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Re: [TowerTalk] Beverage impedance change in cold WX solved

To: VE6WZ_Steve <ve6wz@shaw.ca>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Beverage impedance change in cold WX solved
From: jimlux <jimlux@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 14:07:00 -0800
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 1/22/20 1:18 PM, VE6WZ_Steve wrote:
Thanks Jim!

I didn't look at the Fair Rite catalog, but yes…its there on page 8.  I am 
using 73 material Binocular cores.

The temp. coefficient for 73 material is .65 % per deg C.  My temp change is 
about 50 deg C, therefore the permeability will change 33 % !!
That seems like a decent amount.


Go to page 28, and there's a curve of properties vs temperature. It looks like mu is 1500 at -40C and 2100 at 0C (that's at 10kHz, where mu'' (the loss) is very low.

The impedance at 10 MHz changes from about 80% at -40 to about 90% at 0 to a peak of 100% at 30C.



https://www.fair-rite.com/73-material-data-sheet/

unfortunately, they don't give you a way to download permeability vs temperature.


I am going to do an experiment today.

Wind a 9:1 transformer, terminate it with 600 ohm resistor, and sweep with 
analyzer. Save file.  Should be pretty flat at 75 Ohms.
Put the transformer in the freezer for an hour or so, take out and remeasure. 
(I wont cool the resistor)  Unfortunately my freezer dose not get to -41 deg C 
like it does outside, but the results may be telling.

Yes I could calculate it based on the catalog info, but that is above my 
pay-grade.

de steve ve6wz

On Jan 22, 2020, at 12:10 PM, jimlux <jimlux@earthlink.net> wrote:

On 1/22/20 10:23 AM, VE6WZ_Steve wrote:
Hi Mike
I have not considered the temperature coefficient of the core.  That is a great 
suggestion.
I did find some generic plots of permeability vs temperature and there can be a big 
change.  The data sheet from Fair Rite does not quote any temperature coefficient 
values.  I’m not sure how to to test that easily other than heating the core in 
the field on a cold day.  Or perhaps cooling it with an air can upside down in the 
summer.

Which material is the core made out of?  The Fairrite catalog has properties vs 
temperature data in it for some materials.  Pages 6 and 7 have the tempco of 
initial permeability  (1.6 %/C for 31 mix, 1.25 for 43 mix, 0.10 for 33 mix, 
for instance)

The pages for 31 mix (page 17) show mu vs temperature from -50 to 150C, 
measured at 100 kHz (about a 1:3 variation from -50 to 25, BTW)
and percent impedance vs temperature at 4 frequencies. (10,25, 50, 100 MHz), 
where the loss is dominant.

The other mixes are the same.
Some of the mixes that are more intended for power supply usage (79,77) have 
power loss density vs temperature at a couple frequencies, for instance



The other option is to sweep the raw wire in the field, but at -38C that would 
be rather difficult.
I do plan to experiment with changing the termination resistor value this 
summer to see if I can replicate the cold weather sweep.
73, de steve ve6wz
On Jan 21, 2020, at 6:50 PM, Michael Tope <W4EF@dellroy.com> wrote:

Steve,

Have you eliminated the core material in the 9:1 transformer as a possible 
source of the problem?

I don't see how the resistance of the galvanized wire changes the surge 
impedance significantly. When viewing the beverage as a transmission line 
(single round conductor over ground plane), I would expect the distributed 
resistance of the steel wire would to make the transmission line loss/unit 
length higher, but other than adding a slightly reactive component to the 
characteristic impedance, the steel wire resistance change shouldn't make the 
real component of the transmission line characteristic impedance change much.

73, Mike W4EF...............

On 1/21/2020 3:55 PM, VE6WZ_Steve wrote:
A few days ago I posted a video explaining some experiments I did adding short 
radials to my feed and termination grounds on the Beverage.
During that week temperatures went as low as -41 C at the station.

The mystery has been solved.

I wondered if the frozen ground was limiting conductivity and upsetting the 
ground resistance part of the impedance. The experiments showed that adding 
radials to stabilize the frozen ground had no effect.

In the video I show how the real resistance of the 920 foot galvanized steel 
wire might drop 10-20 Ohms when the temperature drops 50 deg C from the 
summertime.  This would mean that I need a LOWER termination resistor to match 
the surge impedance.
However, I also show that the ceramic termination resistor I use has a very 
high negative temperature coefficient (-1300 C). This results in an INCREASE of 
 30 to 40 ohms in my 470 Ohm termination resistor.  Therefore, the termination 
could be 40 to 60 Ohms too low!!  I show in the video that the resistor does 
indeed increase by 40 Ohms when I chucked it out my back door at -30C for an 
hour.

Today I was at the remote and it has warmed up to -1C (35 deg C warmer) and the 
analyzer sweep of the wire has mostly returned to it summer time reading.

This seems to indicate that the main cause of the Beverage miss match is the 
temperature coefficient of the wire and the termination resistor. Obviously the ground 
is still just as frozen today as it was last week at the feed and termination and 
under the wire length!  Perhaps I will look into changing the term resistor with a 
metal foil unit that has a positive temperature coefficient.  Carbon composition units 
also have a negative TC, but not as severe as the ceramic units.  Those ceramic units 
are almost like thermistors! (well….not really)

However, as I said in the video, this is like a “solution looking for a 
problem” because few Hams experience these extreme temperature changes, and even when 
we do, it's just for a short time.  Also, Beverage modelling shows that the termination 
resistor can effect the F/B, but it has limited effect on the RDF which is what really 
matters.  This exercise was done mostly out of interest and to try and solve the puzzle.

I made a new video showing the sweeps I made today if interested.  The video 
includes the original content so if you've seem that just jump to the end.

YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/3Oft826Q8tA <https://youtu.be/3Oft826Q8tA>



73, de steve ve6wz
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