¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 Groups.io
Date

Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

On 7/2/21 3:43 PM, David Eckhardt wrote:
If these NANOVNAs get any more capable, you guys will have to raise the
price !!???? But, please don't as it's a wonderful tool and highly
educational for those who are yet unfamiliar with the 'fine points' of the
RF world. Again, give each other a big handshake and pat on the backs.

Dave - W?LEV

Truly..? These will revolutionize ham radio and RF education as well as lots of RF labs.? 10 years from now there will be whole sections in the ARRL handbook and Antenna book about how to effectively use them.


I love my little one with the edy555 firmware - it works, why update?


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

If these NANOVNAs get any more capable, you guys will have to raise the
price !!???? But, please don't as it's a wonderful tool and highly
educational for those who are yet unfamiliar with the 'fine points' of the
RF world. Again, give each other a big handshake and pat on the backs.

Dave - W?LEV

On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 7:03 PM John Gord via groups.io <johngord=
[email protected]> wrote:

The Ojisan firmware for the V2 allows re-normalization of the Smith chart,
Return Loss, and VSWR to arbitrary real reference impedances. The
calibration is still done with a 50 ohm load, but the displayed information
is adjusted to show the selected reference Z0 at the center of the Smith
chart and the other measurements follow along.
This is accessed in the ojisan menus as: DISPLAY / SIMULATE / PORT-Z
(Version Ojisankoubou20201004, from October 4, 2020. Note that this is
not for the V2 Plus or Plus4, but there is a version for the SAA2-N
variant. The relevant page for both the V2 and SAA2-N stuff on the ojisan
site is: )

--John Gord

On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 10:12 AM, Roger Need wrote:


On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 09:40 AM, Dr. David Kirkby, Kirkby Microwave Ltd
wrote:

I don't know if there are any settings on the nanovna which
will allow you to easily change the reference impedance,
The current NanoVNA-F, NanoVNA-H and NanoVNA-H4 firmware do not have this
feature in the menu. I don't own any V2 products so I can't comment on
them.

Roger




--
*Dave - W?LEV*
*Just Let Darwin Work*


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 09:02 PM, John Gord wrote:


The relevant page for both the V2 and SAA2-N stuff on the ojisan site is:
)
Hello John,
I have made a web page with a English translation of the ojisan web page, see:


I have also compiled a version to allowv a screensho for the 2.8" display.
Anothe help is a menu tree:


73, Rudi DL5FA


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

The Ojisan firmware for the V2 allows re-normalization of the Smith chart, Return Loss, and VSWR to arbitrary real reference impedances. The calibration is still done with a 50 ohm load, but the displayed information is adjusted to show the selected reference Z0 at the center of the Smith chart and the other measurements follow along.
This is accessed in the ojisan menus as: DISPLAY / SIMULATE / PORT-Z
(Version Ojisankoubou20201004, from October 4, 2020. Note that this is not for the V2 Plus or Plus4, but there is a version for the SAA2-N variant. The relevant page for both the V2 and SAA2-N stuff on the ojisan site is: )

--John Gord

On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 10:12 AM, Roger Need wrote:


On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 09:40 AM, Dr. David Kirkby, Kirkby Microwave Ltd
wrote:

I don't know if there are any settings on the nanovna which
will allow you to easily change the reference impedance,
The current NanoVNA-F, NanoVNA-H and NanoVNA-H4 firmware do not have this
feature in the menu. I don't own any V2 products so I can't comment on them.

Roger


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

You would need a 75 ohm terminator at the input of the VNA.

John

On Thu, Jul 1, 2021 at 5:13 AM Mikek <amdx@...> wrote:

Testing a couple of TV antennas for Signal strength and just curious about
what they might look at on the NanoVna.
I'll be looking at them through about 70 ft of RG-6 and a SMA to F adapter.
Measuring from 180MHz to 610MHz.
Pretty much a novice here.
Mikek






Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 09:40 AM, Dr. David Kirkby, Kirkby Microwave Ltd wrote:

I don't know if there are any settings on the nanovna which
will allow you to easily change the reference impedance,
The current NanoVNA-F, NanoVNA-H and NanoVNA-H4 firmware do not have this feature in the menu. I don't own any V2 products so I can't comment on them.

Roger


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

On Fri, 2 Jul 2021 at 17:32, Dr. David Kirkby <
drkirkby@...> wrote:

If you are only interested in measuring the impedance of the antenna, then
just use the 50 ohm cal kit on the end of the 50 ohm coax. The cal kit will
remove the effects of the cable. Just be aware that the minimum SWR, if
measured in a 75 ohm system, will not be the same as if measured in a 50
ohm system. I don't know if there are any settings on the nanovna which
will allow you to easily change the reference impedance, but I would not
mess around with transformers or anything like that.

You can look on a Smith chart view, find the 75 ohm point, then just note
the frequency where the antenna is closest to that point.

You can convert a Touchstone file from 50 to 75 ohm, so look at it later.
The software for the VNWA will do that, and no doubt will other software.

Dave
I think I could have made myself clearer. The VNA is designed to measure
impedance within a range that certainly covers 75 ohm. So you don't need to
go to any special measures to read the impedance - the VNA will tell you.
It might not have the display in the ideal way you want it, but it gives
you the actual data. I don't know if the reference impedance can just be
changed in software for the nanovna. Certainly I could do that on my HP. A
75 ohm load would give you a low cost / not very accurate 75 ohm cal kit.
It might be more convenient to take that approach, but it is arguably less
accurate, although I don't think the nanovna supports calibration very
well, so it probably makes no practical difference.

Dave


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

On Thu, 1 Jul 2021 at 13:13, Mikek <amdx@...> wrote:

Testing a couple of TV antennas for Signal strength and just curious about
what they might look at on the NanoVna.
I'll be looking at them through about 70 ft of RG-6 and a SMA to F adapter.
Measuring from 180MHz to 610MHz.
Pretty much a novice here.
Mikek
If you are only interested in measuring the impedance of the antenna, then
just use the 50 ohm cal kit on the end of the 50 ohm coax. The cal kit will
remove the effects of the cable. Just be aware that the minimum SWR, if
measured in a 75 ohm system, will not be the same as if measured in a 50
ohm system. I don't know if there are any settings on the nanovna which
will allow you to easily change the reference impedance, but I would not
mess around with transformers or anything like that.

You can look on a Smith chart view, find the 75 ohm point, then just note
the frequency where the antenna is closest to that point.

You can convert a Touchstone file from 50 to 75 ohm, so look at it later.
The software for the VNWA will do that, and no doubt will other software.

Dave


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

Calibrating a NanoVNA using a 75 ohm load instead of 50 ohms does NOT make the NanoVNA into a 75 ohm test instrument.

Some VNA do allow you to set the system impedance to other than 50 ohms. The popular one port RigExpert products have this capability and will do the necessary mathematics conversions in software.

When you calibrate a NanoVNA with a 75 ohm load the only traces that will give correct data are SWR and Return Loss. The others (R, X, Smith Chart, S21 etc.) will be incorrect.

You can always calibrate using 50 ohms and then measure a 75 ohm system. You can then export a touchstone file and import it into a spreadsheet and do the mathematics necessary to convert to a 75 ohm system impedance. A much easier option if you have a NanoVNA-H or NanoVNA-H4 is to use the free Windows AntScope 2 program from RigExpert. It will connect to a your NanoVNA and has an option in the settings to change the system impedance to 75 ohms in the program. Then all the displays like SWR, RL, impedance and Smith Chart will be based on 75 ohms.

** please note there is a bug in AntScope2 when using the NanoVNA. The first sweep made will be invalid due to a bad data buffer download. So just sweep twice and discard the first one.

Roger


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

Gert,

I have to correct a misconception there. Half turns, or quarter turns, do not exist! Two-hole cores do NOT allow making half turns. At least not in the magnetic sense.

Two-hole cores behave very much like two separate cores, which have almost no magnetic coupling between them. When one turn of wire is wound through both holes, this is one turn on each of the two functionally separate cores. When instead a wire is put through just one hole, this is one turn (not a half turn) wound on just one of those two functionally separate cores.

If you try to make a primary winding using just one hole, returning the wire on the outside, and a secondary winding using just the other hole in the same way, then these two windings will not be coupled. You didn't make a transformer, but only two separate inductors! If you don't believe me, try it, and measure the behaviour with the NanoVNA. You will find that the coupling coefficient is extremely low.

Often people will make asymmetrical windings, such as "two and a half" turns, by looping the wire two turns through both holes and then another pass through only one hole, thus ending up with the two pigtails conveniently placed at opposite ends of the core. This behaves as two inductors in series, one having 2 turns on one functionally separate core, the other having 3 turns on the other core. This does work, but since one side of the core will be providing 2.25 times as much impedance as the other, it causes a much different stress of the two sides of the core. In power applications this can cause severe asymmetrical heating of the core.

Manfred

On Thu, Jul 1, 2021 at 03:26 PM, Gert Gremmen wrote:

Note that you can also buy ferrites that allow
for half a winding, or even a quarter. Ferriet Varkensneus 13,8mm


Re: last iteration of Nano VNA PPT de k3eui

 

Hi Barry,

This was really amazing, thank you so much for putting it together. I've been going through while waiting for my -F to get here from China and it's been really helpful. The "grampy pushing swing" analogy helped me probably more than anything else to understand that concept in my >20 years as a ham.

I do have one request: Could you post the "answers" to the "which of these has the lowest SWR/which is resonant/etc" for the questions on the Smith charts? I'm sure when you present this you go through it but I'm not sure if I got the correct answers.

Thanks again.

73,

David, K2DBK


Re: last iteration of Nano VNA PPT de k3eui

 

Barry, Can't thank you enough. You did an excellent job putting this together.... finally, something I can understand.
73 Gerry N0DOZ in AZ


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

Good information in this thread.? But you might want to think about how badly you want to correct the SWR of 1.5 introduced by the 75 ohm line.? You can calculate the improvement you can achieve, but the ARRL Handbooks have graphs that show the difference.? A newer graph has been used for the past few years that plots the original loss without reflection against the loss with reflection for various values of SWR, but I think that an earlier one, used for decades, is better for this discussion because it shows the effects of lower SWRs more clearly.? If, for example, you have a line with 5 dB of loss that is mismatched at its load end by a termination that yields an SWR of 1.5, the additional loss due to the SWR in the line will be around 0.17 dB from the graph in the 1952 Handbook (my first new one).? You might introduce more loss than that by using a matching transformer or network and, in many applications, such a small additional loss won't matter.

73,

Maynard
W6PAP

On 7/1/21 11:37 PM, Bart Vandenbroucke wrote:
See more info on the 50/75 transformer on the site of my friend ON6GD



Re: Measuring 49:1 ferrite transformers

 

Maybe of interest:

On Fri, 2 Jul 2021 at 05:26, Gary Rondeau <grondeau@...> wrote:

I take it back... Nothing magic about bifilar. Best is a soldered tap to
the desired wire. Next best is a twisted wire loop tap. Third best is
bifilar and worst is two separate windings. This assumes both windings
share the same ground. This can all be explained with keeping the leakage
inductance as low as possible. (see attached plots).
Gary AF7NX







Re: Need help with vna

 

Hi Brian .
have a look in the FILES section ,
/g/nanovna-users/files/Absolute%20Beginner%20Guide%20to%20The%20NanoVNA
Jon - g0myw


Re: Need help with vna

 

On 02/07/2021 07:11, k4ard@... wrote:
Brent..
I cant find a beginners guide on how to use the vna for ham radio here ..
Can you assist me on where i can find it ..
Thanks , Brian
There's a helpful presentation here:

/g/nanovna-users/message/22977

73,
David GM8ARV
--
SatSignal Software - Quality software for you
Web:
Email: david-taylor@...
Twitter: @gm8arv


Need help with vna

 

Brent..
I cant find a beginners guide on how to use the vna for ham radio here ..
Can you assist me on where i can find it ..
Thanks , Brian


Re: impedance test of a TV antenna, How do I adjust 50 ohm to 75 ohm

 

See more info on the 50/75 transformer on the site of my friend ON6GD


Re: Measuring 49:1 ferrite transformers

Gary Rondeau
 

I take it back... Nothing magic about bifilar. Best is a soldered tap to the desired wire. Next best is a twisted wire loop tap. Third best is bifilar and worst is two separate windings. This assumes both windings share the same ground. This can all be explained with keeping the leakage inductance as low as possible. (see attached plots).
Gary AF7NX


Re: Measuring 49:1 ferrite transformers

Gary Rondeau
 

Hi Fred,
I appreciate the feedback. I will eventually post a link on some other forums.
I don't happen to have any mix 52 in my collection or I would have tested it. Looking at its complex permeability, I can see why it might be favored. The lower permeability allows there to be more turns on the primary, which will imply a lower B field for the same primary inductance -- That is probably a good thing for less loss. The competing issues would be larger leakage inductance and more winding capacitance...
Cheers,
Gary AF7NX