[Boatanchors] ge8dw44 rf amp meter, ideas please

[JAMES HANLON]

To use the meter, just connect it in series with the center conductor of the coax coming out of your Ranger.

Power is equal to the current squared times the resistance.  Considering that the Ranger should put out around 50 watts and the impedance of your RF load is around 50 ohms, the square of the current output from the ranger should be about 1 amps-squared and the square root of that is 1 amp.  So that's what you should expect to see on the meter.  A full 8 amps into 50 ohms would amount to 8 squared times 50 or 3200 watts.

An RF ammeter of that vintage is usually a thermocouple device that should read on frequencies as low as DC.  So you should be able to test your meter by just running some current through it from any handy 60 Hz AC or even DC power supply.

Jim, W8KGI