I may have a little problem

[VK6NCB]

theres no "test equipment and tooling" subforum, so I am posting here.

My test equipment stable is growing, first it was the "bargain" 250AUD Bird 4304A from a hamfest a few weeks back, and today I drove 2hrs each way to grab this pair of Telewave wattmeters for $50AUD each.
One of the Telewaves tracks closely with the Bird on 28 and 50MHz, the other is wayyy off, I think it has been modified to work in the VHF/UHF spectrum instead of the 2-200MHz the nameplate suggests.

I guess I need to ship them all off for calibration.


If anyone knows of a $2000 fieldfox for sale - I can give it a good home

 

[buddrousa]

If I remember correctly, those Telewave Meters do VHF and UFH both we had 2 in the shop. Nice find I still have my old 43 and slugs.

 

[VK6NCB]

If I remember correctly, those Telewave Meters do VHF and UFH both we had 2 in the shop. Nice find I still have my old 43 and slugs.

theres two versions - 2-200MHz and 20-1000MHz.
these are both the 2-200 version.
while I like the 43, I dont like the idea of needing a collection of expensive slugs. as a ham and professional nerd, I would wind up with about a dozen (I added it up once, and the slugs would have cost me about the same as a low and high frequency telewave bought brand new)
they are the only option if you want to run higher power though.

 

[K9KLC]

I got a used one a while back and had to return it, the little pots that adjust the calibration had went south in it and needed replaced. Fortunately I got it from a friend of mine and he had no problems taking it back, and he's trying to get it going I think. He had 3 of them, we checked all three and all had issues on one range or the other likely from sitting for some years we surmised. Hopefully. yours is just needing calibration.

 

[K9KLC]

theres two versions - 2-200MHz and 20-1000MHz.
these are both the 2-200 version.
while I like the 43, I dont like the idea of needing a collection of expensive slugs. as a ham and professional nerd, I would wind up with about a dozen (I added it up once, and the slugs would have cost me about the same as a low and high frequency telewave bought brand new)
they are the only option if you want to run higher power though.

View attachment 207352

Frankly I wish I had one of each version but, $$$ keeps me from doing that .

 

[buddrousa]

I found it at a yard sale the 43 and 10 slugs in the box $50.00

 

[K9KLC]

I found it at a yard sale the 43 and 10 slugs in the box $50.00

That may have been the find of the decade.

 

[VK6NCB]

That may have been the find of the decade.

Thats one hell of an understatement.

 

[VK6NCB]

Setting up my radios, test gear, PC etc in my new shed/shack today (need to work on Antennas next)
decided the old 1968 AVO Mod8Mk3 deserved some time on the bench.
Volts and amps track dead on with my digital meters, looks mint, Im 99% sure someone bought it as a spare, stuck it on a shelf (in a nice wooden box) and forgot about it. not a bad deal for $50 at a hamfest.
need to find a battery for the ohms range though (but hey, I got more digital meters than any sane person should have for ohms and continuity)

 

[merlin]

A bit like my Microwave Associates watt meters, I have 2, One good from 20 to 200 MHz, the other 170 to 512.
Above 512, the wattmeter in my service monitor is good to 980 MHz, checks accurate down to 15 MHz.
I have a Bird 43 with a few HF slugs, various power to 1 KW.

 

[bharvey2]

Gotta love the older analog meters. I have a few that I really like but yes, sometimes the odd battery can be an issue.

 

[hexagon_keyhole]

There’s just something cool about old analog meters, especially the Bird 43 with that very 1950s-looking aluminum housing. Even cooler is that the basic design is still doing its job almost 75 years later.

When I first got into ham radio, an Elmer loaned me an extra Bird 43 to help set up my radios. I pretty much knew right then that I eventually needed one of my own. He also told me about the days when surplus Bird and slugs were plentiful and cheap. Apparently I got into the hobby a few decades too late....

I picked up my own Bird 43 and have slowly been building up a collection of elements. At this point I’m pretty well covered for the C range, plus a couple of oddballs:

• 095-2 — 2.5 W, 95–150 MHz
• 5C — 5 W, 100–250 MHz
• 10C — 10 W, 100–250 MHz
• 25C — 25 W, 100–250 MHz
• 50C — 50 W, 100–250 MHz
• 100C — 100 W, 100–250 MHz
• 10D — 10 W, 200–500 MHz
• 100H — 100 W, 2–30 MHz
• 500H — 500 W, 2–30 MHz

Nobody warned me collecting Bird slugs would become another hobby within the hobby. The H range might be my next focus area and I am already eyeing the Peak Envelope Power (PEP) Kit.

Oh! And where does my Bird 43 terminate the load to? How about either an 8080 25-watt or an 8164 100-watt Bird Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor!

The Bird is the word...

 

[noderaser]

We went through three Telewave 44L1P meters, all failed calibration and were not adjustable. Meanwhile, we have a Bird model 43 manufactured in Feburary 1958 that still passes with flying colors.

 

[VK6NCB]

Oh! And where does my Bird 43 terminate the load to? How about either an 8080 25-watt or an 8164 100-watt Bird Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor!

The Bird is the word...

damnit, now I have that song in my head !

I have a nice 50W load resistor I got from another technician who was retiring
I spent a day with him going around the sites he looked after, and he gave me the dummy load, as it was no longer any use to him.
I believe he bought it as an apprentice or in the early days of his career.
I will add a pic when I get home

 

[prcguy]

theres two versions - 2-200MHz and 20-1000MHz.
these are both the 2-200 version.
while I like the 43, I dont like the idea of needing a collection of expensive slugs. as a ham and professional nerd, I would wind up with about a dozen (I added it up once, and the slugs would have cost me about the same as a low and high frequency telewave bought brand new)
they are the only option if you want to run higher power though.

View attachment 207352

Even though the higher frequency Telewave version says 20-1000MHz you have to use a correction chart below about 100MHz as it will be substantially off. They typically read accurate with no correction from the 2m amateur band through the 900 amateur band.

Its easy to calibrate them if you have a very accurate meter to compare with. I use an HP/Agilent RF power meter with calibrated 30 to 40dB power attenuators. I'll use an HP/Agilent scalar network analyzer to make an attenuation vs frequency chart for the power attenuators then calculate the expected reading on the HP power meter for a given power level which is good for something like .5% accuracy vs using a Bird wattmeter as a reference with its 5% accuracy.

 

[VK6NCB]

Even though the higher frequency Telewave version says 20-1000MHz you have to use a correction chart below about 100MHz as it will be substantially off. They typically read accurate with no correction from the 2m amateur band through the 900 amateur band.

Its easy to calibrate them if you have a very accurate meter to compare with. I use an HP/Agilent RF power meter with calibrated 30 to 40dB power attenuators. I'll use an HP/Agilent scalar network analyzer to make an attenuation vs frequency chart for the power attenuators then calculate the expected reading on the HP power meter for a given power level which is good for something like .5% accuracy vs using a Bird wattmeter as a reference with its 5% accuracy.

the Bird 4304A is the same, needs a correction.

for what I need they work just fine. I have waaaay too much test gear, at work I use a cheap Nissei digital meter, mainly because its easier to carry for the rare times I need it.