Hi this is Frank,

Today we are testing the Chameleon Power Compensator on the F-Loop 3.0, and the loop is conveniently remotely controlled.
We will crank up the power to 30W CW with the IC-7300 to see how the SWR measures and also make my 1st 40W SSB contact on this Loop.

The Loop will be at a safe distance of 45 feet, it is connected with a Ethernet cable and the controller can rotate the stepper motor with high precision, which is awesome! So stay tuned!

The main focus of this video is on the Chameleon Power Compensator, but since I teased you, I will give you a quick summary of the remote controller that will be featured in a future video. It is fully custom made, it uses a NEMA 17 stepper motor, runs at 800 steps, the micro-controller is an Arduino Nano connected to an over-rated TB 6600 Motor controller.

The motor requires 4 pins and each of the pins are doubled on the RJ45 connectors at both ends which reduces voltage and current losses, this allowed us to reached a 45 feet distance so far. The kit works very well and I will make a video just on that topic later.

40M Tests

80M Tests
Custom 205 inches single Loop

I also tried the 20M band and it tuned 1.1:1 with 30W, so it works well. Then I wanted to test the SSB and see who I could talk to with 40W, I called CQ may be 4 times, and this nice gentleman responded.

20M SSB

So there you have it, if you are still watching, take the time to click the like button, it takes time to make these videos, liking encourages me to make more.

Stay tuned for a future video were I update the remote controller so it can actually automatically tune the loop at the click of a button. I will show you how it works.

Until then, good luck on the bands and 73

Keywords: Chameleon, Power Compensator, F-Loop 3.0, Magnetic Loop Antenna, Remote Control, Arduino, IC-7300, Tests


Motor:
Custom L-shape aluminium bracket
Isolated coupler

Remote Controller
Arduino with Stepper motor controller

Cable:
Standard Ethernet RJ45, tested with 15 ft and 45 ft cables
Since we only need 4 pins, we doubled them on the RJ45 connectors (A+,A-,B+,B-)
At 45 ft it works very well (that is at 30W CW at 1.1:1) even without the RF choke, although I should add one

Parts:
Motor: MotionKing 17HS3401
Coupler: XB Clamp Flexible coupling 5mm to 5mm, one side drilled to 6mm
Stepper Controller: DFRobot TB-6600, set at 800 steps
Rotary switch: Keyes KY-040, 30 positions
Micro Controller: Arduino Nano
Buck converter: XL6009 DC DC Boost Converter
RJ-45 connectors : RJ-45 Breakout Board
Bluetooth: HC-05 Bluetooth 2.0 Module

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