB respectively meaning that the performances were very similar.

You might reasonably interpret this to mean that there was no significant difference between the antennas, one was as good as the other. Continue reading Review of Dodd’s WSPR based antenna comparison