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Re: Should the builtin TDR mode compensate for FFT window / zero-padding losses? #tdr

 

You can check my last firmware v1.0.39
/g/nanovna-users/files/Dislord%27s%20Nanovna%20-H%20Firmware

Added fixes for this compensation (thanks for OneOfEleven), but extended for use any points count/different FFT size (my firmware allow select different points, up to 401 for H4, also H4 use 512 FFT for support 401 points)


Procedure for measuring S12 cable loss?

 

Hi,

I have the nanoVNA2. I'm trying to measure the loss in db between the two ports.

I have the manual but it has nothing on setting the device up for S12 port loss measurement. The manual just tells you where the menu options are. Does anyone have instructions for this type of measurement? A lot of guess work ATM. I see posts on this subject but no settings, just discussion. I could figure this out for myself if I had some calibrated attenuators, but I don't. A couple of observations and some questions below.

What I've done so far:

1. Calibrated the VNA over the frequency of interest. OSL and Through using the supplied cable.

2. Set the displayed marker to LOGMAG.
Q.[LOGMAG is absolute logarithmic magnitude of what value? Power? Voltage? The manual doesn't say]
Q. [LOGMAG of forward or reflected power? The manual doesn't say]

3. Display->Channel>CH1 Through.

With the above settings, I see the display below when a 50cm length of RG142 is connected between the two ports:



CH1 LOGMAG is showing 0.02db. So is that the total insertion loss between ports? That simple?

I'm guessing that the reference level on the chart (0.0db) is one level down from the top, as the yellow horizontal marker (left side) is placed at that level - in the absence of a vertical scale.

Interestingly, when channel is set to 'CH0 Reflect' I see the chart below, -35.19db. There's no way a 50 length of RG142 can have this much loss, so I assume this figure is Return Loss - of the second port termination value?



Thanks.


Re: Current Firmware for nanoVNA #firmware

 

Unsubscribe: /g/nanovna-users/leave/defanged [ larrystein@... ]

On 28 Sep 2020 17:42, Gyula Molnar <gyula.ha3hz@...> wrote:




Hi BruceN,
Which entry do you not understand?
I can¡¯t help anyone who doesn¡¯t know how to read websites. Anyone who
reads will know that there is firmware from multiple sources on my page in
the "Using NanoVNA" article, which you can find a link to in the pdf files
if you click on the underlined or blue highlighted text.
Yes ... some just read and understand the joke in the text.

Can You see this:
Firmware sources:?? _last update
NanoVNA_edy555_20200620
NanoVNA-H_hugen_20200118
NanoVNA-H4_hugen_20200221
NanoVNA_DiSlord_20200620 [SD Card on -H4 and early nanoVNA]
NanoVNA-F_firmwares_20200417
S-A-A-2_firmwares_20200619

73, Gyula HA3HZ
--
*** If you are not part of the solution, then you are the problem. (
) ***








Re: Current Firmware for nanoVNA #firmware

 

Hi BruceN,
Which entry do you not understand?
I can¡¯t help anyone who doesn¡¯t know how to read websites. Anyone who reads will know that there is firmware from multiple sources on my page in the "Using NanoVNA" article, which you can find a link to in the pdf files if you click on the underlined or blue highlighted text.
Yes ... some just read and understand the joke in the text.

Can You see this:
Firmware sources: _last update
NanoVNA_edy555_20200620
NanoVNA-H_hugen_20200118
NanoVNA-H4_hugen_20200221
NanoVNA_DiSlord_20200620 [SD Card on -H4 and early nanoVNA]
NanoVNA-F_firmwares_20200417
S-A-A-2_firmwares_20200619

73, Gyula HA3HZ
--
*** If you are not part of the solution, then you are the problem. ( ) ***


Re: Current Firmware for nanoVNA #firmware

 

One thing I like about this forum is the lack of snarkiness in replies. For the same space that it takes to be snarky, you can answer a question with real information to direct the questioner to the right information. Good going guys. And, all, remember the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

BruceN / K4TQL

--
*"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk"* -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)


Re: Free DSP books, LTSpice

 

Hi David,
It's not advertising. The author retired and made his simulation app free of charge.
These sim apps are used for modeling many types of analog circuits, including RF, which can then be verified using the Nano devices.

There are a number of these free apps, a few of which are already mentioned in various forum posts. A few members have used these to design and post the result of filters and shown how the Nano is used to measure and display same.

Hardware and software complement each other these days and it's good to have a reference of free or inexpensive tools to draw from.

... Larry


Re: Free DSP books, LTSpice

 

While interesting, your post is not appropriate for this forum. Please do not post advertisements.

DaveD

On Sep 27, 2020, at 20:42, Clifford Heath <clifford.heath@...> wrote:

Kevin Aylward has now made his excellent SuperSpice product available as freeware (Windows only): <>.
I think he will provide source code on request as well.

Kevin is a great guy, who's used his talents at Racal in recent years to produce the finest commercially-available crystal oscillator modules.

I've never used either, but I have had some great email discussions with Kevin.





Re: Free DSP books, LTSpice

 

Kevin Aylward has now made his excellent SuperSpice product available as freeware (Windows only): <>.
I think he will provide source code on request as well.

Kevin is a great guy, who's used his talents at Racal in recent years to produce the finest commercially-available crystal oscillator modules.

I've never used either, but I have had some great email discussions with Kevin.


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

In post 17730 I wrote:
"Jeff has a bunch of really good blog posts about directional couplers."

Here's the blog post I was thinking of but could not find:

That's an excellent analysis of the Tandem Match.
This business of adding a voltage reading to a current reading (with proper scaling)
is the basis of most SWR meters that an amateur radio operator might use.

It is also an excellent example of how circuit analysis
of a rather difficult problem can be carried out.
And gives further insight to the nature of reflections.

Note that the nanovna can measure an arbitrary complex impedance
within the range of the instrument.
And that from complex impedance, we can compute the SWR
for any desired characteristic impedance, perhaps 450 ohm ladder line.
As Jeff shows, a Tandem Match is only useful in a 50 ohm environment,
as determined by the 50 ohm resistors that are typically stuffed.

Jerry, KE7ER




On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 11:04 AM, Jerry Gaffke wrote:
....
##################################
Allow me a short rant here, as I find the subject interesting,
and key to understanding what a nanovna is.
Composing this note helped me to think about it.

The key passages of the Bruene article
are on the first page:

#######################################
Textbooks tell us that the voltage on a line can be considered to have two
components, a forward component ... and a reflected component.
#######################################
An important thing to note is that at any point along the line the reflected
components of voltage and current are exaclty 180 degrees out of phase.
#######################################
How the Directional Coupler Works
The directional coupler can sense either the forward or reflected component by
taking advantage of the fact that the reflected components of voltage and
current are 180 degrees out of phase while the forward components are in
phase. A small voltage derived from the current in the line is added to a
sample of the voltage across the line. If these two samples have the right
amplitude relationship, the two reflected components cancel. The sum then
represents only the forward component. By reversing the phase of the current
sample 180 degrees, the forward components cancel and the result is the sum of
only the reflected components.
#######################################

Those first two items are stated as known textbook facts,
Bruene does not attempt to explain why they are true.
Here is one way to go about it:

Think about 5 volts DC into a 50 ohm resistive load, we would measure 5v/50 =
0.1 amps into the load.
And the power burned by that 50 ohms would be 5*0.1 = 0.5 Watts.

Assume we apply 5 volts DC to a black box, and we measure -0.1 amps, which is
to say that the
current is flowing the opposite direction. This means there is something
unexpected about the box,
it is somehow sending 0.5 watts in the opposite direction down our wire toward
the 5 volt battery.
Perhaps the box has a 10 volt battery inside, in series with a 50 ohm
resistor.

That works for AC as well as DC, we might have 0.1 amps rms travelling from
the black box to
a 10mhz 5 volt rms signal source. The black box in this case would have to
contain a second
10mhz source that is exactly synchronized with our 5 volt rms source.

We can have 10 mhz signals travelling in both directions simultaneously, as is
the case when
the black box reflects part of the 10mhz energy back to the signal source.
At this point we have caught up with Bruene, being able to differentiate
forward power from reverse power
by noting that reverse power has voltage and current that are 180 degrees out
of phase.

The other curiosity in the Bruene article is that these SWR meters add RF
voltage to RF current,
which makes about as much sense to a physicist as adding bananas to miles.
For a result of power in watts we would have to multiply voltage and current,
but you can't do a multiply with coils and caps and resistors.

Let's think again about our 5 volts DC driving a 50 ohm resistor, resulting in
a 5/50 = 0.1 amp current.
Assume we measure the 0.1 amp current by passing it through a 1 ohm resistor,
resulting in 0.1*1 = 0.1 volts across it.
And assume we scale the 5 volts down to 0.1 volts by passing it through a
resistive divider of 49 + 1 ohms in series.
Now, if we add the 0.1 volt current reading to the 0.1 volt voltage reading,
we get 0.2 volts, but only if the resistor is 50 ohms.
And if the current is going in the wrong direction, we get zero volts when we
add the two readings.
If we have currents going in both directions simultaneously, all we see is the
forward component.
Jerry, KE7ER
A minor correction: On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 11:12 AM, Jerry Gaffke wrote:
Differentiating between the "currents going in both directions"
doesn't work so well in the case of DC, we need AC signals for that.


Re: Free DSP books, LTSpice

 

On Sat, Sep 26, 2020 at 07:57 AM, Jerry Gaffke wrote:
Analog acquired Linear Technology in 2017, so now holds the keys to LTSpice,
still free to use.
My favorite simulator (though I am by no means an expert), can take in
arbitrary Spice models.
A MSWin program, but runs fine under Wine on Linux.
I'm still using LTSpice-IV, the old WinXP version.
There is also a version of LTSpice for Mac OS/X. The menus are pretty non-standard, but the program is solid.


Re: Do I have a nanoVNA, or a nanoVNA-H ?

 

It could be a NanoVNA-H v3.3 by Hugen. He did make some in the "sandwich" style before he used plastic cases.

BTW - from the picture it looks like your battery is swelling. If so time to get rid of it...

Roger


Re: Do I have a nanoVNA, or a nanoVNA-H ?

 

All Nanovna 1st iteration devices , including the H are all essentially the same and can use the same firmware.?The newer unit is the H4 and the F, both which use different processors and different firmware.?
Please refer to the forum Wiki for info on the difference between the models.??


On Sun, 27 Sep 2020 at 6:46 PM, Alberto I2PHD<i2phd@...> wrote: Look at the attached photo.... on the back of my 2.8" nanoVNA you can read "NanoVNA", but on the PCB it is clearly readable "NanoVNA-H", followed by the version number 3.3
So, is my unit an -H model, or is it the original one ?? TNX.

Alberto


Do I have a nanoVNA, or a nanoVNA-H ?

 

Look at the attached photo.... on the back of my 2.8" nanoVNA you can read "NanoVNA", but on the PCB it is clearly readable "NanoVNA-H", followed by the version number 3.3
So, is my unit an -H model, or is it the original one ? TNX.

Alberto


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

hi,

I took the original query "amp" as amplifier - final amplifier power level.

bark less - wag more

On 9/27/20 2:04 PM, Jerry Gaffke via groups.io wrote:
The original query was to "test power level (amps) at antenna?".
Assuming he means watts instead of amps, we still have to figure out what he means
by "at antenna".
If he wants to know the power available at the antenna,
your 50 ohm dummy load and scope will work fine.
If he wants to know how many watts are actually going into the antenna, not so much.
Your scope might work for this if you add a 1 ohm resistor in series to sense the current.
Then measure voltage and current at the antenna, and the phase difference, assuming
you have a two channel scope.
Multiply rms voltage, rms current, and the sine of the phase angle between the two to get real power.
##################################
Allow me a short rant here, as I find the subject interesting,
and key to understanding what a nanovna is.
Composing this note helped me to think about it.
The key passages of the Bruene article
are on the first page:
#######################################
Textbooks tell us that the voltage on a line can be considered to have two components, a forward component ... and a reflected component.
#######################################
An important thing to note is that at any point along the line the reflected components of voltage and current are exaclty 180 degrees out of phase.
#######################################
How the Directional Coupler Works
The directional coupler can sense either the forward or reflected component by taking advantage of the fact that the reflected components of voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase while the forward components are in phase. A small voltage derived from the current in the line is added to a sample of the voltage across the line. If these two samples have the right amplitude relationship, the two reflected components cancel. The sum then represents only the forward component. By reversing the phase of the current sample 180 degrees, the forward components cancel and the result is the sum of only the reflected components.
#######################################
Those first two items are stated as known textbook facts,
Bruene does not attempt to explain why they are true.
Here is one way to go about it:
Think about 5 volts DC into a 50 ohm resistive load, we would measure 5v/50 = 0.1 amps into the load.
And the power burned by that 50 ohms would be 5*0.1 = 0.5 Watts.
Assume we apply 5 volts DC to a black box, and we measure -0.1 amps, which is to say that the
current is flowing the opposite direction. This means there is something unexpected about the box,
it is somehow sending 0.5 watts in the opposite direction down our wire toward the 5 volt battery.
Perhaps the box has a 10 volt battery inside, in series with a 50 ohm resistor.
That works for AC as well as DC, we might have 0.1 amps rms travelling from the black box to
a 10mhz 5 volt rms signal source. The black box in this case would have to contain a second
10mhz source that is exactly synchronized with our 5 volt rms source.
We can have 10 mhz signals travelling in both directions simultaneously, as is the case when
the black box reflects part of the 10mhz energy back to the signal source.
At this point we have caught up with Bruene, being able to differentiate forward power from reverse power
by noting that reverse power has voltage and current that are 180 degrees out of phase.
The other curiosity in the Bruene article is that these SWR meters add RF voltage to RF current,
which makes about as much sense to a physicist as adding bananas to miles.
For a result of power in watts we would have to multiply voltage and current,
but you can't do a multiply with coils and caps and resistors.
Let's think again about our 5 volts DC driving a 50 ohm resistor, resulting in a 5/50 = 0.1 amp current.
Assume we measure the 0.1 amp current by passing it through a 1 ohm resistor, resulting in 0.1*1 = 0.1 volts across it.
And assume we scale the 5 volts down to 0.1 volts by passing it through a resistive divider of 49 + 1 ohms in series.
Now, if we add the 0.1 volt current reading to the 0.1 volt voltage reading, we get 0.2 volts, but only if the resistor is 50 ohms.
And if the current is going in the wrong direction, we get zero volts when we add the two readings.
If we have currents going in both directions simultaneously, all we see is the forward component.
Jerry, KE7ER
On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 10:04 AM, Howard Fidel wrote:


I measure power into my 50 ohm dummy load by transmitting in CW and measuring
the RMS voltage on my scope. P = V*V/50.


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

The N5ESE probe sees the peak to peak voltage across the diode.
The diode should be rated for at least 50 volts, and have just a few pF of capacitance when reverse biased.
The low capacitance requirement rules out power diodes like a 1n4001.
Signal diodes like 1n4148 or 1n914 or 1n5711 would all be fine.

I would slowly crank up power with the dummy load hooked up to the transmitter (in CW mode)
till the DVM reads around 10 volts or so, and use that power level for the measurements.
Assuming the DVM is 11meg and you use N5ESE's circuit, that's 10 volts rms,
so 10*10/50 = 2 watts. The low power level makes everything very safe for the RF probe,
but 10 volts rms (14 volts peak) is high enough that the forward voltage drop of the diode
will be down around 5% and thus not affect accuracy much.

Jerry, KE7ER



On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 11:39 AM, Jerry Gaffke wrote:
Most DVM's cannot measure voltage or current at a mhz or more.
Best bet with a DVM is to use a diode RF probe such as this:

Keep the power down to something reasonable, maybe 5 watts.
Measure the RF voltage using the diode RF probe and the multimeter across the
dummy load
when driving the dummy load directly from the transmitter with 5 watts, let's
call that V1
Then move the dummy load and RF probe and multimeter to the far end of the
transmission line,
hook the transmitter up to the transmission line, and take another reading,
let's call that V2.

Power is proportional to voltage squared, assuming a constant 50 ohm load.
So the power that actually gets to the far end of the transmission line is
5Watts * (V2*V2)/(V1*V1)

In answer to your original question: No.
That nanovna is not a good choice to measure transmitter power.

Jerry, KE7ER

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 11:25 AM, S Johnson wrote:
I have a DVM and can take a measurement between SO-239 inner conductor and
shield, if that will tell me anything.


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

Most DVM's cannot measure voltage or current at a mhz or more.
Best bet with a DVM is to use a diode RF probe such as this:

Keep the power down to something reasonable, maybe 5 watts.
Measure the RF voltage using the diode RF probe and the multimeter across the dummy load
when driving the dummy load directly from the transmitter with 5 watts, let's call that V1
Then move the dummy load and RF probe and multimeter to the far end of the transmission line,
hook the transmitter up to the transmission line, and take another reading, let's call that V2.

Power is proportional to voltage squared, assuming a constant 50 ohm load.
So the power that actually gets to the far end of the transmission line is 5Watts * (V2*V2)/(V1*V1)

In answer to your original question: No.
That nanovna is not a good choice to measure transmitter power.

Jerry, KE7ER

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 11:25 AM, S Johnson wrote:


The original question was sparked by having a radio (HF frequencies) that no
one can hear transmissions from. The transmission line includes surge
protectors, baluns, and HF coax and connectors. Of course there could be
dozens of different reasons for the problem but I wanted to troubleshoot by
removing the antenna from the surge protector (the ¡°last¡± component in
line) and measuring for real power there. Yup, the question should have been
watts and not amps.

I have a DVM and can take a measurement between SO-239 inner conductor and
shield, if that will tell me anything.

If I find expected TX power at the last component before antenna, then I¡¯ll
know that none of the transmission line components are bad and that the radio
is producing power. If not, then I¡¯ll work backwards along the transmission
line to zero in on the problem.


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

On 9/27/20 11:04 AM, Jerry Gaffke via groups.io wrote:
The original query was to "test power level (amps) at antenna?".
Assuming he means watts instead of amps, we still have to figure out what he means
by "at antenna".
If he wants to know the power available at the antenna,
your 50 ohm dummy load and scope will work fine.
If he wants to know how many watts are actually going into the antenna, not so much.
Your scope might work for this if you add a 1 ohm resistor in series to sense the current.
Then measure voltage and current at the antenna, and the phase difference, assuming
you have a two channel scope.
Multiply rms voltage, rms current, and the sine of the phase angle between the two to get real power.
A current transformer is probably a better way to measure the current. 100:1 turns would be nice. There's some trickiness in making a good transformer, but it is galvanically isolated, and calibrateable.

Articles talking about phased arrays have details of home built transformers for this purpose..

However, you're still at the "hard to get better than 5% accuracy"


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

The original question was sparked by having a radio (HF frequencies) that no one can hear transmissions from. The transmission line includes surge protectors, baluns, and HF coax and connectors. Of course there could be dozens of different reasons for the problem but I wanted to troubleshoot by removing the antenna from the surge protector (the ¡°last¡± component in line) and measuring for real power there. Yup, the question should have been watts and not amps.

I have a DVM and can take a measurement between SO-239 inner conductor and shield, if that will tell me anything.

If I find expected TX power at the last component before antenna, then I¡¯ll know that none of the transmission line components are bad and that the radio is producing power. If not, then I¡¯ll work backwards along the transmission line to zero in on the problem.


Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

On 9/27/20 10:55 AM, David Eckhardt wrote:
But, the beauty of this method is that one is not locked to 50-ohms. If
one chooses to use something other than 50-ohms the measurement is still
correct.
Dave - W?LEV
Yes, indeed..

Put a T in the coax near the antenna, say, 1/10th wavelength away, and by measuring voltage and phase you could measure fwd and reflected, etc, as well.




On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 5:51 PM Jim Lux <jimlux@...> wrote:

On 9/27/20 10:22 AM, David Eckhardt wrote:
This method is highly likely more accurate than the Bird Watt Meters at
5%
of full scale and other wattmeters offered into the amateur market.
Excellent procedure!
Assuming the dummy load is 50 ohms (viz all that discussion on the list
about the loads for the NanoVNA)

Most oscilloscopes don't have very tight tolerances on their amplitude
accuracy.
A Rigol DS1000 (a popular sub kilobuck scope) says:
DC gain accuracy is +/- 3%
(and a bunch of other stats that are basically related to that DC spec)
It is, after all, an 8 bit ADC.

A decent analog scope like the venerable Tek 465B is also 3%



Then you have the input impedance: 1 Meg +/- 2% in parallel with 13 pF
+/- 3pF.
13 pF is 122 ohms at 10 MHz - so you use a 10x probe, but then the 2% of
the 1Meg against the series Z of the probe starts to be a problem.



5% is about what you'd probably wind up with using the scope + load
approach




Dave - W?LEV

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 5:04 PM Howard Fidel <howard@...> wrote:

I measure power into my 50 ohm dummy load by transmitting in CW and
measuring the RMS voltage on my scope. P = V*V/50.











Re: Can Nano be used to test for power level (amps) at antenna?

 

Assuming it's a sine wave and assuming the load is resistive,
a $1 Harbor Freight DVM and $0.50 worth of diode RF probe with calibration chart
should do far better than 5% accuracy in measuring power.

If it's not resistive, then measure the impedance using your nanovna first.
As stated previously.

If it's not a sine wave?
Good luck.

Jerry

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 10:51 AM, Jim Lux wrote:


On 9/27/20 10:22 AM, David Eckhardt wrote:


This method is highly likely more accurate than the Bird Watt Meters at 5%

of full scale and other wattmeters offered into the amateur market.
Excellent procedure!
Assuming the dummy load is 50 ohms (viz all that discussion on the list about
the loads for the NanoVNA)

Most oscilloscopes don't have very tight tolerances on their amplitude
accuracy.
A Rigol DS1000 (a popular sub kilobuck scope) says:
DC gain accuracy is +/- 3%
(and a bunch of other stats that are basically related to that DC spec) It is,
after all, an 8 bit ADC.

A decent analog scope like the venerable Tek 465B is also 3%

Then you have the input impedance: 1 Meg +/- 2% in parallel with 13 pF +/-
3pF.
13 pF is 122 ohms at 10 MHz - so you use a 10x probe, but then the 2% of the
1Meg against the series Z of the probe starts to be a problem.

5% is about what you'd probably wind up with using the scope + load approach


Dave - W?LEV
On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 5:04 PM Howard Fidel <howard@...> wrote:


I measure power into my 50 ohm dummy load by transmitting in CW and
measuring the RMS voltage on my scope. P = V*V/50.