Comparison

RF Slide Rule vs Ham Engineering

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

RF Slide Rule

Features
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A simple RF Tool to calculate: - Free Space loss - RSSI - Pathloss - EIRP for a given RF link taking as inputs: - Frequency (GHz) - Distance (km or mi) - Tx and Rx Antenna gains - Rx Sensitivity - Tx Power This App should be periodically updated to incorporate additional useful RF and Telecom engineering formulas.

About

Ham Engineering

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Ham Engineering is the engineering bench for amateur radio — antenna and feedline maths, circuit design, propagation and a deep reference library, all completely offline. No account, no ads, no tracking, and not a single network call. ANTENNAS • Half-wave dipole with adjustable k (velocity) factor, quarter-wave and 5/8-wave verticals, ground-plane radials, end-fed half-wave, random wire, full-wave loop and a 3-element Yagi estimator • Matching: L-network, Pi-network, quarter-wave transformer, balun/unun ratios and stub matching • Antenna Lab — a live elevation radiation-pattern plot with directivity, realized gain, takeoff angle, beamwidth, front-to-back, mismatch loss, feedline loss and system gain, each explained • Grid Compass that rotates with your phone, showing beam bearing and distance from your grid to a target grid • Antenna gallery — every common type drawn as scalable vector art, with what it is, what it is for and what to watch out for FEEDLINES & RF • Coax loss by cable type, frequency and run length; velocity-factor electrical length • SWR from forward/reflected power, plus return loss and mismatch loss • Antenna A/B comparison and receiver noise-floor estimation • RF power conversions: dBm, watts, ERP and EIRP • Propagation: free-space path loss, radio horizon and Fresnel-zone clearance • NanoVNA and tinySA quick-start guides, and a coax + connector gallery CIRCUITS • Ohm's law, series/parallel resistance, voltage dividers, RC and RL time constants • Reactance, LC resonance, Q and bandwidth, stored energy • RC and LC filter cutoffs, a constant-k Pi/T filter designer, a bandpass/notch calculator and a Butterworth low-pass designer • Resistor, capacitor and inductor code decoders, an AWG wire table and a 555 timer calculator • A live RLC resonance lab and a 50-part component gallery REFERENCE & EXTRA • Filterable amateur band plan for ITU Regions 1, 2 and 3 • Unit converters including watts, dBm and microvolts • Comparison tables for coax, connectors, antennas and batteries • Tools-and-gear and rig-controls galleries — what every knob and button is called across manufacturers • Maidenhead grid tools and great-circle beam headings • 300+ searchable tips, 40+ formulas, a rich glossary and a constants reference • Curated external links to major retailers, brands and references BUILT FOR THE BENCH • Nearly 200 illustrations drawn as scalable vector art — nothing to download, everything sharp at any size • Works fully offline. The app makes no network calls at all • Export any panel or diagram as a theme-aware image to share or file • An (i) explanation on every panel — this is a tool and a guide, not a quiz • Light and dark themes, adjustable font size, weekly tips and in-app version history • Your callsign, grid and email stay on your device and are never transmitted PERFECT FOR • Licensed operators designing, building and tuning antennas • Anyone putting up a first dipole or vertical and wanting the numbers right • Homebrewers and kit builders working with filters, matching and components • SWLs and newcomers who want the reference material without the exam drill • Club elmers and anyone teaching antenna and RF fundamentals PRIVACY • Your callsign, grid and email are stored only on your device. • No account, no sign-up, no ads, no analytics SDKs, no advertising ID and no tracking of any kind. 73 de A41UX Yousuf AL Balushi — Unixeer, Oman

Screenshots

RF Slide Rule2 screens
Ham Engineering4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: RF Slide Rule at weekly against Ham Engineering's every 3 weeks. RF Slide Rule also leads on iOS requirement (7.0 vs 13.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RF Slide Rule ships an update weekly, Ham Engineering every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
RF Slide Rule versus Ham Engineering: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRF Slide RuleHam Engineering
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS7.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCEC, S.A.Yousif AL Balushi

In-app purchases

None

RF Slide Rule

No in-app purchases

None

Ham Engineering

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RF Slide Rule free?
RF Slide Rule is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ham Engineering free?
Ham Engineering is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do RF Slide Rule or Ham Engineering have ads?
Neither RF Slide Rule nor Ham Engineering shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RF Slide Rule or Ham Engineering?
RF Slide Rule ships an update weekly, and Ham Engineering every 3 weeks. Most recently, RF Slide Rule was updated on September 10, 2026 and Ham Engineering on September 17, 2026.

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