[Elecraft] How much is enough?

[Don Wilhelm]

Frank,

Build your array of test equipment around your needs - and build it up 
as you have need.

If you are building kit radios, then you may only need a DMM and a good 
dummy load.  OTOH, if you are designing and testing your own 
experimental designs or building from a schematic you discovered, you 
may need more than that.

An oscilloscope is really a handy tool, and a frequency counter is also 
good to have.  A precision dummy load and an oscilloscope with a 10X 
probe will allow you to measure RF power - of course, the Elecraft DL1 
qualifies and has a built-in detector diode.  An RF Probe will work in 
many cases in place of the oscilloscope.

Signal generators are also good to have - the Elecraft XG3 is quite a 
versatile generator
You need a PC with a soundcard at the workbench - so you can run 
Spectrogram or SpectrumLab and have a mini-DB and mini-Ring-Core 
calculators available - there is a lot that you can do with a PC on the 
workbench.

I would refer you to the Measurements chapter of Experimental Methods in 
RF Design (ARRL Publication) for a more complete list of test 
equipment.  The degree of precision you need/want to achieve will 
dictate your selection of equipment.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 2/10/2012 2:11 PM, Frank MacDonell wrote:
> I like building QRP radios. What is the group's opinion on basic test/calibration equipment one should have in the shack? Thanks in advance!
> Frank KD8FIP
>