[Elecraft] Accuracy of K1's built-in power / swr meter?

[Stephanie Maks]

Hi everyone,

I am wondering how accurate is the built-in metering of the K1?

For all of my testing and alignment etc. I've been running the K1  
through an MFJ cross-needle HF meter, and I've noticed that there is  
a very consistant difference in the display on the MFJ meter and what  
the K1 reports.  The MFJ meter is always reporting between 1 watt and  
1.5 watts lower power than the K1 indicates.  For example, with the  
K1 set to 2 watts out, in Tune mode, the display on the K1 wanders  
around between 1.9 and 2.2 while the MFJ meter seems quite stable at  
1 watt.  At higher powers, such as when finding a peak during  
alignment, the K1 indicates as high as 7+ watts, while the MFJ only  
goes as high as about 5 watts.

Normally, I tend to trust the analog meter over the digital stuff,  
but in this case the MFJ meter was dropped last month and might have  
sustained some damage.  Plus, it's not really intended as a QRP meter  
so it might not be that accurate at low powers.

I also have the KAT-1 and I understand that its meter is 'more  
accurate' than what's in the base K1, but not really sure how much more.

Thanks!

73 de Stephanie
va3uxb