A correspondent has suggested to me that my practice of giving Return Loss as a positive dB value is wrong, citing US FS-1037C.
US FS-1037C has been superseded by ANS T1.523-2001, Telecom Glossary 2000, and the wording in the latter is identical to the former, so let’s discuss the more current document. Continue reading ANS T1.523-2001, Telecom Glossary 2000 and Return Loss
FSM has been updated to v1.11.0.
The update adds an export to Gnuplot file of the wave file to allow visual examination of the recording on which the measurements is based.
This replicates the utility of the existing Dplot export, but with the freely available Gnuplot package.
Above is an example of the receiver noise recording, and whilst it might not seem very interesting, it is interesting that it is of the character of white noise.
Of more interest are cases where there is a distant cyclic pattern at twice the AC power frequency which hints insulator failures on each half cycle. Some other types of periodic modulation are helpful in identifying possible sources of emissions.
(Terman 1955) gives a meaning for the term SWR (or VSWR).
The character of the voltage (or current) distribution on a transmission line can be conveniently described in terms of the ratio of the maximum amplitude to minimum amplitude possessed by the distribution. This quantity is termed the standing wave ratio (often abbreviated SWR)…
Standing-wave ratio=S=Emax/Emin
Note that the use of capital E implies the magnitude of voltage, so Emax/Emin must always be a positive number.
Let’s look at an example of a 5Ω load on a line with Zo=50+j0Ω at 0.1MHz.
The standing wave is observable, the expression VSWR=Emax/Emin seems straight forward enough. The voltage along the line could be sampled and VSWR determined, seems all very practical. Continue reading On negative VSWR
Let’s examine a number of transmission line loss calculators on the following scenario:
Continue reading Can the magnitude of the complex reflection coefficient (ρ) be greater than 1
I have been intrigued by the huge number of sellers of very low cost 18650 Li-ion cells on eBay.
Could they be any good?
As a reality check, Panasonic cells around 3000mAh sell through traditional channels here in Australia for around A$20 per cell, there are Australian eBay sellers selling cells advertised as Panasonic for around A$22 per pair posted.
Above, the GTL red LS18650 5300mAh Li-ion cell purchased in a lot of five for $1.30 each (inc post from China). The rated capacity is more than 50% higher than the maximum from brand name products. Continue reading 18650 Lithium Ion cells on eBay
Further to the posting Quiet solar radio flux interpolations calculator…
With a change in hosting and the changes to adapt to supported and unsupported features, one of the positives is that the ‘short term’ fetching of data on which Quiet solar radio flux interpolations calculator is based is now happening two hourly at 5 minutes past the even hours. Continue reading Quiet solar radio flux interpolations calculator
Fractional G5RV antennas seem very popular in the US market, and they appeal to hams wanting multi band performance in small space.
One of the offerings is the quarter size G5RV, commonly marketed as the G5RV Mini.
The original concept set out by G5RV was a combination of a centre fed dipole and open wire transformation section to successfully deliver a lowish VSWR(50) on several of the pre-WARC bands. This enabled arbitrary length low Z feed extension to the transmitter, and allowed direct attachment to transmitters of the common design of the day (1950s). Continue reading NEC model of the quarter size G5RV
Investigation whilst developing Evolution of WSPR revealed some potential issues relating to certain WSPR versions.
The WSPR 2.0 manual states:
Please note that messages with compound callsigns or 6-digit locators will not be properly decoded by WSPR versions earlier than 2.0. Further details on message formats can be found in Appendix B, and in the WSPR source code.
So, lets mine some data. Continue reading WSPR version confusion
WSPR (weak signal propagation reporter) is a system for recording on a central database, ‘spots’ of transmitting stations by receiving stations.
It is interesting to examine the contribution by transmitting and receiving stations, for without both, the system cannot work.
I downloaded the archive for December 2015 and did some basic analysis to explore the pattern of use on the 40m band, my main band of interest. Importantly, 40m provides opportunity for local, intermediate and long distance propagation though long distance paths might be restricted to just several hours on most days.
The chart above shows that the T-index was near normal on most days, and 6 days it was quite poor, so propagation conditions during the month will be a little depressed. The effect on 40m is mainly on short ionospheric paths, say 50-500km. Continue reading Evolution of WSPR
A reader has asked the question in a transmission line context after reading Walter Maxwell’s teachings on system wide conjugate matching.
In the real world, transmission lines have loss and almost always, the nature of that loss will mean that Zo is not purely real.
The answer to the question depends on whether or not there are standing waves on the transmission line.
Nothing in this article is to imply that a transmitter is well represented by a Thevenin equivalent source. Continue reading Is maximum power transfer and conjugate matching simultaneously possible