An swr meter is an essential tool for installing a cb radio and antenna. Listed under the software antenna analysis category that is about antenna. Jun, 2018 that was my thinking too, which is on the if board. In either case, you likely have a faulty meter that needs. This was while the ubitx rx input was hooked to a 50 ohm dummy load. That was my thinking too, which is on the if board. The only set back is it does not come with the coaxial cable jumper male end. Has anybody gotten kd8cecs swr meter to work and can share how. Mfj 870 grandmaster swrpower meters are the cadillac of ham radio wattmeters.
Swr standing wave ratio is a term every cber should know. Apr 15, 2015 if i understand correctly the meter in the radio goes full scale but the swr meter doesnt move. The ameritron awm35 is a flat mobile peak reading swrwattmeter that is only 1 58 inches thick. Has anybody gotten kd8cecs swr meter to work and can. It allows you to tune your antenna, which is adjusting the length of the antenna for optimum performance. I have a palomar 500 10100 watt swr and watt meter. And maybe even describe why a certain amount of swr is ok to call 0. Brackets on the instrument name indicates the instrument is no longer manufactured. While diagnosing an issue with the spe setting a high swr alarm i tested the spe6600m combo connected to a palstar dummy load. Software download our updated software for our vna, tdr, or swr meters. Jun 24, 2009 ive been wanting to hook up a kicker amp a blue thunder 200 to the old radio shack trc484 cb radio in my truck.
Featured items newest items bestselling alphabetical. Dosy cb ham radio swr watt meter tc4001p test center. The meter indicates the degree of mismatch between a transmission line and its load usually a radio antenna. Now my stumping occurs on the swr calibration of my very first cb radio, a uniden 520xl with a little wil antenna. This power meter allows you to tune your ham or other amateur radio system to perform at its best. One of the most common causes of high swr readings is incorrectly connecting your swr meter to your radio and antenna. The instructions that come with the meter are good. Lower wattage and the setting was highly sensitive and a recheck of power produced a pegged needle and reattempts to set the meter. The standing wave ratio swr meter, or voltage standing wave ratio vswr meter, measures the swr of a transmission line. A functional and simple front panel layout lets you select power ranges, change bands or make swr readings intuitively. Measure forward and reflected transmitter power with topbrand swrwattmeters from dx engineering.
Though i like the big face meters, when it comes to measuring watts and swrs, the radio shack impresses me. Mini60 bluetooth android hf ant swr antenna analyzer meter for ham radio hobbists 160 mhz. We carry swrwattmeters from ameritron, coaxial dynamics, comet, daiwa, diamond, mfj enterprises and palstar, including the most accurate microprocessorcontrolled units on the market. Dec 06, 2019 this was while the ubitx rx input was hooked to a 50 ohm dummy load. Use an swr meter to document and log the degree of mismatch between a transmission load, usually the radio antenna, and its line. I own three comercial radios of course with built in swr meters, but also have a bunch of beloved home made qrp rigs, a. In this video, we open up an swr meter to find out whats inside and how it works. Swr is very important to every cb setup and should be checked every time a new antenna is purchased or an antenna is moved. Swr mega swr meter design just indicator, probe will be described later one possible design is here in czech new version of windows calibration software. Click the desired softwares title to download all the nnnn pc vision software is fully operational and free to download. Always peg to the far right when the mic is keyed, with adjustment of the cal dial failing to move it leftward. If you simply will not settle for less than the best accuracy and precision these mfj grandmasters are for you. It showed me my swr was super low at 50 watts but at 25 and 5 watts it was impossible to calibrate and get a good reading. Before i get too crazy, i think im going to go back and look at simple things again like the coax jumper between the tx filter and the at.
Identifying a faulty swr meter a defective swr meter is rarely the cause of high swr readings, but when it is, it can wreak havoc on your troubleshooting efforts. Here, youll find links for analyzersswr and power meters covering hfvhfuhf. Logically, i want to make good and sure that my swr is as low as possible to reduce the amount of power reflected back into my radio. Hf6m grandmaster swr meter mfj grandmaster swr power meters are the cadillacs of ham radio. For anyone using a cb or ham radio this video shows how to. On my hf rig, i have a dipole antenna, a swr meter, an antenna tuner, and my rig. Hamcity has more than 30 years of experience in the amateur radio equipment business. It could be that the jumper cable between the radio and the swr meter has a short. Listed under the softwareantenna analysis category that is about antenna. This tells me the swr bridge circuit l42, l43, r14 is still out of balance into a 50 ohm resistive load attached directly to filter board output coax connector. Its standing wave ratio swr function helps you trim your antenna to the precise length that produces the maximum transmit power.
Swr power meter for vhf uhf ham radio 120 500 mhz 150 watt workman model 104. In this tech tip video, rugged radios provides you a crash course in the basics of using an swr meter to test the power and performance of your 2. Addressing issues with an swr meter and the nextion display. Antenna analyzers check antennas for resonant frequency. Mfj grandmaster swrpower meters are the cadillacs of ham radio. Aug 07, 2008 short video on how to use a swr meter radio shack 21534 cbhighfrequency ham power swr meter. So239 input and output connectors with heavy duty metal case. But the bad news is that the meter is pegged as if i am seeing swr9 into a dummy load.
Call letters or other alpha numeric message 16 characters long examples above have array solutions. Interpreting swr meter readings right channel radios. Discussion in ham equipment started by bow, mar 17. Buy cb radio swr meters from our swr meter range at. The uk leading supplier and distributor of communications equipment.
Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold or was sold by the manufacturer for any monetary value. In addition, specific models mentioned in the ham radio forum like diamond, mfj analyzersswr and power meters,comet, yaesu, icom, watson cushcraft, mfj and more are here for future reference. Interpreting swr meter readings tuning your antenna to an acceptable swr is crucial for good performance. The goal while working recently with the autocap software, i realized that the weak link in the system was the lp100 meter.
Mini60 bluetooth android hf ant swr antenna analyzer meter. The icom ic7300 has a feature where it can make a barchart swr plot. Swrpower meters test the connection between your two way radio and your antenna for proper impedance and swr. Workman swr 2t meter is a great value i purchased and used the workman meter recently to tune 2 cb antennas and it worked perfectly. This not only gives you the best range but it can also prevent damage to your radio. Vk5ajl build your own microstripline swr meter the. Electronics free delivery possible on eligible purchases. Ive been wanting to hook up a kicker amp a blue thunder 200 to the old radio shack trc484 cb radio in my truck. A defective swr meter is rarely the cause of high swr readings, but when it is, it can wreak havoc on your troubleshooting efforts. Read forwardreflected power and swr simultaneously.
Hi all, im new to all the cb stuff but have read around a bit just to get some footing. Drivers product swr meter for cb radio antennas heavy duty metal with so 239 input and output with 3 jumper coax cable black. This would cause the swr meter to show no movement and the radio meter to go full scale. Sold by lessco sales, dosy meter tc4001p,label lettering was missing on the front panel,swr calibration meter did not work at all, meter stay pegged all the time would not calibrate on swr or calibration return product will not order from them again. I flipped over to the swr meter, thinking i lost a coax cable, and the same thing, spoke into the mic, still in ssb mode and the meter pegged to the top of. We carry swr wattmeters from ameritron, coaxial dynamics, comet, daiwa, diamond, mfj enterprises and palstar, including the most accurate microprocessorcontrolled units on the market. The existing raduino in the bitx does not have sufficinet spare analog input pins to provide everything that duwayne wanted to measure. A small digital qrp swr meter with oled display thin 0. Measuring rf through the tx filter board but before the auto tuner is when i run into trouble. The flex swr meter was pegged while the spe was reading 1. Software engineering is working on fw fix for proper atu functionality. All grandmasters feature peak and average forward and reflected power readings and. Find great deals on ebay for swr meter and swr meter cb radio. Short video on how to use a swr meter radio shack 21534 cbhighfrequency ham power swr meter.
With the new swr meter functionality you can sweep a frequency range and the app shows you a chart with swr values. A cb antenna with a high swr reading will not work to its full potential and in the worst case could even damage the cb radio. The swr meter or vswr voltage standing wave ratio meter measures the standing wave ratio swr in a transmission line. At cbradiosplus we offer a wide variety of brands and types of communications equipment including technical upgrades all at some of the lowest prices on the internet with a money back guarantee if you are not fully satisfied with our products or service. I used that same jumper to attach my 50 ohm load to the tx filter output. Connect the antenna normally connected to the back of the cb to the connector marked antenna or ant on your swr meter.
Now i have to spend more time ad money just to calibrate the signals. All swr meter software is licensed and these downloads are 10 minute demo copies. Video looking at the final circuit configuration and software for the pwrswr meter. Tried a 2sc1969 final in a cobra 29nwst and when i keyed up, it pegged the smeter until it got stuck even when i adjusted vr5. Browse our wide selection of swr, power, modulation, marine field, multi meters, and much, much more. A small digital qrp swr meter with oled display zl2pd. High swr troubleshooting guide right channel radios. If i tap power from the input side of the tx filter board i get the full 100200w on all bands. The auswr from accessories unlimited is our most popular swr meter.
High swr caused by an improperly tuned antenna or simple water andor corrosion intrusion will cause poor performance and eventual failure of two way radio equipment. When the probe was hooked up, the meter on the nextion display would go high, and then settle down to a good swr reading. As the srf meter is not working in rx and tx, would suggest that you have a common wire broken or you have the swr cal switch in the in the swr or cal position and not in the srf position, this is easy to do, i have seen a quit a few people do this. I own three comercial radios of course with built in swr meters, but also have a bunch of beloved home made qrp rigs, a t match tuner and 40m long windom dipole. The text of this project should be read in conjunction with standing waves in the info section. This device is critical to making the tuning software function, because it provides the constant stream of swr data used to quickly tune the loop capacitor.
Testing a defective swr meter right channel radios. Compact crossneedle swrwattmeter compact hfvhf swrwattmeter. It can sometimes be confusing to get things set right but this is the case with all top level contesting software. Even though comercial rigs have builtin digital readout swr meters, having an external one is a good idea. The ability to tune nonresonant antennas way beyond the 450ds 3. Simulated smeter and swr meter on small oled display duwayne kv4qb has been playing with an arduino pro mini and a small oled display to use as a stand alone replacement for a analog meter. To make them fully operational requires a user name and password. Addressing issues with an swr meter and the nextion. Welcome to the amateur radio analyzersswr and power meters page. Mfj 870 grandmaster swrpower meters mfj870 free shipping. So i just said screw it and put an irf520 in and it transmits fine. External power meter into same 50 ohm load shows about 50w.
Cooper sezs to sent back, which i will do next month. Technicians use it to evaluate the effectiveness of impedance matching efforts. The swr meter needs to be placed in line between the antenna and the cb. With the 6600m atu on bypass and the amp on standby the spe and flex swr meters were closely matched on all bands, except for 10m. For anyone using a cb or ham radio this video shows how to check swr on a am radio. Is my palomar 500 cb radio swr meter bad, or yahoo answers.
No matter which frequencies i picked, all the bars in the chart were always pegged at an swr of 3. The ameritron awm35 is a flat mobile peak reading swr wattmeter that is. Well the good news is that there is no apparent bugs i introduced into the nextion software regarding display of swr. Swr meters measure the effectiveness of a transmissions impedance matching performance. I can set vr2 to minimum and get full power but the rigs swr meter still pegs because the metering circuit is a separate path from the alc but they both share the same bridge circuit. Be prepared and able to communicate in case of emergency with the largest selection at. Icom ic718 issue, and a fix worldwidedx radio forum. Certainly could have done something wrong in assembling the swr bridge, however, the fact that i got it balanced makes me think maybe not. However, as soon as he removed the probe to the oscilloscope, the meter would just stay pegged at very high swr. The first step is to download the software from here. Or maybe the meter reads capacitive and inductive reactance as low and high. This is a quality product and i would recommend it to anyone needing a swr meter. Turned the cal knob, needle never move, radio meter was pegged with the swr2t disconnected, you should be able to measure continuity from the.
I appreciate that the authors limit releases to prevent the software from changing too wildly. Technically striplines have a ground plane on both sides and those here are technically microstriplnes because they only have one. Swr measured with an swr meter shows you how well your coax, antenna mount, ground. You should also note, i have used the term striplines. Is my palomar 500 cb radio swr meter bad, or yahoo. Please visit us today for all your ham radio needs. So i recently tested my antenna and feedline with a vna. The guidelines below give you a sense of what swr readings in each range mean, and how to deal with excessively large ones. The easiest way to test for a defective meter is to take readings from a second meter and compare the results to those from the first meter. Ham radio and amateur radio online equipment sales. If i understand correctly the meter in the radio goes full scale but the swr meter doesnt move. Shop wattmeters with true peak and average readings, 202002,000watt ranges, amplifier bypass for high swr, high swr audio alarms, large 6. The kepc225d is the pcb number, the pll is at the front of the radio near the channel switch and will have a number like upd2816.
The swr meters software is licensed and these downloads are 10 minute demo copies. For more information on what swr is and means, please. Buy swr power meter for vhf uhf ham radio 120 500 mhz 150 watt workman model 104. Astatic swrrfstrength meterpdc2 swr, rf power and field strength meter the pdc2 test instrument is a compact 3function test meter indicates the condition of any 52 ohm antenna and antenna coax used for cb radio operation tests for standing wave ratio swr, relative rf power, or field strength.
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