101 uses for an iPhone in Ham Radio

Ok, so this isn't a list of 101 uses for an iPhone in Ham Radio but I bet there are at least those!

In the past I've used a handful of applications to make my life easier such as…

• AA9PW HamMorse – CW trainer
• HamLocator – uses GPS/triangulation to give the Maidenhead locator
• Ham – provides Solar data
• 3Dsun – great app from NASA that gives STEREO images of the Sun and alerts for coronal mass ejections, flares etc

But today I found a killer app – Clinometer.

I'm in the midst of a serious overhaul of the antenna farm – centering around putting in a tower with a SteppIR DB-18E at the top (we break ground for the foundation on Monday!).

Part of the overhaul is finding a new location for my 160m inverted L to a) raise it up as high as I can and b) put it in a location where I can use elevated radials.

I've got plenty of trees to use as support but how high are they? Enter Clinometer – a $0.99 application for the iPhone that uses the built in accelerometers to measure tilt of the phone.

Here's a screen shot of the application:

Clinometer has a "stability" lock which lets you lock in a measurement once a configured level of stability has been held for 2 seconds.

I used Clinometer by sighting alone one of the edges of the iPhone and capturing the measured angle. Add a tape measure to establish a base line and some simple trig and you've got a measured height.

For $0.99 it's hard to go wrong!

Works like a champ!