{"id":16783,"date":"2026-03-31T16:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=16783"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:03:12","slug":"sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Sniffing Out&#8217; the Fault in Easy BITX with N5ESE RF Probe!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z2jkr8M7a4M?si=7sMKRuuDYP7riRuB\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compared the RF voltage at the inputs of IRF510 and that of the Darlington pair of 2N3904s before that, using N5ESE Classic RF probe homebrewed by me. RF voltage was much higher at the input of the Darlington pair! Total current of Easy BITX also jumped up at that time. Everything was back to previous level when the RF probe was kept back at the input of IRF510.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Unanswered Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.Why RF voltage is much higher at input of the Darlington pair?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2.Total current drain of Easy BITX also jumped up then. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3.Total current was back to old level when RF probe was back at input of IRF510. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4.Was the placement of the RF probe in anyway contributing to the increase of RF voltage at input of the Darlington pair?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>As I have only one RF probe, I could not check the voltage at the input of IRF510 simultaneously.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Compared the RF voltage at the inputs of IRF510 and that of the Darlington pair of 2N3904s before that, using N5ESE Classic RF probe homebrewed by me. RF voltage was much higher at the input of the Darlington pair! Total current of Easy BITX also jumped up at that time. Everything was back to previous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Sniffing Out&#039; the Fault in Easy BITX with N5ESE RF Probe! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Sniffing Out&#039; the Fault in Easy BITX with N5ESE RF Probe! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Compared the RF voltage at the inputs of IRF510 and that of the Darlington pair of 2N3904s before that, using N5ESE Classic RF probe homebrewed by me. RF voltage was much higher at the input of the Darlington pair! Total current of Easy BITX also jumped up at that time. Everything was back to previous [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T11:03:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T11:03:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sniffing-Out-the-Fault-in-Easy-BITX-With-N5ESE-RF-Probe.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"679\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Johnson Francis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;Sniffing Out&#8217; the Fault in Easy BITX with N5ESE RF Probe!\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-31T11:03:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-31T11:03:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":165,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Sniffing-Out-the-Fault-in-Easy-BITX-With-N5ESE-RF-Probe.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/sniffing-out-the-fault-in-easy-bitx-with-n5ese-rf-probe\\\/\",\"name\":\"'Sniffing Out' the Fault in Easy BITX with N5ESE RF Probe! 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