Homemade in-line RF Watt/VSWR meter for 1M-50MHz

[@ligius3]

Came for the EE stuff but discovered some great new music.

[@DaruoshAghajaney]

Interesting video. I liked the idea you demonstrated here.

[@ruhnet]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing this, Joe. 🙂

[@g0fvt]

Interesting video on a number of levels, I have been using a directional coupler and detector to drive an Arduino, sadly for remote measurement I have the Arduino reporting FWD/REF/SWR using serial over USB love the graphic overlay you have done.

[@vincei4252]

Hi Joe, Thanks for this very interesting . I've looked at those Bird meters and the price plus the cost of the slugs puts me off every time. It's kinda interesting that you can buy those eval boards from China for less than you can buy one off chips from DigiKey or Mouser.

[@joesmith-je3tq]

I was planning to get them from Digikey and then saw the ones from China and figured it was worth the risk. I don't understand the Bird fetish. They are not very accurate and having to swap out the detectors for frequency/power level then having to rotate them and do the math by hand.... lol. Not a problem except some of the hams and CBers make unfounded claims to others about the accuracy. It's best to see what the manufacturer claims.

[@johnwest7993]

I believe the Bird reads reflected power by simply rotating the slug 180 degrees.

[@joesmith-je3tq]

Which had you watched the video is what I had stated. However, as I also stated, most of us will expect the reflected power to be much lower than the forward. In the example I had provided with a 5% of full scale with a 100W slug, the error is 5W. Buying slugs in pairs, one for forward, one reverse and then one pair per range adds a lot of cost and wasted time for 5%.

[@Flamenawer]

Amazing video, wow. I got one chinese with metal enclosure same ADI chip with a looking good software, any chance you publish your software?, looks awesome.

[@joesmith-je3tq]

The software was custom for the DAS and other hardware. Releasing it would be of no benefit. That said, it is in LabView and there was very little time spent on it. Most of the time was trying to get a coupler with decent performance.

[@MickDownUnder]

For a guy that is not a Ham or CB guy. You sure sound like an RF guy! 😉

[@joesmith-je3tq]

I enjoy electronics and working at higher frequencies is part of the fun.

[@CopenhagenMusik]

Very interresting..well done.. would love to see a shootout with some of the el chepo devices from the far east. If you can outmatch them on accuracy, and if you could implement a secondary screen on the unit, so it could be use both with PC and stand-alone, then you could easily sell them for like 50 to 80 bucks. (ofcourse with incl. VAT & shipping). Its an easy market for the taking Joe.!.. but you need to move fast, otherwise xrunner is gonna saturate the 50 to 80 buck market with his new RF meter build with semi-rigid coax. :P

[@joesmith-je3tq]

I looked at a Nissei RS-70. See link. There are what appear to be some higher end Watt/VSWR meters for the hams. Prices range between 500 and 1000 USD. Beyond this, you start looking at name brand meters and the costs along with accuracy will be much better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3fWfHmCfsuUhtU

[@joesmith-je3tq]

Part 2, looking at the coupler and detector of the RS-70. kzbin.info/www/bejne/on7Ydqikjd-Bj5I

[@giubin]

3:04 where did you get this dupont test wires? pretty...

[@joesmith-je3tq]

Pulled from an old JTAG programmer that I no longer had a use for.

[@giubin]

@@joesmith-je3tq very nice. I'm searching for some banana to dupont test wires, but i've no idea for a good stuff :(