Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] Coax measurements for stacking with VNA via TDR

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax measurements for stacking with VNA via TDR
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2020 11:53:23 -0800
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 11/12/2020 11:32 AM, Ignacy Misztal wrote:
I am adding a tribander for stacking and need to have the same length of
coax as the first antenna. Are TDR measurements good enough? TDR
measurements via RigExpert seem to be +-1 ft accurate.

I'd like it to be a bit better, especially for 10M. If you have physical access to both ends of both cables, best accuracy is probably to measure them as stubs with the far end open, looking for the lowest frequency short.

TDR in many modern analyzers is done by computing the inverse FFT of a wide frequency sweep. That's how the analyzer I use, the VNWA3EC, does it, and it's done in DG8SAQ's control software running on the associated computer. The best resolution is obtained with the widest frequency sweep and a lot of data points.

I don't know how good RigExpert units are at TDR, and it may vary between models. The VNWA3EC can get closer in TDR mode, and can do TDR with the far end connected to an antenna. Whether the RigExpert can do that depends on how they do TDR.

73, Jim K9YC
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>