Rapid Prototyping RF Filters with Tape & QUCS
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- Опубліковано 23 чер 2024
- A guide to simulating microstrip filters in QUCS and prototyping them with copper tape on blank FR4 sheets. These super-cheap materials are good up to a couple gigahertz, as you'll see in the video.
Following a quick real-time demonstration, I simulate and build 2 microstrip filters, a 1GHz stepped-impedance LPF, and a 10GHz end-coupled BPF.
2:05 - 1/4 wavelength stub build & tests
3:46 - Radial stub build & tests
4:18 - Stepped impedance microstrip LPF design
6:42 - Stepped impedance microstrip LPF build & tests
9:10 - Trimming the stepped impedance LPF
10:26 - Brief tutorial on synthesizing filters in QUCS
14:51 - Synthesizing a 10GHz end-coupled microstrip BPF
18:33 - 10GHz end-coupled BPF build & tests
WEBSITE POST: sebholzapfel.com/blog/rapid-p...
CALLSIGN: VK2SEB - Наука та технологія
The big channels only give you the theory, but to actually make one and test it shows you so much more. Good work.
Amazing demonstration!
Back in the day I used to make etched PCB's and used plastic tape to cover up the bits of copper that I did not want to get etched away; but I never thought of this method of adding copper tape to create traces... Great experiments and video!
This is the coolest thing I’ve seen all week thanks for sharing!
Finally found the channel i was looking for!!!!!
Fascinating, Ive never done anything with RF stuff but I have seen these geometries and wondered what on earth they did. This is the best explanation Ive ever seen thank you. Way out of my territory but interesting to have a little understanding.
Enjoyed following this through. It's given me ideas!
This is a microstrip-line. There is literature up there.
I like the filter Butterworth maked with piece of metal and isolating materials, instead of RC opamps active circuits. That push Butterworth beyond, 91 years after.
P E R F E C T
This video gave me some lights about PCB microwave filter design. Thanks!
Truly awesome!! Thank you for such a great explanation! :)
Great tutorial! Thanks!
Great video mate!
very cool spectrum analyzer!
Amazing video.
QUCS user interface is actually very similar to Keysight ADS. QUCS being free is great value for money :) Of course ADS/PathWave is a lot more feature complete and has an excellent support.
awesome!! thanks for sharing
Very eye opening !tnx
Hey, do you know if I could get the Gerber files for that ruler? It looks awesome!
Got a newer version from Keysight themselves
great video i love it
Thank you.
Bravo! Great!
wow that is what I was struggling to Look for understanding
Good video
Great tutorial and video. Do you recommend any particular books for filter design too ?
Make more of these videos... You are awesome! Please don't stop... I know its been a long time. You can collaborate with Ben Eater
Very cool and informative piece! How do I get hold of one of those rulers you're using? Thanks!
🥳 bravo!
Well that was an incredibly interesting video, May I ask if you will be willing to show the procedure to use an spectrum analyzer to tune an Dipole Antenna to the correct match frequency? thanks in advance.
Congratulations about the ruler and the "tape on PCB" prototyping method. Way cool. I have a note: that radial "radio stub"... you mention that it has a slightly broader bandwidth compared to the linear stub you presented a minute earlier. I believe that this "broader bandwidth" is a feature of your imprecise manufacturing, rather than of the shape in theory. Your radius (circle section) is not precise enough. (did you use a scribing compass?) If it *was* precise, I daresay its bandwidth might be on par with the linear stub, but more importantly, it should give a deeper attenuation at its center frequency - *that* I believe is what the shape is for. As the wave spreads out through the circular section, the "transmission line" gets gradually broader = lower impedance, and at its lowest, it meets the open end (infinite impedance) and, being a quarter-wave stub, it reflects that mighty impedance step into a perfect short at its narrow end.
Pretty cool ...and simple.physics
great tutorial.will you please suggest a good book for microstrip filter design
The substrate material that you used is textolite, not FR4. Textolite has an ε relative of 8-11. This is where the shift in frequency comes from, I suppose.
great ... thanks and greetings from north-sweden .. carlo SA2KHG
Not Microwave Frequencies,But A LOT OF Freqauencies That Are In 20 Meter Band And Belove, Like 80 ! Just Yestarday Made Filters Like That !
Nice, have you experienced how to bulld PCB antennas?
Another thing how to buy the "RF rule tool" for tuning the path length against freq?
Thank you
Super super vid.
great practical aproach! that's what most people are looking for. still, I don't think that board is fr4. it looks too yellow.
if soldring is not issue can we also use Al tape ?
It would be nice if you could make a video explaining S-parameter analysis and how it differs from normal AC analysis
You might enjoy my own noob "blog-post" of sorts on that topic... support.fccps.cz/download/adv/frr/qucs_smith/qucs_smith.html
Thanks Frantisek. Your article is very helpful to get started with using smith charts in qucs.
Would be interested to see if YBCO tape would work in this application
Interesting.
The width of the trace sections is either 1m or 50m? I think you're going to need a bigger PCB!
Did something drop a unit somewhere? I assume it's supposed to be mm.
QUCS uses unitless SI prefixes in this situation, so e.g V1=1m is the same as 1mV and I=1p is the same as 1pA. I agree though that the inclusion of units would make it clearer..
If we use a very nano conductive material instead of copper tape, will the the filter work?
Could you do the filters also with the plasma sputtering/coating method by applying stencils`?
Love the ruler! Where did you get that one?
An awesome dude who goes by SV1AFN makes them: www.sv1afn.com/pcbruler.html
niiice!
Great Video. Where Can I get one of these COOL RULERS? What is it called, can you post a link please?
Exacly How i Made My Antennas, Chopped On On VNA While They Show What I Wanted Them to Show :)
Well, this is an old video, I hope you see this messege. I want to ask you how did you change the QUCS schematic strip sizes to the shorter strips you made with de conductive tape?
For example, the first inductor is 7 meters long and 1 meter wide and the lines you made are far smaller.
Thanks.
jeeeez ur ... m stands for fakin MILI, not meter...
two questions.
how to use the pattern on the ruler? do we need to copy them or we can use the practically by soldering?
I downloaded qucs (version 0.0.19) and installed it. When I try to paste the schematic into the work window, it won't let go of the curser and keeps dropping more copy's of the the paste on the desktop every time I left click the mouse. It's like having gum stuck to your shoe!
I saw xkcd Up Goer Five poster on the wall
I'm not very knowledgeable in this area but I have some ceramic bakelite, mica & G10 materials which you could use. Let me know if you are interested...
PS - I like your channel. Subscribed!
you will have much better luck with FR-408 or Rogers-4003C. Also use the dielectric constant from the material data sheets
Good luck finding and buying those.
It is possible to make a Cell phone 3G signal amplifier (booster) circuit using your microstrip building technique????
Hi how can I send you the picture of bandpass filter which I have and have few questions relating it
Is there a lower frequency where this stops working? Or could I make a 160m filter this way?
You could probably make filters for lower frequencies this way, but they'd just get impractically huge.
Which tape are you using? Can you post a link? I want to buy it
where can I buy that ruler with those labels?
Very good video, I learned a lot. But tell me, can you think as fast as you talk? I have to drastically reduce the playback speed.
that pcb materials are not FR4 they are probably CEM-1 or CEM-2 type. the dielectric is unknown and not suitable for HF circuits.
@@NeungView I'm assuming that the PCB doesn't have any copper layer on it. Is that right?
Try Rogers pcb RO4350B, RO4450F, and RO4003 microwave materials.
Sehr gutes Video, ich habe eine Menge gelernt. Aber sag mal, kannst du genau so schnel denken, wie du redest? Ich muss die Wiedergabegeschwindigkeit drastisch reduzieren.
can share link where i can get fr4 sheets blank
Where can I get that ruler?
Seconded. Where did you get that?
Do you think Aluminium tape can be used instead of Copper tape?
It is hard to find copper tapes in my town.
Home Depot will help you.
Loo for anti slug tape .. Copper..
Careful waving that knife around :-)
What type of copper tape is this?
I'm guessing this method wouldn't be very "practical" for say a 7.0 MHz 40M band filter due to the element size would it? Unless perhaps your elements zig zagged back and forth to get the right electrical length in a more compact space?
SEBEBEBE
The loss on 10 ghz are the high 3/6 db the sma connectors cheap from China or good stuff
Regards from sietse pa3dee I like your video.s nice video's
Yeah you're probably right about the SMA connectors contributing to the loss up at 10GHz, they are chinese cheapies. I'll have to do some more experiments with better ones to see exactly how much it is. Cheers :)
Now you have Qucs-S instead of obsolete Qucs.
Dude. Where do I get that ruler??? 😂
how do i design a microwave filter at 4 GHz center frequency?
Your boards look like FR2. Maybe you can improve by using FR4.
Hi sir. From where i can get this Ruler?
PCB ruler ->ebay
i wanted to know the same thing.Thanks....
David Davidson in ebay.. type ”pcb ruler”
i did.but the rf ruler isnt there.found others and ordered 2 of those.did find the guy selling the rf one like you have here with filter patterns on it.but wasnt ebay..
In case anyone is interested: www.sv1afn.com/pcbruler.html
I think your copper backside is ressanating, try a clean board :-)
Te 21mminut filmu jest więcej warte niż semestr przedmiotu mikrofale na PWR
bad boys play with bad toys
Nah dude it’s you
Get rid of that old spectrum analyzer/tracking generator and get a real neteork analyzer!
J Trager the 141t is a very easy unit to service... All discrete components
Well Mr. Holzapfel sure doesn't look like a novice, but if this is still a hobby, I perfectly understand that spending money on a higher-end analyzer is a low priority. And if he's employed in this area, well then it's other people deciding budgets on the job, who may have their own priorities and areas of focus.
what is a quality factor? The rejection is not deep - I had the same result with low frequecy high voltage ceramic capacitor and piece of wire: resonance was roughly at 20MHz but bandwidth was several MHz.when I changed a capacitor to RF type (NP0) - quality factor was much increased.