Guest guest Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Ken and all: You can get a better idea of the efficiency of a square wave's ability to generate harmonics if you take a look at the generated wave with a spectrum analyzer, as was suggested earlier. I managed to download a spectrum analyzer software program that works really well from low frequencies (<100hz) up to a maximum of ~5500hz. It is called Spectran (Spectran Version 2, Build 213), and is a free download. I can't tell you now where I downloaded it from, but I imagine Google would find it for you quickly. Of course, I have to generate the wave on my laptop computer, then analyze it with my desktop computer. I don't imagine that I could generate the sine wave with the same computer and sound card that I am analyzing the generated wave with! I have a Ralph Hartwell design wave shaper that I am going thru to convert the sine wave to a square wave. When generating a 100hz sine wave, passing it thru the wave shaper to square it up, then running it into the spectrum analyzer, I can see the harmonics very strongly every 100hz up to about 1000hz, and gradually decreasing in strength, but still apparent, all the way to the limit of measurement at around 5500hz. You might try analyzing both your clean square wave and the " dirty " square wave and see how they compare at generating harmonics.... Hope this helps. Olin Boyer Tulsa, OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 3, 2004 Report Share Posted November 3, 2004 Thanks Olin, What an interesting bit of software. I downloaded it and it was very easy to run. Do you use this sort of software for radio work? I enter 100Hz and there was thick white lines scolling down every 200Hz, the 100Hz step inbetween was much lighter. I then enter 1,000Hz and there was strong white lines every 1,000Hz, fainter lines every 200Hz and really faint lines at 100Hz intervals as above. What a great bit of software. I take it these harmonics that I am looking at? Regards Ken ----- Original Message ----- > > Ken and all: > > You can get a better idea of the efficiency of a square wave's ability to > generate harmonics if you take a look at the generated wave with a spectrum > analyzer, as was suggested earlier. > > I managed to download a spectrum analyzer software program that works really > well from low frequencies (<100hz) up to a maximum of ~5500hz. It is called > Spectran (Spectran Version 2, Build 213), and is a free download. I can't > tell you now where I downloaded it from, but I imagine Google would find it > for you quickly. > > Of course, I have to generate the wave on my laptop computer, then analyze > it with my desktop computer. I don't imagine that I could generate the sine > wave with the same computer and sound card that I am analyzing the generated > wave with! I have a Ralph Hartwell design wave shaper that I am going thru > to convert the sine wave to a square wave. > > When generating a 100hz sine wave, passing it thru the wave shaper to square > it up, then running it into the spectrum analyzer, I can see the harmonics > very strongly every 100hz up to about 1000hz, and gradually decreasing in > strength, but still apparent, all the way to the limit of measurement at > around 5500hz. > > You might try analyzing both your clean square wave and the " dirty " square > wave and see how they compare at generating harmonics.... > > Hope this helps. > > Olin Boyer > Tulsa, OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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