SWR Sweep

SWR Sweep

Plot your antenna's SWR across a band, using the HL2's own power readings.

Running a sweep

1. Press SWR in the left-hand column.
2. Pick a band (or Custom and your own range) and the number of steps (50 is quick).
3. Press Start sweep. A reminder appears first:
   • turn off, or bypass, any antenna tuner;
   • put any amplifier in bypass, or switch it off;
   • make sure an antenna or dummy load is connected.
4. Kainos steps a low-power carrier (1 W at most) across the band and plots SWR as it goes.

The readout shows the lowest SWR and where it is, and the 2:1 bandwidth.

Saving and comparing

• Save keeps the sweep. Tick earlier sweeps in the list to lay them over the current one, to compare antennas or watch one change over time.
• Export CSV saves a sweep for a spreadsheet. Sweeps are kept in %APPDATA%\OpenHPSDR\Kainos-x64\Sweeps.

Safety

• The sweep stops by itself if SWR goes above 5:1, the output goes above 1 W, or the output drops away.
• It only steps inside the band for your region. Split must be off first, since it transmits on VFO A.
• Afterwards your frequency, tune power and tune settings are put back.
• It does transmit, briefly, on each step: be considerate of others on the band.

Only SWR is measured (the HL2's bridge doesn't give the phase needed for impedance or a Smith chart).