[Elecraft] Re: Elecraft Digest, Vol 14, Issue 10 -- Dummy Loads

[Wa6bfh at aol.com]

I have never understood  “the thinking” with many Ham’s when the  discussion 
of Dummy Loads comes up. Some Ham’s will tell you, the minute they  hear you 
tune up on a frequency that you just made a QRL inquiry on, “GET A  DUMMY 
LOAD, WHAT ARE YOU TUNING UP ON THE AIR FOR”! Well, what if my antenna  represents 
several hundred Ohms on one wavelength, and only several Ohms on  another?
 
I have a Bird Model 43 Wattmeter, and a Bird Dummy Load. From a “DC”  
perspective, it measures 50.0 Ohms. From and “AC” stand point it also measures  
50.0 Ohms from 1.8 MHz to 902 MHz. It has very little error even at 1300 MHz.  
That is a good thing, because I depend upon it for real work, like assessing  
line losses etc!