[Lowfer] Measuring inductors

[rick kirby]

 Thanks to Clint, John,Paul, Steve and Ed,
You were all very helpful and I appreciate the quick responses.I put the
General Radio , Boonton and Heath meters as a favorite search on E-bay. Ill
have to keep my eyes open . In the meantime I think I have the parts to
build up the soundcard LCR meter. It looks simple enough and wont cost me
anything. 
 Thank you all on the crash course on inductor characteristics.The results I
was getting with my little test oscillator make some sense now. I have only
played with torroids up in the HF world and everything always worked out to
my calculated
values up there.The only torroid Ive wound on LF was the the one in my
Ashlock loopfinal and that wasn't very critical and worked ok.

 Thank You All again

              73
                 Rick  "PBO"










-----Original Message-----
From: lowfer-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:lowfer-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of C. Turner
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 21:38
To: Discussion of the Lowfer (US, European, & UK) and MedFer bands
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] Measuring inductors


There's this:

http://wb6dhw.com/RLC_Meter/A%20Low%20Cost%20Automastic%20Impedance%20Bridge
.pdf

(Yes, the link really does say "Automastic"!)

If you already have a good sound card for SDR, you are all set!

As was already mentioned, if a core is involved, it's best to measure it 
at the frequency of operation.  Also, to some extent, the response to DC 
current can be gauged by exciting an added secondary winding with a true 
DC current source (e.g. Hi-Z to avoid loading) - or one could observe 
the effects of permeability caused by a permanent magnet as a very 
general and non-scientific approach.

FWIW, I have a GenRad 1650A and according to its book, it's usable to 
about 200 kHz with an external generator:  It gives procedures for doing 
so, providing correction factors and expected accuracy.

73,

Clint
KA7OEI ______________________________________________________________
Lowfer mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Lowfer at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html