I've posted about my software on TowerTalk, but I completely forgot
about Topband. 160m ops may find these Windows programs useful.
I've written a program that calculates ground permittivity,
conductivity, and skin depth using impedance data from a soil probe and
vector network analyzer, such as a NanoVNA. Realistic ground parameters
are important when evaluating antenna models, especially on 160m.
General terrain descriptions and ground conductivity maps are much too
coarse. Ground parameters also vary with frequency. With a soil probe
you can determine the parameters of your local ground at the frequency
of interest. Skin depth can help you assess the limitation of a surface
probe when the ground is inhomogeneous.
See README.TXT for instructions. It includes references on making and
using a soil probe.
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/gnd.zip
I've recently updated my coil inductance and Q calculator. It's useful
for designing antenna loading coils, amplifier tank circuits, and
low-loss Litz receiving coils on 160m. The program calculates inductance
and Q for solenoids made of solid or Litz wire. It accounts for wire
alloy, form dielectric, dielectric ribs or ridges, coil leads, and
polygonal coil shapes. The program can automatically maximize coil Q
while keeping inductance constant. It can plot Q versus frequency. It
can provide results as an RLC model for wideband circuit or antenna
analysis.
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 junkbox, average error magnitude is 2% for inductance and 5% for Q.
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/coil.zip
False virus detection sometimes occurs. Whenever I have doubts, I submit
the URL to VirusTotal. It will check it with nearly 100 different
antivirus programs.
https://www.virustotal.com
Brian
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