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Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

On 14/10/21 8:14 pm, Joe Smith via groups.io wrote:

Some background my be found at these two links:



/g/NanoVNAV2/topic/t_check_with_labview_nanovna/85036914?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,20,2,0,85036914,previd=9223372036854775807,nextid=1630672957048663752&previd=9223372036854775807&nextid=1630672957048663752
OK, so a cost-and-integration-effort vs. isolation tradeoff. Interesting. Thanks.

I very rarely want to be able to measure all four parameters, but did have an experience recently where the iterative process of tuning a duplexer meant many dozens of cable changes during the process and hands that were sore for days afterwards. A transfer switch ¡ª or two analysers ¡ª would have been less painful. Although in that particular case the isolation requirements were so high that a suitable transfer switch would indeed have been unworkably expensive and NanoVNAs would generally not have been sensitive enough.

Getting what one pays for...


- Roland 9V1RT


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

Joe Smith
 

Some background my be found at these two links:



/g/NanoVNAV2/topic/t_check_with_labview_nanovna/85036914?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,20,2,0,85036914,previd=9223372036854775807,nextid=1630672957048663752&previd=9223372036854775807&nextid=1630672957048663752


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

Jim,

On 13/10/21 10:46 pm, Jim Lux wrote:
On 10/13/21 7:33 AM, btomek@... wrote:
How is the sweep synchronized in both of these devices? Unless it doesn't have to be synchronized, but it seems to me that it does.
You have to turn off the sweep on one while making measurements on the
other. Otherwise there's interference, which shows up in the S21 trace.

Sort of like if you have a transfer switch (or swap cables) and a single
1 way VNA, you make a sweep, flip the switch, make the sweep the other way.

I'm working on some python code to do the sweeps alternately, but
haven't had time to finish it.
What benefit does this approach offer over using a DPDT/transfer switch? Is this just a cost concern?

I note for example that a transfer switch approach would solve concurrent access to multiple NanoVNAs, impedance matching, simultaneous sweeping, etc.


- Roland 9V1RT


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

On 10/13/21 2:59 PM, Francesco wrote:
hello there is way to connect to PC I got 76 years and got some problem with sight,
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 9:12 PM
*From:* "Jim Lux" <jim@...>
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [nanovna-users] two nanoVNA linked for two port setup
On 10/13/21 11:54 AM, Francesco wrote:
The DUT position is on the midle of the T ?
yes - here's some examples (a 21.4 MHz BPF and a 10dB pad)


I've run two instances of NanoVNA-Saver and it seems to work ok - here's a picture of two.? I scaled the image down so it's a reasonable size. I find that setting the font to 12 point makes it more readable, but you need a lot of screen realestate.? Or, you could overlap the windows.

The two units show up as different comm devices (/dev/cu.usbmodem4001 and /dev/cu.usbmodem3) - maybe there's some way to distinguish them, but for now, I just know that my older unit is the 3 and the newer unit is the 4001

I suspect that the other software might also work, but haven't tried them.? It would depend on if they store some sort of configuration file - you might need to have two copies and put them in different directories, or something like that.

Ultimately, I think I'll modify NanoVNA-Saver to support a full four parameter measurement, but that's a bit more work to go.


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

hello there is way to connect to PC I got 76 years and got some problem with sight,
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 9:12 PM
*From:* "Jim Lux" <jim@...>
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [nanovna-users] two nanoVNA linked for two port setup
On 10/13/21 11:54 AM, Francesco wrote:
The DUT position is on the midle of the T ?
yes - here's some examples (a 21.4 MHz BPF and a 10dB pad)


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

On 10/13/21 11:54 AM, Francesco wrote:
The DUT position is on the midle of the T ?
yes - here's some examples (a 21.4 MHz BPF and a 10dB pad)


Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

I succefully got it ... MNI THANKS
Peter

----- Original Message -----
From: "david.reed via groups.io" <david.reed@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: [nanovna-users] Inductor Q Measurement


Go to message #25030 from Brian Beezly and the link is there. And Thank You Brian for "coil"


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

The DUT position is on the midle of the T ?
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 4:56 PM
*From:* "Francesco" <realfran@...>
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [nanovna-users] two nanoVNA linked for two port setup
Hello Jim, I appreciate your availability to teaching and explaining your experiments and test with good manners, this is characteristic of one gentlemen. Thank you.
The VNA is one instrument not in use for my day use work (field engineer) first for is cost, is more used on research and development, I'm drive for curiosity and learn tu use is one my geriatric challenge (76).
I'm proud to be one Radio Ham for many years this whose one stimulus for my passion for the electronics, even I left the work on radio engineer many year ago.
I hope to learn more if my age permit me to do so.
My best regards.
Francesco.
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:46 PM
*From:* "Jim Lux" <jim@...>
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [nanovna-users] two nanoVNA linked for two port setup
On 10/13/21 7:33 AM, btomek@... wrote:
How is the sweep synchronized in both of these devices? Unless it doesn't have to be synchronized, but it seems to me that it does.
You have to turn off the sweep on one while making measurements on the
other. Otherwise there's interference, which shows up in the S21 trace.

Sort of like if you have a transfer switch (or swap cables) and a single
1 way VNA, you make a sweep, flip the switch, make the sweep the other way.

I'm working on some python code to do the sweeps alternately, but
haven't had time to finish it.


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

Hello Jim, I appreciate your availability to teaching and explaining your experiments and test with good manners, this is characteristic of one gentlemen. Thank you.
The VNA is one instrument not in use for my day use work (field engineer) first for is cost, is more used on research and development, I'm drive for curiosity and learn tu use is one my geriatric challenge (76).
I'm proud to be one Radio Ham for many years this whose one stimulus for my passion for the electronics, even I left the work on radio engineer many year ago.
I hope to learn more if my age permit me to do so.
My best regards.
Francesco.
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:46 PM
*From:* "Jim Lux" <jim@...>
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [nanovna-users] two nanoVNA linked for two port setup
On 10/13/21 7:33 AM, btomek@... wrote:
How is the sweep synchronized in both of these devices? Unless it doesn't have to be synchronized, but it seems to me that it does.
You have to turn off the sweep on one while making measurements on the
other. Otherwise there's interference, which shows up in the S21 trace.

Sort of like if you have a transfer switch (or swap cables) and a single
1 way VNA, you make a sweep, flip the switch, make the sweep the other way.

I'm working on some python code to do the sweeps alternately, but
haven't had time to finish it.


Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

Have there been any comparison measurements made against a modern impedance analyzer or against an old Q meter (BRC or YHP)?
It was a long time before modern instruments could agree with the old Q meters never mind a network analyzer. I say this from experience when I worked with various suppliers making inductors for the company I worked for.
Thanks


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

On 10/13/21 7:33 AM, btomek@... wrote:
How is the sweep synchronized in both of these devices? Unless it doesn't have to be synchronized, but it seems to me that it does.
You have to turn off the sweep on one while making measurements on the other. Otherwise there's interference, which shows up in the S21 trace.

Sort of like if you have a transfer switch (or swap cables) and a single 1 way VNA, you make a sweep, flip the switch, make the sweep the other way.

I'm working on some python code to do the sweeps alternately, but haven't had time to finish it.


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

How is the sweep synchronized in both of these devices? Unless it doesn't have to be synchronized, but it seems to me that it does.


Re: two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

On 10/13/21 5:35 AM, Francesco wrote:
Hello, how connect two nanoVNA linked for a full two-port setup, I lost some pictures .




My first experiment was just using Ts.? This works, but doesn't present a 50ohm impedance to the device under test (DUT), rather it presents 25 ohms (because you've got two 50 ohm terminations in parallel).? For passive DUTs this probably isn't an issue, since the calibration "takes out" the mismatch.? But for some active devices, the device might not be stable with a 25 ohm termination.

The next step is to build a resistive splitter.? There's two approaches - one is a triple of 16.67 ohm resistors, the other is just to put 50 ohms in series with each VNA.

Resistive dividers have 6 dB loss, so this technique will give a 12 dB hit on the dynamic range. But it is cheap.


two nanoVNA linked for two port setup

 

Hello, how connect two nanoVNA linked for a full two-port setup, I lost some pictures .


Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

Go to message #25030 from Brian Beezly and the link is there. And Thank You Brian for "coil"


Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

Where COIL v. 4.2.2 is available for dowload ???
Thanks - Peter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Beezley" <k6sti@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2021 9:20 PM
Subject: Re: [nanovna-users] Inductor Q Measurement


Sorry, Andy. I know nothing about Macs. But googling yields many results for running Windows software on a Mac, including a version of Wine.

Here is a screenshot of an actual Litz coil for a crystal set. Note the Q, which quite close to that measured with an HP 4342A. I'm curious to see if this image is displayed.

Brian


Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

On 10/12/21 1:47 PM, John Baines via groups.io wrote:
Andrew,

I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t remember. It must have been fairly easy or I wouldn¡¯t have managed it.

I do know that I access it from the terminal by typing;

cd nanovna-saver (ENTER)

NanoVNASaver (ENTER)

and it¡¯s running.

It is running directly on my Mac running High Sierra and not via Wine or other emulator.

I hope this is of some help.

73
John
M0JBA
I think the original question was how to run Brian Beezley's COIL program (which is Windows/DOS)


that is *non-trivial* on a Mac - the *easiest* way is to fire up a virtual machine of some sort, but that requires you have a copy of Windows to install on the VM (Parallels, Virtual Box, etc.) - then you run the VM, and you just install COIL and go to town. That's what I did (using Parallels on my Mac).

You could also set up your computer as multi-boot and just boot Windows on whatever computer you've got.? Bootcamp on a Mac is one way of doing this.


The other way is to install WINE, which provides a "windows like" OS interface to the program - that works on either Linux, or, I think Mac.




Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

Andrew,

I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t remember. It must have been fairly easy or I wouldn¡¯t have managed it.

I do know that I access it from the terminal by typing;

cd nanovna-saver (ENTER)

NanoVNASaver (ENTER)

and it¡¯s running.

It is running directly on my Mac running High Sierra and not via Wine or other emulator.

I hope this is of some help.

73
John
M0JBA

On 12 Oct 2021, at 20:10, Andrew Kurtz via groups.io <adkurtz@...> wrote:

How did you get it loaded and working?

On Oct 12, 2021, at 3:09 PM, John Baines via groups.io <jbaines@...> wrote:

Andrew,

NanoVNA-saver works fine on my Mac.

73
John
M0JBA

On 12 Oct 2021, at 19:56, Andrew Kurtz via groups.io <adkurtz@...> wrote:

That program sounds wonderful! The only problem is that my computer is a Mac, and I bet it won¡¯t handle it. I know someone might say ¡°O just get Python and change XYZ while uploading ABC from Github¡­.¡± and I might as well be listening to Greek. I have not yet succeeded in getting my nanoVNA data other than by hand-typing it into Excel because I can¡¯t get nanoVNAsaver to run. Any way to get your Coil program working on a Mac?

Andy

On Oct 11, 2021, at 7:00 PM, Brian Beezley <k6sti@...> wrote:

Andrew, my coil program might interest you. It calculates inductance and Q for solenoids made of solid or Litz wire. It models a number of wire alloys and form dielectrics, dielectric ribs or ridges, coil leads, and polygonal coil shapes. The program can automatically maximize coil Q while keeping inductance constant.

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 junk box, average error magnitude is 2% for inductance and 5% for Q.

The program runs in Windows and is free.



Brian













Re: Inductor Q Measurement

Andrew Kurtz
 

Yes, thanks, the image looks good. I too have googled Windows apps on a Mac, and they require strange things I have never heard of. I don¡¯t know what Wine is, for example. Nor Python. I followed someone¡¯s simple directions, beginning with entering Terminal, but nothing ever worked...

On Oct 12, 2021, at 3:20 PM, Brian Beezley <k6sti@...> wrote:

Sorry, Andy. I know nothing about Macs. But googling yields many results for running Windows software on a Mac, including a version of Wine.

Here is a screenshot of an actual Litz coil for a crystal set. Note the Q, which quite close to that measured with an HP 4342A. I'm curious to see if this image is displayed.

Brian





<coil.gif>


Re: Inductor Q Measurement

 

Sorry, Andy. I know nothing about Macs. But googling yields many results for running Windows software on a Mac, including a version of Wine.

Here is a screenshot of an actual Litz coil for a crystal set. Note the Q, which quite close to that measured with an HP 4342A. I'm curious to see if this image is displayed.

Brian