What can it do?
- SWR The Antuino measures the SWR of the antenna with a narrowly tuned receiver. A simpler resistive bridge with a diode detector will pick up an stray RF like local broadcast, a nearby ham radio operator or harmonics to give a false reading. The Antuino uses dual crystal filters to provide very accurate SWR at the actual frequency of measurement.
- Field Strength Meter Attach a small piece of wire (small whip) to your Antuino’s RF IN port. Now, monitor the field strength of a transmitting antenna! It allows for quick and dirty measurement of front-to-back ratios, nulls and general Apples to Oranges comparisions of different antennas.
- Cable Loss Connect the RF cable between the RF IN and RF Out ports. Set Antuino to SNA mode and set to the frequency. Read the power level.
- RF Cable velocity Connect a short piece of wire between the RF IN and RF OUT ports. Solder A length of the cable under test at the junction. Choose SNA mode and plot the frequency response. A dip will give you an accurate reading of which frequency is a quarter-wave length of the cable’s length.
- Modulation meter The Antuino can pick up signals as low as -90 dbm in power mode. A small whip antenna connected to the Antuino will allow you to monitor your own signals. Tune up and down the frequency of your transmitter to measure the splatter from distortion.
- Signal Source The RF out port of the Antuino acts as a signal source (though with square waves). You can accurately tune it to any frequency from 10 Khz to 150 Mhz.
- Frequency Response By feeding the signal from RF-OUT into a device/circuit under test and measuring the response at the RF-IN port, you can effectively measure the circuit response at any frequency. Click on PLOT to see the frequenc response.
- Plot! By clicking on the PLOT button, you can plot the frequency response of your amplifier or filter. It is a little spectrum analyzer with a tracking generator.
- Hackable The entire Antuino circuit and the software are placed under GPL license on https://github.com/afarhan/antuinov2.1
- Battery operated Power your Antuino from 6 AA cells. With the low power monochrome display, your batteries will last a long time. The current consumption is 90 mA. A set of batteries will last hours of operation. But switch it off when not in use.
- The top line shows the current mode of operation (It is measuring SWR in the above picture).
- The second line is a meter and read-out. It is showing SWR of 17.4 as the Antuino is not connected to any antenna
- The third line shows the current frequency at which the readings are shown
- The fourth line is a choice of modes : SWR, Power meter, Scalar Network Analyzer. At the moment it is in SWR mode
- Below that is the span control where you control how large the plot is.
VIDEO
Antenna
Another Difficult Antenna Situation
Tim, W4FTP, asks how he can use some tall but skinny trees along the back of his property as part of his antenna system. We take a look, and your comm... Read more
Ham Radio experiment – End fed half wave antenna sloper vs flat horizontal orientation
https://youtu.be/BgEtQOS8mY0 Read more
British Columbia Radio Amateur Copies Signal from Mars-Orbiting Satellite
As reported on Spaceweather.com, Canadian radio amateur Scott Tilley, VE7TIL, has snagged another signal from deep space. His latest conquest has been... Read more
Wideband Desktop Discone Antenna – 25 MHZ – 2000 MHz Coverage
“Here we take a look at the Skyscan Desktop antenna with a rated frequency range of between 25 Mhz up to 2 Ghz. We test the antenna indoor and o... Read more
Where Can I Put My HF Antenna?
Where Can I Put My HF Antenna? Read more
Wolf River Coil Take It Along With Chameleon SS17 Ham Radio Antenna Whip
Lets talk about my thoughts on the Wolf River Coils Take It Along 1000 and what its like adding a Chameleon Cha-SS17 whip. Read more
Why Won’t My 80-Meter Dipole Cover the Whole Band?
Why Won’t My 80-Meter Dipole Cover the Whole Band? Read more
Software
Paper Logging and Using Fast Log Entry for POTA – Ham Radio Q&A
“I typically paper log my Parks on the Air contacts during an activation. After I get home I will transcribe and edit the log with Fast Log Entr... Read more
New WSJT mode Q65
WSJT-X 2.4.0 will introduce Q65, a digital protocol designed for minimal two-way QSOs over especially difficult propagation paths On paths with D... Read more
Ham Radio Deluxe
Read this BEFORE you download and install this software. Keys formatted like “ASDF-QWER-ZXCV-ASDF” will NOT work. That software license se... Read more
Gqrx 2.13 is out!
Gqrx SDR 2.13 argilo released this 15 hours ago Stereo option for UDP streaming. Script to generate AppImage. Allow scroll wheel direction to be inve... Read more
WSJT-X Beta Release Introduces Digital Protocols Designed for LF and MF Bands
The latest beta release of the WSJT-X digital software suite includes digital protocols particularly designed for communication on LF and MF... Read more
The CAT Tool for WebSDRs
CATSync allows you to syncronize public WebSDR receivers with your real rig connected via CAT control to your computer. It supports the classical WebS... Read more
SmartSDR for your Mac
SDR has never been easier! SmartSDR is now available for your Mac. It has never been easier to operate your FlexRadio 6xxx Radio. SmartSDR for Mac is... Read more
News
Quantum Receiver Can Detect Huge Swath of the RF Spectrum
US Army researchers have built a so-called “quantum sensor,” which can analyze the full RF spectrum and real-world signals, a report on Physics.org sa... Read more
Approaches to Tackle Noise Problems Vary, Remedies Elusive
RF noise is a frequent discussion topic among radio amateurs. A proliferation of electronics has cluttered and complicated the noise environment; it’s... Read more
ARISS, NASA, and ESA Continue to Probe Amateur Radio Problems on ISS
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, reports that the ARISS team has been working closely... Read more
Yaesu FT-DX10 HF Transceiver – Is it Right for You?
We take a look at one of the most recent HF transceivers to come onto the ham radio market. Could this be the new FT-101E that was one of the best sel... Read more
What is the Base Holding Up My Hexbeam?
William Noble asks about the base used to hold up my MFJ-1846 Hex Beam antenna. The actual base that allows for a fold-over mast was designed by frien... Read more
ARISS APRS Testing
ARISS APRS TestingThe ARISS team has been working very closely with NASA and ESA to identify potential ARISS radio anomaly causes and resolve the radi... Read more
Moldova Peace Corps to Sponsor March 3 Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact between youngsters and youth in Moldova and an International Space Station (ISS) c... Read more
App - Mobile
SmartSDR for iOS v3.9.12 Now Available
Marcus, DL8MRE announces that release of SmartSDR for iOS v3.9.12 is now available for download or update from the Apple App Store. SmartSDR is a full... Read more
SignalID – Automatic Radio Signal Identification for Android
There’s an incredible amount of radio signals. It’s impossible to know them all, let alone recognize them. So why not get help from Signal... Read more
EchoHam version v2.10 has been released
EchoHam allows Amateur Radio operators to use the Echolink network from their Mac. You must be a licensed Amateur Radio operator to use this software.... Read more
SatSat for IOS version 1.4.11 has been released
SatSat, by Fabrice Aneche is a satellite tracking software, for radio amateurs, scientists or hobbyists. It displays current and next passes for any s... Read more
GNU RADIO CODE FOR ANDROID NOW RELEASED
Supports the most recent version of GNU Radio (v3.8). Supports 32-bit and 64-bit ARM architectures (i.e., armeabi-v7a and arm64-v8a). Supports popular... Read more
Introduction to SmartSDR for iOS
Welcome to SmartSDR for iOS written by Marcus DL8MRE. This is an introduction video that allows you full control and access of your Flex 6000 series r... Read more
Android APP – Morse Trainer for Ham Radio
Learn or improve Morse code with Morse Trainer. Now with Farnsworth speed and Koch method. If you are a ham radio (amateur radio) operator or just wan... Read more
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