Question on measuring the inductors
Are there any calculators that take how much of the toroid is wound into account, or ways to measure them that'll give the values indicated in the calculators and table?
I thought I'd measure my inductors after I'd would them, hoping to avoid the (tr)uSDX tuning game of soldering, measuring, de-soldering, dropping a turn, lathering, rinsing, and repeating. Now I've done so, I regret I've got another mystery on my hands.
| turns | measured | calculated |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0.13 | 0.06 |
| 5 | 0.23 | 0.10 |
| 7 | 0.35 | 0.20 |
| 8 | 0.38 | 0.26 |
| 12 | 0.89 | 0.58 |
| 13 | 1.07 | 0.68 |
| 15 | 1.44 | 0.90 |
| 16 | 1.59 | 1.02 |
| 17 | 1.72 | 1.16 |
| 18 | 1.96 | 1.30 |
| 19 | 2.10 | 1.44 |
Measurements with Peak® atlas LCR45 at 200kHz, 15–19 turns using the 80m toroid dropping a turn at a time until I got within cooee of the required value. Calculations with toroids.info at 0.2MHz.
Belated update: after eventually trusting my LCR and VNA and dropping turns until the inductors measured within cooee, I confirmed correct resonance and suppression for the 10m band with my VNA.
Overall method might end up:
- Try the instructions‘ turn count
- Adjust spread and turn count until measurement OK
- THEN solder
- Short out the pi filter
- Adjust spread of serial resonance coil to move S11 resonance
- Remove short
- Adjust spread of pi filter coil to move notch on S21 log mag
- THEN plug into radio
- Check power and efficiency
I'll post turn counts and suggested amendments to the procedure when I've done the lot for 10m, 15m, 40m, and 80m.
If you're using batch 2 with the included wire, you might be able to save time in the second step by starting with fewer turns per my measurements above:
- Find the batch 2 winding guide turn count on the X axis
- Trace up until you hit the “calculated” line
- Trace left until you hit the “measured” line
- Trace down to the X axis for your adjusted starting turn count
If you've substituted your own wire, or your own toroids, try measuring from 19 turns down to 4 to make your own graph or lookup table.