Topband: Software

[Brian Beezley]

I've posted about my software on TowerTalk, but I completely forgot 
about Topband. 160m ops may find these Windows programs useful.

I've written a program that calculates ground permittivity, 
conductivity, and skin depth using impedance data from a soil probe and 
vector network analyzer, such as a NanoVNA. Realistic ground parameters 
are important when evaluating antenna models, especially on 160m. 
General terrain descriptions and ground conductivity maps are much too 
coarse. Ground parameters also vary with frequency. With a soil probe 
you can determine the parameters of your local ground at the frequency 
of interest. Skin depth can help you assess the limitation of a surface 
probe when the ground is inhomogeneous.

See README.TXT for instructions. It includes references on making and 
using a soil probe.

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/gnd.zip

I've recently updated my coil inductance and Q calculator. It's useful 
for designing antenna loading coils, amplifier tank circuits, and 
low-loss Litz receiving coils on 160m. The program calculates inductance 
and Q for solenoids made of solid or Litz wire. It accounts for wire 
alloy, form dielectric, dielectric ribs or ridges, coil leads, and 
polygonal coil shapes. The program can automatically maximize coil Q 
while keeping inductance constant. It can plot Q versus frequency. It 
can provide results as an RLC model for wideband circuit or antenna 
analysis.

To validate accuracy, the documentation compares calculated values with 
hundreds of inductance and Q measurements made with an HP 4342A Q meter 
on dozens of coils of widely varying size and shape. For the coils from 
my own junkbox, average error magnitude is 2% for inductance and 5% for Q.

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/coil.zip

False virus detection sometimes occurs. Whenever I have doubts, I submit 
the URL to VirusTotal. It will check it with nearly 100 different 
antivirus programs.

https://www.virustotal.com

Brian