I guess that if the objective is to reach 1:1 SWR at 50 ohms, an absolute
reflected power reading wouldn't be too important. I don't use the
reflected power reading with my TW-1. In fact, if I am on my 80-meter
dipole, I see one-tenth watt reflected power all the time because of WFED,
1500 KHz, a 50 KW AM station three-quarter mile from me. I may not be in
the market for one of these units, because the TW-1 is meeting my needs, but
I hope you can bring something out. Since I am using the TW-1 to tune up my
vacuum-tube amplifier and set drive level appropriately, the tone function
would be mandatory. If I were manually tuning a tuner, I would want this to
work in SWR or reflected power mode, also.
73,
Lloyd Rasmussen, W3IUU, Kensington, MD
http://lras.home.sprynet.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2013 3:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
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
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