I’ve been playing a lot with my N2PK VNA lately. Not only learning how to measure things (using the wonderful VNA tutorials of PA4TIM), but also how it works internally, and how I can control it from an Arduino. I can already set the frequency and phase of the two frequency generators, and I can read out the ADC.

Meanwhile, at the Radio Club Leuven, there has been a huge interest in WSPR lately, a low-power beacon-like digital mode, ever since Wim ON3ZOE demonstrated running WSPR with a Raspberry Pi. By hooking up an I/O pin to an antenna, with only a filter in between to remove the harmonics, he has gotten all the way to Greenland, 3500km away from Belgium. Hmm…

Arduino controlling the VNA

Continue reading →

This is a very interesting build. If I were to make it again, I would go for a dual detector and the fast ADC, but even with its slow measuring rate (7 measurements per second), it’s still a very interesting piece of equipment to have. It can be used to measure complex impedances of all kinds of circuits. Using a bridge (I still have to build mine), you can also check antennas, something I’m looking forward to measure. You can find N2PK’s project page for this instrument here.
Continue reading →