PCB VSWR BRIDGE

by Harry Lythall - SM0VPO

When building HF/VHF equipment it is often required to add a VSWR sensing circuit into the rig.
Commercial bridges are often quite bulky and designed around a bulky sensor. hey often require the
metal bo! as an earth path bet"een the input and output.
his #C$ VSWR bridge may be built on a length of double%sided #C$ material &or t"o single%side
boards sand"iched'. (ne side of the #C$ is not etched and the other side contains the RF directional
couplers. )ll components are mounted flat on the board. he "hole assembly can be built "ith a
thickness of less than *%mm. ) good indication can be obtained from +%"att at +,,%-H. and +/%"atts
in the HF band. 0 do not kno" the ma!imum safe po"er1 but it should certainly take +//%"atts or more.
he 2! +//3 pots are ganged and are not mounted on the #C$. hese should be mounted on the front
panel of the rig together "ith the for"ard and reflected 4oltage meters. he 5unctions of C+/6+ and
C2 / 62 are the for"ard and reflected 4oltage outputs. C+ and C2 can be almost any 4alue from ,7/pf
to +//nf. 6+ and 62 should be germanium diodes &such as ()8+ etc' for best sensiti4ity. R+ and R2
should each be +// ohms.
0f you only need a 9:(/;(%:(9 indication &<=6 >' then the for"ard 4oltage can be attenuated and its
4oltage le4el compared "ith the reflected 4oltage le4el &by an (#%)-# or similar de4ice'. his 6C
attenuation then controls the le4el at "hich the VSWR "arning is gi4en. ?ou could use this to shut
do"n or disable the transmitter if you so desire.
0f you use RF connectors on the board then a right%angled bracket should be attached at each end of the
board1 ensuring it does not shortcircuit to the center conductor. Here is the side%4ie" using sockets.
$;C sockets ha4e only been sho"n as an e!ample1 but you could of course use ;C1 ;%type1 or e4en
t"o%pin +@%ampere mains sockets1 if you felt so inclinedA
he board is +2/mm ! B/mm1 although this is by no means critical1 but the center conductor should be
about *mm "ide using +mm thick fibreglass. ) foil pattern is gi4en in my 6(W;<()6 section1 "ith
a component o4erlay. ;ote that the only holes drilled in the #C$ are the four mounting holes. he
ground%plane of the etched side should be shorted to the un%etched side of the board1 by "rapping strips
of copper foil and soldering both sides. he short copper strips should be placed at both ends "here the
RF connections are made1 each corner and one in the middle of each edge.
he sensiti4ity of the directional coupler is frequency dependant so it is not really suitable as a po"er
meter1 unless it is to be calibrated on a specific band using preset +//3 pots. Sensiti4ity increases "ith
frequency. Ha4e fun "ith this simple pro5ect. Very best regards from Harry.
Return to 0;F( page