Splitter
28 Jan 2024
Several years ago I built an RF splitter to feed my Icom-7610 and an SDR dongle from the same antenna, using the schematics published by Jack Smith K8ZOA (SK) on his web site. The web site is no longer available, but Wayback Machine still keeps a copy of his Notes on Building.
Here is the schematic:
The parameters of the splitter, measured with NanoVNA, are shown below.
Loss
Input Impedance
Output Impedance
Isolation
Here is a comparison of the homebrew splitter and ZX10-2-12-S+ sold by Mini-Circuits, in the 2-50 MHz frequency range:
| Splitter | Loss, dB | Isolation, dB |
|---|---|---|
| K8ZOA | 3.05 - 3.22 | 26.3 - 32.1 |
| ZX10-2-12-S+ | 3.30 - 3.26 | 27.3 - 32.3 |
I am using this splitter for side-by-side comparison of the decoding performance of differnt SDR receivers in the JT Skimmer program:
