Rob, I much appreciate your willingness to take on such a project 
and agree with your idea of using an existing meter rather then 
starting from scratch.  Am curious if you can give us a 
approximate price point  at this time, with, or without the 
reflected power mode.  I think either way sounds fine because it 
would be great just to have anything that will work to solve 
these issues.  Also, what bands would it be for, HF, or would it 
also cover VH and UHF? 73,  Jim WA6EKS

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Rob <[log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Sat, 28 Dec 2013 00:53:28 -0800
Subject: Talking SWR/Watt Meter Question

Hi Guys

   As some of you know, I build the HamPod which is fundamentally  
a box
with a 16 button keypad and provides an accessible  speech 
interface to
various pieces of radio gear.  One project that has been 
continuously
pushed aside by requests for additional HamPod support has been 
to build
a talking SWR/Watt meter.  The HamPod currently has support for 
the
Elecraft W2 and the Array Solutions Power Master 2 meters but 
those are
primarily options for those who already own one of those meters 
or a
HamPod.  For this new meter, I want to build a stand alone device 
much
like the out of production LDG TW-1 but with better accuracy and 
using
separate couplers.  I will also provide an audio tome tuning 
function.
There are a couple optional paths to pursue here.  The first is 
to
design and build a meter from scratch which will require the most 
time.
Second is to leverage a meter already in production that I can 
make
accessible.  This is my preferred choice as it will be much 
quicker to
develop but of course will in crease the cost to some extent.
   I've started exploring development with an existing meter and 
have a
question I'd like to pose to the group for your feedback.  I'd 
like to
know if you require the need to know reflected power.  As it is 
now with
this current meter, I can provide peak forward power, average 
forward
power, and SWR.  You can determine reflected power given forward 
power
and SWR but the question is, just how important is it for you to 
be able
to directly read reflected power? Do you currently make use of 
this
reading with your current meter? I would like to know the 
consensus
before I invest more time into that aspect at this point.

Thanks,
Rob  K6DQ