Why I Don't Use An After Market Bird Meter To Make Videos

[@peakaboozen]

You should post more on mauldroppers.

[@dannelson8556]

Bird didn't make their own meters, Before Bird moved production to china they used Simpson meters.. Ever since Bird, moved production to china their quality has gone down the crapper, The slugs are now brass plated plastic. Coaxial dynamics is really become a better product but they are still over priced. I'm curious as to why CB'rs have such a Bird fetish, I mean they aren't all that accurate. Bird laughingly claims +- 5 percent of full scale but the calibration lab I use has told me in the 40 years they've been in business that the overwhelming majority of bird slugs they've tested barely met +- 10 percent and they are a military contractor Now they can be calibrate the slug and meter to be within +- 5 percent but only for a very small frequency range , My own lab testing has confirmed this. Heck you don't need a lab to check or calibrate your slugs a simple Oscope and dummy load is more accurate than a bird meter for measuring power and can be used to calibrate them. There is no magic in a bird meter its all a really simple circuit. The bottom line is no analog meter based on a d'arsonval style meter regardless of manufacture can better +-10 percent in accuracy. In fact the best d'arsonval meters are bearly accurate to +-10 percent. The solution is to have single slugs calibrated for a specific power and frequency. I have one slug calibrated for each frequency and power I use for testing and service. When done this way Bird meters can be very accurate. The single frequency slugs are guaranteed accurate to +-5 percent. Unfortunately the slugs will only retain this level of accuracy in the meter it was calibrated for use in and the calibration lab needs your whole meter to perform the calibration For example my 20m slugs are centered on 14.200 and is good to +- 100Hz I have 6 slugs for each band calibrated for 50, 100, 500 1000, 1500 and 2500 watts. Their power measurement is guaranteed to be accurate to 5 percent within 10 percent of its calibrated value that's +-5 watts for the 100 slug. I've confirmed their accuracy with my HP power meter. For example the 100 watts slug is a calibrated 250 watt slug guaranteed to be +-5 percent at the 100 watt reading at +-100hz , above 105 watts and below 95 watts its only guaranteed to +- 10 percent, Likewise below 14,100 and above 14,300 it's only guaranteed to +-10 percent or 20 watts. Unfortunately that's just the nature of d'arsonval style meters. Don't take my word for it, Grab two 1000H slug and test them every 2Mhz through their range at 100 watts and compare them to your Oscope measurements. I guarantee It will only read accurately at one or possibly two frequencies that are harmonics like 14 and 7 Mhz everywhere else you will see a range for 50 watts to 150 watts. On the other hand an error of +-100 watts when measuring between 800 and a 1000 watts is kinda irrelevant Anyhow enjoyed your video

[@Achisachis73]

What is an after market bird meter?

[@smallblocksadventures6008]

I would love to see you do the same test bird movement Vs whatever MFJ meter you can get ahold of... single movement or cross needle.. Anyway very good test very informative ...small block in Maryland got down

[@xforceamps]

This test only works if the meter movements are the same current rating.

[@erniegarcia4041]

ive got three new 43 thruline meters n a bunch of connector im trying to sell can you help me?

[@michellebacchetta1866]

Hello, This is MattN2YCK from Ebay, This meter your using is not the one we sell. There are two of us selling this type of meters that look the same, but are not.This meter your using are recalls from first generation a few years ago, and shouldn't be sold on the market anymore: But the other guy keep pushing them, even though he doesn't sell many of them. The meters now are within specs and don't read like what you seen in the video. Now where not saying there 100% the same, these meters where made for Hard core Hams, and CB'ers that are SSB, CW, RTTY, Packet and Data users that didn't want pep, this is why the meter moves slower. To make these meters move slower, we add resistance, and changed scaling. This still reads the same on AM, FM. These meters are also good when used in AC tube amplifier as an out put reading meter on the front panel of the amplifier for easy tuning, this is done by making an RF tap inside before out put port. This isn't used much in smaller amps, just tube amps do to some custom designs. Wish you would have bought from me as you wouldn't have had this problem. We have sold close to a thousand of these with about a 99% satisfaction rate. In our next shipping we are branding our meter do to this video; name will be Watts Electronics. We sell the 30ua round, 30ua square, and 100ua square. The 100ua has our name branded on them, as we have the only rights to them. I hope this helps free your mind and would like to send one of our square meters for a test as you wont see that 200w extra. thanks for your time, 73s.

[@TattooChicago]

I have 4 of these meters that I have purchased from Matt, 2 of the square ones and 2 round ones in a separate enclosure. I have been using these meters for a couple of years and love them, they are just as accurate as the Bird meters in my experience.These meters have worked great for me and I will continue using them .

[@xforceamps]

Michelle, When did you stop selling the old style?

[@michellebacchetta1866]

Last one we sold, to my guess is months ago, but can't be for sure do to they look the same. In the last few weeks have been checking every one before shipping to make sure there not old meters as we have found that the supplier has been slipping in old meters or they where broken/bad. To my 2nd guessing, and after my last post i had to looked in my records, and have seen that you have bought a rack panel meter with this type of meter in it. These panels rack mounts where made around the time of meters just coming out, if this is the meter you have in the video, you may have a bad one. The strange thing is that the old type where stingy not generous as whats in the video. As stated, we will brand our new meters in the coming months.

[@xforceamps]

michelle bacchetta Yes, I got that one, but it went down the raod long ago. This one came in around mid November via a different account. FYI, Like I said in the video, and you also expresses, they Are Good Meters, but still, it cannot be compared to a real Bird unit, and that's all I was saying, with what I do, I can't use it as a sales tool (Look at the Title to the vid), and to be leary of anyone who does use it as a sales tool. You would be surprised just how many of your customers come from Me sending them a link to your sales. Alot. So if I didn't think they/You were OK well,.............

[@michellebacchetta1866]

Yes, This is why I stated the meter your using are not working right or out of alignment; never the less who you bought it from. The meters on the norm are right on. I haven't sold any in November to your state nor to your Paypal acct as we have looked into records since last post. The square type doesn't sell as fast as the round meters, and for this it was easy to track each square meter sold in November or other month. Not sure what last statement was regarding. I know a few techs that use my meters in there amplifier builds, ohms law doesn't lie. Anyone with 6 grade education will know of ohms law and how to apply it, that if they didn't come from a city school. If they seen gross watts, like in the video, they should send them back, but most of the amp builder i deal with are highly intelligent builder with a great source of knowledge, many worked with the retired master of CB amplifier building. I don't want to name names, but i have been doing this for a long time, and know almost ever amp builder out there. There's a lot of computation in the amplifier building, what comes with it is name calling, fighting, and what not. There's no need to down another amp builder if you don't like him or what not. One thing i have seen is no one builds an amp the same way, every amp i ever had was different from each amp builder, all did about the same watts in same class, what makes the builder jump ahead of the rest is his workmanship and the way he talk, and your right ohms doesn't lie.

[@bob4analog]

Great demo, thanks! There are very few watt meters I trust, other than an authentic Bird. Its what is tried & proven in the industry.

[@BeEasyTreeFarmer]

So what your saying is you could buy actual bird replacement gauges and put them in let's say a dosy case and be accurate?

[@xforceamps]

Sure, you could mount it in a shoebox, as long as you have the bird line section and slug to feed the meter.

[@BeEasyTreeFarmer]

+Xforce Amps well thank you for your reply but I dropped my hack idea and just bought a true real deal bird meter, now to save up for slugs.

[@DonDegidio]

If a new meter face was made to span the distance when using 30 ua, wouldn't that fix the problem?

[@xforceamps]

+Donald D'Egidio if its a 30ua meter movement

[@DonDegidio]

The aftermarket meter I have measured 27ua for the marked full scale and it was not at the stop. Didn't you increase to 30ua and the meter was showing a little past the scale? I want to try and scan the meter face into Photoshop and increase the scale by 10%. That should now show a full scale with 30ua.

[@xforceamps]

+Donald D'Egidio if it was only that easy. You can't change the electrical scale of a meter by changing the printed scale on the face. That's like saying that if you change the printed numbers to be 10% higher, then your amp will be doing 10% more power.

[@DonDegidio]

Determined the meter can't use more than 28ua before the coil hits the magnet housing. Bought a true Bird replacement meter. Problem solved.

[@xforceamps]

+Donald D'Egidio Now your seeing the light.

[@108bud99]

I am glad someone is finally telling the truth about these meters.

[@superduck440]

awesome