VK4ZXI

  An economical way to measure phase noise using the PN2060A cross-correlation Phase Noise Analyzer  Six weeks ago, I had heard of the phase noise of an oscillator but didn't really know what it was, much less how to measure it. In a short space of time, courtesy of Google and Youtube, I now know what it is, how to measure it and can measure it with an inexpensive phase noise analyser. In this post: 1 A brief summary of phase noise and how it is measured. 2 An overview of the PN2060A Phase Noise Analyzer, a low-cost instrument (US$480) available directly from Yanjun Ma BG6KHC in China, The instrument is a work in progress with new models available soon, but at a higher cost. 3 Using the PN2060A Phase Noise Analyzer to measure the phase noise of two modern spectrum analysers' reference 10 MHz and a CTI OCXO. All very easy after a couple of small hiccups as noted. In conclusion, the PN2060A Phase Noise Analyzer is an excellent, low-cost and easy-to-use instrument. What is phase ...

  Measuring phase noise https://edadocs.software.keysight.com/kkbopen/measuring-phase-noise-with-a-real-time-sampling-oscilloscope-584447063.html

 Tinkering with a mobile/cell phone repeater booster, very high-tech RF. I have been tinkering with improving mobile phone reception in remote areas (or buildings that have poor phone reception). There are two main ways to do it. First, an external antenna is mounted on the vehicle with a cable to an internal antenna in a phone cradle. The external antenna is much better than the phone antenna and away from the car shielding. I have this system installed in our camper and it worked very well on our trip to Winton in outback Qld. My mobile is one bar better than my friend's phone. Cost~$400 plus fitting. Second, as above but with a booster. The booster is a bidirectional amplifier with additional filtering. The boosters are carrier specific, so always use a Telstra one for remote areas. The boosters allow all phones to use them. There is a teardown of one of these, see below and they are very sophisticated. I have been playing with one with my test gear just to see how they work. Am...

  Rigol RSA-3015N 9kHz TO 1.5GHz REAL-TIME spectrum analyser WITH VNA https://emona.com.au/products/electronic-test-measure/rf-test-equipment/rsa-3015n.html GCARS repeater UHF Band Pass / Band Reject Duplexer for CB repeaters https://www.rfi.com.au/core/media/media.nl?id=3987315&c=3389566&h=7HxM371SKCIoQI4SUAQLjS9xWxD_rP8Cc1u2S02y8vj3Fszl Understanding Hybrid-Filter Transmitter Combiners https://emrcorp.com/understanding-hybrid-filter-transmitter-combiners/ https://emrcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/EMR-hybrid-combiner-manual.pdf RFI Hybrid Coupler, 4 Port ,3dB 380-550MHz ,200W; N(F) https://www.rfi.com.au/SP3855-2203-11 https://www.repeater-builder.com/antenna/ant-sys-index.html#combiner RFI Single Circulator 440-480MHz; Symmetry, N(F) https://www.rfi.com.au/SP4448-3100-11 Ferrite Isolators or Circulators Characteristics and Uses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J8eDdwHf-0 LNA for use with splitters https://www.minikits.com.au/electronic-kits/rf-amplifiers/rf-low-noise...

  Why otherwise good HDMI cables won't always work with modern devices and how to test them. A friend had trouble connecting a modern 4K TV streaming dongle, Chromecast with Google TV, to an older 4K TV. The problem lay with the HDMI cable. It had worked with the previous device, a DVD player, I think, but not the newer 4K dongle. I was mystified by how the cable did not work, so chased it up. HDMI cables are very high-tech and work at very high data rates and bandwidths. As such, the possible length of a cable has always been an issue, something I discovered trying to run long leads to home cinema projectors. The physical construction of the cable has a big impact on the data rate it can handle. Like network cables, HDMI cables use shielded twisted pairs of wires, including a shield ground for each pair. There are three signal pairs and a clock pair. As well there are other wires for digital control signals. There are, or should be, nineteen wires in total. The HDMI standard has b...

  To access movies and TV shows. 1 Need USA VPN to access blocked torrent sites. Either expressvpn or nordvpn. Nordvpn is best for UK TV. They are both about $100 per year. You can use them for streaming. However, you can use a free one just to access torrent sites. 2 Install utorrent.  3 Check the torrent sites Magnetdl (check movies or the shows for the latest or search for old ones), YTS and Torrentgallery for current movies. 4 Click the Magnet link to download the file. Utorrent handles it auto. Files are in downloads. If you move the file while utorrent is running, right-click in utorrent and click "remove" to cut file link to utorrent. 5 Plex is an excellent way to access stored movies. But it takes a bit of setting up. There are Plex apps on all streaming boxes that can be linked to Plex on your own computer. Just run the Plex server program. There are lots of tutorials for Plex on the web. 6 Without Plex, just click on the file using file explorer. 7 If you have probl...

 Transients and dynamics in power supplies for SSB or CW transceivers How to estimate control loop bandwidth from the transient response time? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CdA40ixBkA Richtek Load Transient Tool RD0004 is available at Element14 for about $50. https://www.richtek.com/en/Design%20Support/Reference%20Design/RD0004?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=Video025