[600MRG] ANTENNA RF CURRENT METER, GOOD LESSON LEARNED!

[Dwight Blevins]

Lawrence,
I can take no credit for the RF meter. Here's what I found online (link below). Just use whatever dc meter you happen to have. You'll have to adjust the shunt value to find the right range, depending on your meter. My shunt is less than 0.1 ohm, so no way to accurately calibrate the meter, with values that low. But at least it's a cheap and easy way to let you know when the antenna and loading coil are properly tuned.......KW7T
Build yourself an RF Ammeter  

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Build yourself an RF Ammeter


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    On Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 5:04:19 PM MDT, Lawrence Stoskopf <lstoskopf at cox.net> wrote:  
 
 OK. Now share the schematic!  N0UU

Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 4, 2018, at 6:58 PM, Dwight Blevins via 600MRG <600mrg at mailman.qth.net> wrote:


Okay, can't believe I could be so dumb, but maybe if I tell this little spiel others can learn from my mistakes.

Never used an inline antenna current meter on any station setup before, going all the way back to the 1960's. SWR and power meters, sure, but those are in the shack, not at the antenna feed point.
Signed on 630m cw back in January. Made a couple of contacts with my trusty homebrew 6AG7/1625 low powered transmitter. Of course I've read all the comments about measuring antenna current, but kept right on saying to myself.....too much fuss and trouble and probably won't make any difference anyway. Yeah, right!
Long story short, thoughts about measuring the antenna current kept nagging at me until this morning I decided only one way to find out. Dug around in the junk box for about an hour, found the parts and after months of putting it off, made a junk box RF ammeter in about 20 minutes. Didn't have to buy a single item.
  
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