Hands-on Radio

NCRC has embarked on periodic meetings with a goal of providing members, new and old, a hands-on radio experience.  Topics will vary from time to time, but Elmers will be there to help, and frequently there will usually be some on-air aspect. 

 

Our Seventh Hands-on Radio event will be held on October 21st, at All Saints STEAM Academy (915 W Main Rd, Middletown, RI 02842) beginning at 6:30 PM.

A new club interest group with the $50ish NanoVNA and other RF analyzers has requested K1YBE (k1ybe@yahoo.com) organize some hands-on experience with Vector (more than SWR) measurements of RF circuits and antennas.

Product details are at the link below and on Amazon and Banggood:

NanoVNA Vector Network Analyzer 50KHz -900MHz Digital LCD Display HF VHF UHF Antenna Analyzer Standing Wave USB POWER Measurement & Analysis Instruments from Tools, Industrial & Scientific on banggood.com

https://www.banggood.com/NanoVNA-Vector-Network-Analyzer-50KHz-900MHz-Digital-LCD-Display-HF-VHF-UHF-Antenna-Analyzer-Standing-Wave-USB-POWER-p-1549963.html?currency=USD&utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=cpc_brand&utm_content=all&utm_campaign=tools-am-en&cur_warehouse=USA

Several VHF antennas will we available for measurement and tuning.  Jim Sammons has provided two  2m YAGI-UDA antennas being proposed as a build project and these will be a focus of the testing.

There is no fee for the event.  If you have a NanoVNA or other Antenna Analyzer bring it so we can compare capabilities and verify some of our theoretical results.

We will explore how to calibrate and connect NanoVNA  to a laptop so bring one if you want to set this up for yourself.

New extensions to the project are also in the works: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/nanovna/

There are three NanoVNA downloads that you might want to load and install:

1) The free control program for the NanoVNA.  This will have a file called NANOVNA.EXE that will install the software.

https://robs-blog.net/Files/Software/NANO-VNA.zip

2) A program that Paul hasn’t tried personally yet:

mihtjel/nanovna-saver

3) If you think controlling the unit with Octave or Matlab would be useful, the OCTAVE installation is at:

https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/download.html

If you are interested in using PL-259 connectors, you might find this kit handy

https://www.amazon.com/SMA-UHF-Connectors-Nickel-Plated-Converter/dp/B01MQNJVMT/ref=pd_sim_b2b_1/146-8885905-0949918?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01MQNJVMT&pd_rd_r=7b487dd5-b7a9-4d51-9d7e-f0ecc5d97336&pd_rd_w=gFvnn&pd_rd_wg=rj5ti&pf_rd_p=a07701e4-f565-442a-b97f-93ab23cbb7ef&pf_rd_r=TPA8SVGZF3CJ4R5E2VB7&psc=1&refRID=TPA8SVGZF3CJ4R5E2VB7

 

To help us plan for this event, please fill in the short registration here