[Elecraft] W2 Questions

[Don Wilhelm]

Jack,

At $700 I will stick with my W7ZOI power meter with its 40 dB power tap 
and my Tandem Match!  I have calibration data that Bob Friess provided 
on my Power meter from 1 MHz to 500 MHz (and ham band intervals in 
between).  The Tandem Match tracks that data quite well in its basic 
metering, but is limited to 30 MHz with the couplers available.  I 
really like the Tandem Match for general purposes, but the parallax from 
the analog meters must be taken into consideration too (op amp accuracy 
is a great thing indeed, nothing like analog computers using precision 
resistors - but then I am partly "old school").

That is certainly good enough to give me ± 5% power measurement accuracy 
from 1 MHz to 500 MHz, and that is more than I require at the moment.

The world of Power measurement is getting better, but it still is not 
down to really precise accuracy, no matter what the instrument.

Thanks for the information.  Perhaps one day when the ham budget allows 
and I have a purpose for it, I will make the investment.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jack Smith wrote:
> Don:
>
> All I've done is read the spec sheet, but Minicircuits has a relatively 
> new sensitive termination wattmeter with USB interface for a quite 
> reasonable price, at least by Agilent standards. 
> http://www.minicircuits.com/pdfs/PWR-6G+.pdf -- it's a "virtual" 
> instrument as it  consists of the sensor and a USB port to plug into 
> your computer. At $700, it isn't much more than you might pay for a 
> single used Agilent sensor in decent shape and calibration.
>
> Depending on frequency and power range, the "typical" error runs from 
> +/- 0.1 db to +/- 0.35 dB. power range from -30 to +20 dBm, frequency 
> range 1 MHz - 6 GHz.
>
> If I didn't already have a 437B and 8481A and 8482A sensors, I would 
> give the Minicircuits product serious consideration.
>
> Jack K8ZOA
>   
>