Q meter

A Q meter is a piece of equipment used in the testing of radio frequency circuits. It has been largely replaced in professional laboratories by other types of impedance measuring device, though it is still in use among radio amateurs. It was developed at Boonton Radio Corporation in Boonton, New Jersey in 1934 by William D. Loughlin. A Q meter is a piece of equipment used in the testing of radio frequency circuits. It has been largely replaced in professional laboratories by other types of impedance measuring device, though it is still in use among radio amateurs. It was developed at Boonton Radio Corporation in Boonton, New Jersey in 1934 by William D. Loughlin. A Q meter measures the quality factor of a circuit, Q, which expresses how much energy is dissipated per cycle in a non-ideal reactive circuit: This expression applies to an RF and microwave filter, bandpass LC filter, or any resonator. It also can be applied to an inductor or capacitor at a chosen frequency. For inductors Where X L {displaystyle X_{L}} is the reactance of the inductor, L {displaystyle L} is the inductance, ω {displaystyle omega } is the angular frequency and R {displaystyle R} is the resistance of the inductor. The resistance R {displaystyle R} represents the loss in the inductor, mainly due to the resistance of the wire. A Q meter works on the principle of series resonance.