Blog tag line
The tag line sums up my fascination with radio. What the heck is the stuff that makes radio anyway? It’s actually a derived quip from the famous physicist Roy Glauber who once jokingly summarized his...
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Boonton 4220 Power Meter
For a long time I’ve wanted a decent power meter to calibrate my equipment. I’m finally getting a collection of equipment worthy of calibration and decided to spring for a meter. She’s a beaut!...
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AD8307 Analog Output conversion
John-NG0R and I are working on a digital power meter based roughly on the AD8307 log amplifier from Analog Devices. We want to use a common panel meter to do the indication. But the scaling of the log...
View ArticleSimple vs Complex Power Meter
As in all instruments, the notion of complexity, cost, and usability are important trade-offs. On the one hand, a meter with the ability to sense absolute power is important. If that was the only...
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4 Simple Directional Couplers
I’ve got 4 different SWR bridges in the shack and in the junque box. Out of curiosity I thought it might be helpful to investigate the various methods of building a directional coupler. Upper left...
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Directional Coupler Vers 0.1
My first attempt to make a directional coupler turned out OK but not brilliant. The goal was to be able to sample forward and reflected power using a simple stand-alone box. I think I can call this a...
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Class A, AB, C ramblings
I have been pondering the ability for simple parts to gather useful gain at HF. Tonight I built a simple Push Pull arrangement using a pair of 2N7000 FETs. It’s pretty simple. It’s breadboarded so...
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Wavetek 2510A Problems
By Ford-N0FP The Wavetek 2510A is a 0.1MHz to 1100MHz signal generator with a calibrated output. I’ve tested it against the Boonton Power Meter and found it to be pretty accurate. Wavetek 2510A The...
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80M (all-band) NVIS (N.ear V.ertical I.ncidence S.kywave) Antenna
November 3, 2012 By Ford-NØFP 4 tower, 28′ high, 284′ long loop 4 supports, 72’ apart, 28’ high, 284’ of wire. Looking west. Design Concept: More than one antenna is an operating feature. When the...
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Wide Band Bipolar RF Amplifier
By Ford-NØFP Many RF projects require modest amplification in various spots. Picking the right active stages, the right circuit topology, the right collection of components, seems to be more like an...
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