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Re: [TowerTalk] QCoil Inductor Measurements

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] QCoil Inductor Measurements
From: Brian Beezley <k6sti@att.net>
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:43:04 -0700
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Jim Lux said:

"I would guess that the measurement uncertainty (and modeling uncertainty) is sufficiently large that the modeled and measured are the same."

Jim, inductance critically depends on coil diameter. But I only have a tape measure, nothing more sophisticated. In addition, the diameter differed for two measurements 90 degrees apart on the coil. Instead of averaging them as I should have (or slightly squashing the coil), I took the easy way out and just used the nearest scale measurement. Later I thought about going back and remeasuring more carefully, but to me a decision like that after seeing the results has a whiff of drylabbing even though it's made in the spirit of better accuracy. So I decided to let the measurements stand.

Highly variable Q with hand placement at 3.7 MHz was not a surprise. But I was surprised to see no effect at all later at 1.8 MHz.

I forgot to mention that calculated Q peaks at 876 at 7 MHz. I couldn't measure that high because the meter's variable capacitor ran out of adjustment range. But I believe the calculated number, +/- 10%.

I originally intended to do a second measurement with the coil elevated about 3 feet above the meter to greatly reduce the effects of the enclosure. Then I'd use the software I wrote to undo the effect of the long transmission line to obtain results for the coil with no leads. But I found the stiff #10 wire so difficult to work with even for short leads that I decided to forego the second measurement. The 4342A has fussy terminals and it's very hard to get the bends just right to make solid connections. The 3.7 MHz Q measurement is not that far from calculated anyway although it did depend on magic hand placement.

The main objective was to see if a QCoil coil had reasonable Q. It certainly does.

Brian

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