[Lowfer] Measuring inductors

[John Andrews]

Rick,

Inductors are best measured at the frequency at which they will be used. 
The old Boonton Q Meters do this well. But an RF impedance bridge will 
allow very accurate measurements on coils, capacitors, antennas, etc. 
Here's a picture of my old friend, the General Radio 516C:
http://www.w1tag.com/files/GR516C.jpg

The GR RF bridges turn up occasionally on eBay, but not all are suitable 
for LF work. The 516C and 916AL are two to look for, but they are the 
least common. Note that the common GR 650 and 1650 bridges are for audio 
frequency use.

John, W1TAG

On 3/8/2011 8:28 PM, rick kirby wrote:
> Hi All,
>
>   Im looking for suggestions for accurately measuring ferrite and iron
> torroids. I have been using a simple oscillator setup with a frequency
> counter and a calculator.It has worked so-so with iron core coils but with
> ferrite cores and inductances up in the hundreds of microhenries; its  all
> over the place.Maybe core saturation or something ; Im not sure. I have a
> scope ,counter, DMM and a cheesy little signal generator to work with.I have
> heard mixed reviews on the commercial meters; the chief complaint being they
> test the inductors at an audio frequency.I built an  adapter for the
> multimeter using a 74hc132 or something like that  and wasnt happy with that
> either. So what is everyone else using??
>
>                Thanks
>                          Rick  KA2PBO
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