Still looking for a deal on a real good meter, such as Astatic 700 or similar, no BAY stuff. PM/Email ok.
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Large Power swr Meter
- Thread starter Tripple Nickel
- Start date
i use a mfj-868b seems pretty accurate from what i see. there price is right too
You say you want a real good wattmeter. Good and Astatic or Dosy don't go well together.
http://www.aesham.com/analyzers/swr-meters/coaxial-dynamics-83000-a/
http://www.aesham.com/analyzers/swr-meters/coaxial-dynamics-83000-a/
Real watt meter?
Grossly over rated. CBers tend to be the only ones that hold Bird meters really high on a pedestal almost as if they were super accurate which they are not. But I suppose compared to the typical CB type Dosey, Astatic or Workman meters I suppose they are.Typical Bird accuracy is a full-scale accuracy of ± 5% for average reading Bird 43 meter. The Bird 43p peak reading meter is ± 8% of full scale. There are more accurate meters on the market. The advantage of a Bird meter is the interchangeable sensor elements and the rugged case construction not the accuracy.
Agree...But Family Guy hasn't done a video with anything that would relate to other meters. lol
I was on it till the price was beyond what I wanted to spend. It was a Para Dynamics, some age as well. His shipping was blown somewhat, since I use USPS priority 2 day, and I see a lot of ads on Bay that are trying to make it up on shipping. I am in no hurry, the right one will hopefully come along. Thank's JJD and the rest for jumping in. 3's for now.
MFJ has a BIG meter that is easy for tired eyes to read.
As far as accuracy?? 5 to 10% more or less.
Just keep it couple hundred watts under the legal limit for amateur work and you should be OK.
Nothing out there less than calibration standard equipment will be spot on accurate.
If you want more accurate readings need to look at using an O scope.
For the average hobbiest any old meter.
As far as accuracy?? 5 to 10% more or less.
Just keep it couple hundred watts under the legal limit for amateur work and you should be OK.
Nothing out there less than calibration standard equipment will be spot on accurate.
If you want more accurate readings need to look at using an O scope.
For the average hobbiest any old meter.
And don't forget that oscilloscopes, like any other piece of test equipment, require periodic adjustment and calibration, parts replacement and such. Don't assume it's "accurate" just because it has a squiggly line dancing on the screen.
I use and like the Palstar PM2000AM cross needle meter. It is accurate enough if you don't need something scientifically absolute.
At first I didn't think I would like cross needle meters much until I used them. At one glance, you see the forward power, reflected power, and SWR which is relevant to the reflected power reading shown without doing any pre-calibration that most single meters require.
The best feature is that it has a remote sensor so you don't have to route your coax cables to the meter. This lets you install the meter anywhere in your home shack or mobile and you only have to run the single detachable 14 ft. sensor wire up to it. This is only available on their AM version, not the A version.
This is a Peak reading meter along with switchable average, peak hold, and 2 power ranges, 300 watts and 3000 watts.
These sell for $200.00 new.
One thing I forgot to mention is that this meter isn't for measuring low power like 4 watt CB radios. The nature of cross needle meters is the more accurate and easy visual readings occur at 1/3 scale which on this meter that would be 100 watts on the 300 watt scale and at 4 watts, the 300 watt scale is too high to give a reading on. This meter would need a 30 watt scale option to at least read 10 watts accurately which it does not have.
At first I didn't think I would like cross needle meters much until I used them. At one glance, you see the forward power, reflected power, and SWR which is relevant to the reflected power reading shown without doing any pre-calibration that most single meters require.
The best feature is that it has a remote sensor so you don't have to route your coax cables to the meter. This lets you install the meter anywhere in your home shack or mobile and you only have to run the single detachable 14 ft. sensor wire up to it. This is only available on their AM version, not the A version.
This is a Peak reading meter along with switchable average, peak hold, and 2 power ranges, 300 watts and 3000 watts.
These sell for $200.00 new.
One thing I forgot to mention is that this meter isn't for measuring low power like 4 watt CB radios. The nature of cross needle meters is the more accurate and easy visual readings occur at 1/3 scale which on this meter that would be 100 watts on the 300 watt scale and at 4 watts, the 300 watt scale is too high to give a reading on. This meter would need a 30 watt scale option to at least read 10 watts accurately which it does not have.
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For those who are skeptical about using a cross needle meter, here is a basic tutorial on them.
A cross needle meter is a meter that measures SWR, forward and reflected power at one glance. One good advantage over single meters is no pre-SWR calibration is necessary. Also many of these are quality made devices for amateur radio operators since they cover the amateur bands in HF and VHF/UHF versions.
Looking at the pic below you can see different readings and see how it works.
Assuming these pics are on a 100 watt scale, multiply the numbers on scale by 10.
Pic 1 is showing 50 watts forward power by the right needle, the left needle is is showing 4 watts reflected. Where the 2 needles cross is the SWR reading which is value of 1.8.
The true power reading is the reflected power subtracted from the forward power so the true power reading here is 46 watts. This is because the SWR isn't a perfect match and 1.8 SWR is about 8 percent power loss. So you can see here 50 watts forward power with a SWR value of 1.8 equals 4 watts reflected loss for a true power reading of 46 watts.
Pic 2 shows a nearly perfect reading. 80 watts forward power and a very minimal reflected power since the SWR is at 1.1.
1.0 is perfect but not always attainable. The other 2 pics show SWR values at 4.1 and 1.4 and there corresponding forward and reflected power readings.
A cross needle meter is a meter that measures SWR, forward and reflected power at one glance. One good advantage over single meters is no pre-SWR calibration is necessary. Also many of these are quality made devices for amateur radio operators since they cover the amateur bands in HF and VHF/UHF versions.
Looking at the pic below you can see different readings and see how it works.
Assuming these pics are on a 100 watt scale, multiply the numbers on scale by 10.
Pic 1 is showing 50 watts forward power by the right needle, the left needle is is showing 4 watts reflected. Where the 2 needles cross is the SWR reading which is value of 1.8.
The true power reading is the reflected power subtracted from the forward power so the true power reading here is 46 watts. This is because the SWR isn't a perfect match and 1.8 SWR is about 8 percent power loss. So you can see here 50 watts forward power with a SWR value of 1.8 equals 4 watts reflected loss for a true power reading of 46 watts.
Pic 2 shows a nearly perfect reading. 80 watts forward power and a very minimal reflected power since the SWR is at 1.1.
1.0 is perfect but not always attainable. The other 2 pics show SWR values at 4.1 and 1.4 and there corresponding forward and reflected power readings.
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my mfj 868b is twice as big as those cross needles .go to universal radio.com .i got mine there. they have flat rate shipping ...very nice
I remember using old gray painted 400 lb pieces of bench test equipment with built in o' scopes when I was a young bench tech in the world's largest canoe club.
AM/UPM 137 comes to mind,
Now a days all those lines look squiggly on an O' scope until I put my glasses on.
- No one is chatting at the moment.
...runna pile-up on 6m SSB