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Hello,<br>
<br>
A quick & dirty update for everyone.<br>
<br>
<ol>
<li>HamWAN Labs has undergone a major upgrade in terms of
microwave equipment capability. New equipment added to support
testing:</li>
<ol>
<li>HP 8566A 100Hz-22GHz spectrum analyzer with 10Hz RBW and
-130dBm DANL! This unit has a broken 1st stage converter
though, which drops its output level by 50dB when the
converter gets warm. I'm working on replacing this converter,
but for the time being I've externalized it so it's kept
cooler than the inside of the analyzer. This keeps it working
nicely. Pictures of externalization, and specan bottom:<br>
<img class="decoded"
alt="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xz21Of-xjJw/UL1A_kUNztI/AAAAAAAAAdk/gW_fhk4Yxrg/s889/IMAG0099.jpg"
src="cid:part1.07010002.04060900@bartk.us"><img
class="decoded"
alt="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-20eacBqZwOM/UL1A_hPYwaI/AAAAAAAAAdk/cjk2FXavTBo/s889/IMAG0100.jpg"
src="cid:part2.05080402.02020007@bartk.us"><img
class="decoded"
alt="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jhKxUaU-hD0/UL1A_nTADCI/AAAAAAAAAdk/J1ZSe1HsOiw/s889/IMAG0101.jpg"
src="cid:part3.00050609.04040601@bartk.us"><img
src="cid:part4.05020000.04090208@bartk.us" style=""
class="uw xO"></li>
<li>HP 8672A 2-18GHz signal generator. Still waiting on
shipping, but this will provide very steady test signals so
narrow band testing can be done. The present YIG oscillator
setup has a 4MHz bandwidth and I cannot stabilize it without
throwing it into a PLL. Plenty of other benefits to the HP
generator here, such as GPIB control, built in attenuator, and
AM/FM modulation capability. Picture of signal generator:<br>
<img class="decoded"
alt="http://www.surplus-electronics.co.uk/urchin/assets/images/_mod/20111109_152447.7646.586.800.-1.85.jpg"
src="cid:part5.03070103.05000208@bartk.us"></li>
<li>A 4-axis CNC milling machine! With adjacent channel
interference being an issue, and the cost of microwave cavity
filters astronomical, I believe this is the best/cheapest way
to do channel filtering, by home-milling microwave cavity
filters. It's also useful for PCB fabrication. Pictured
below. 4th axis not shown.<br>
<img src="cid:part6.02060901.01090004@bartk.us" style=""
class="uw xO"></li>
<li>Lots of various mill/drill bits for the CNC mill, as well as
a light tachometer.<br>
</li>
<li>Lots of new SMA interconnects/adapters to make working @
microwave easier.</li>
<li>Boonton 2500 DC Calibrator. Finally found this authentic
unit for a reasonable price. This puts an end to the HamWAN
DC Calibrator project, but I'm leaving the pages up since they
contain lots of good tolerance analysis work. May be useful
later.</li>
<li>Boonton 25A 1MHz RF calibrator. It was really tricky
calibrating the thermocouple sensor (4200-8E) using this since
it needs to be cal'd @ 50MHz. This took a few days. But the
RF calibrator is a very precise unit, and it calibrates diode
sensors (such as the 4200-4E) beautifully. I was able to use
this RF calibrator as a standard and then reflect the power
levels up to a couple different RF sources @ 50MHz to do the
actual thermocouple calibration. The +20dBm power level range
calibration is only approximate as a result of my process, but
it's good enough and the best I can do. Who would have
guessed you have to account for LMR400 losses @ 50MHz over
4ft? Well, it's true! There's a measurable loss. Here's the
unit:<br>
<img src="cid:part7.09080304.00090205@bartk.us" style=""
class="uw xO"></li>
<li>10MHz Rubidium Frequency Standard. Sadly this unit is not
working. Trying to get a replacement mailed out. It will
allow for very precise frequency measurements and can be used
to align microwave gear. Here's a picture of the stock unit,
and my attempt at getting it to work by cooling it:<br>
<img src="cid:part8.09080300.03060402@bartk.us" style=""
class="uw xO"><img
src="cid:part9.00000403.02060403@bartk.us" style=""
class="uw xO"></li>
<li>A linear 1.3-10GHz 0.6-10dB 1W attenuator.<br>
</li>
</ol>
<li>GPIB control has been established with all 3 important
instruments: the power meter, the frequency counter and the
constant current source. Faced some challenges with getting the
Boonton 4200 and the EIP 451 to do GPIB, but they were
overcome. Always remember to configure your terminating
characters properly! With all 3 instruments being controllable
now, the next step is automating sweeps. The YIG oscillator is
not very leveled across its spectrum so I'll have to subtract an
error curve. The spectrum analyzer supports this operation
internally, but I have not yet figured out GPIB control of that
unit so that I could extract the data/graphs from it.<br>
</li>
<li>Cougar site acquisition has stalled, and I'm not pushing it.
I want to be damn sure that the sector antennas can co-exist
without interfering before throwing anything up there.
Deployment can be expensive. Here are the guts of the most
promising antenna:<br>
<img src="cid:part10.06070608.06050401@bartk.us" style=""
class="uw xO"></li>
<li>I'm on a HamWAN vacation all week to be able to finish up
these tasks. Couldn't ask for a better time. :)</li>
<li>All HamWAN Labs equipment is purchased out of my own pocket
and is not considered HamWAN assets.</li>
<li>HamWAN balance is $350 with only one recurring donor.
Technically, HamWAN can't throw up even one site should Cougar
become available. While I don't mind spending money on HamWAN
Labs stuff, I'm gonna be pretty strict about HamWAN network gear
itself being funded out of not-my-pocket. It doesn't scale.
You can paypal money to <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:donate@hamwan.org">donate@hamwan.org</a> or use the website.
I've also got a "PayPal Here" credit card scanner on the way so
the next time I present on HamWAN subjects, I should be able to
take donations right on the spot via my phone + the card reader.<br>
</li>
<li>Managed to hack a little bit on the rotor for antenna pattern
testing. It's a synchronous motor in there, and I got it to run
@ 10Hz without saturating the core. :) With this slow
rotation, angle measurement can be done based on time instead of
more trickly angle encoders.</li>
<li>HamWAN almost has $2mil site liability insurance. Benjamin is
working on the details with the ARRL. This should cover all the
sites we deploy onto under 1 policy.<br>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Ever onward!<br>
</p>
<p>--Bart<br>
<br>
</p>
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