RF Powermeter - First steps

Based on the work of Makis, SV1AFN i've build a small, stand-alone power meter with a "nice" GUI. This is the second RF head I've received from Makis. Data about the first one can be found here. MainScreen

Construction

The housing is a cheap TEKO box, I bought during last years visit to the HAM RADIO fair in Friedrichshafen.

IMG 0068   IMG 0069

Inside resides an arduino clone, a DC/DC converter, the power-sensor head and the display.

IMG 0061 IMG 0063  IMG 0062 

The wiring is crappy, it will be replaced with permanent cables when I find some time.

Schematic

 Wireing(c) Alain F8BJF

User interface

The user interface for the powermeter is pretty simple. An On/Off power switch, the SMA socket for the input power and the LCD touch display. Next you can see the screens of the UI:

Device powered off OffScreen

Splash screen druing power-up: SplashScreen

Main screen: MainScreen The displays shows the following information (from top to bottom):

  • A simple scrolling diagram showing the relative input power over time
  • A button to switch into setup-mode
  • A button to toggle between fast/slow samplling mode
  • A bar graph showing the actual relative power.
  • A hairline below the bar graph showing the last peak value (peak-hold)
  • The peak-hold numerical value
  • The actual relative input power

Setup screen: SetupMode On this screen, you can adjust the decay time of the peak-hold function as well as the buffer-depth for the moving average function.

Video

Please check the video where you can see the powermeter in action: YOUTUBE

Libraries

AD7887

The ADC is read using my simple AD7887 library and some code. You can find the current source code on GITHUB. Place all files in a subfolder named "RFPowerMeter_Next_V3" inside you Arduino sketch folder.

Nextion Display

I have changed the used Nextion library a little bit - for performance reasons and because some stuff didn't work for me. Please check my changes here.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact me by Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!.