Comparison

Ham Engineering vs SpectraHold

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

Head to head
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

About

SpectraHold

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The spectrogram with memory. SpectraHold turns microphone input into a 3D spectrogram. Watch frequencies in real time, freeze the view, and explore up to 120 seconds of visual history to inspect a detail you just heard. FREEZE AND EXPLORE Tap the graph to inspect a frequency. Zoom and browse the history, then return to live analysis whenever you want. ADJUST THE VIEW Choose a visible window from 1 to 20 seconds, color palettes, and automatic or manual visual gain from āˆ’40 to +40 dB. Visual gain changes the graph without changing microphone gain. FEATURES • Real-time 3D spectrogram from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. • Adjustable history from 20 to 120 seconds. • Frequency inspection, zoom, and history navigation. • Up to two estimated peaks per region: bass, midrange, and treble. Detection does not confirm resonance. • Background capture and capture with the screen locked, while permitted by the system. • Compatible with iPhone and iPad. Audio is processed on your device. History stays in memory; no audio file is saved or uploaded. Closing the app or a system interruption may stop capture. TRIAL AND PURCHASE Download for free. Activate a free 7-day trial to access all features. After the trial, analysis stops until you purchase full access. The unlock is a one-time purchase, with no subscription or automatic charge. The local price is shown before you confirm the purchase. You can restore purchases. SpectraHold is a visual analysis tool. It does not apply equalization, automatically eliminate feedback, or replace a calibrated sound pressure level meter. Estimates depend on the microphone, device, and recording conditions.

Screenshots

Ham Engineering4 screens
SpectraHold3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ham Engineering at none against SpectraHold's 2. Ham Engineering also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). SpectraHold's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads 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. SpectraHold sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Ham Engineering asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ham Engineering ships an update every 3 weeks, SpectraHold every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences Ā· 3 level
Ham Engineering versus SpectraHold: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHam EngineeringSpectraHold
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYousif AL BalushiRAFAEL SILVA PFLEGER

In-app purchases

None

Ham Engineering

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

SpectraHold

One-time2
  • 7-day TrialFree
  • Full Access$5.99

Questions

Is Ham Engineering free?
Ham Engineering is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SpectraHold free?
SpectraHold is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Ham Engineering or SpectraHold have ads?
Neither Ham Engineering nor SpectraHold shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ham Engineering or SpectraHold?
Ham Engineering ships an update every 3 weeks, and SpectraHold every 3 days. Most recently, Ham Engineering was updated on November 10, 2026 and SpectraHold on October 31, 2026.

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