[Elecraft] DMM recommendations

[JOE]

I spoke to someone at Bird (when they were really Bird) years ago and I 
was told that the Bird wattmeter is accurate to ±5% of top scale.  This 
means that a 100 watt slug can be off ±5 watts _anywhere_ on the meter.  
So, a transmitter emitting 50 watts out, using the Bird and a 100 watt 
slug, can read between 45 and 55 watts.  That's why he said it was 
important to keep the reading in the top 1/3 (highest) end of the 
meter.  This is where the error is less.  When taking reflected power 
readings the slug should be 1/10 of the forward slug value when testing 
a reasonably good antenna.  So, a 100 watt forward slug would require a 
10 watt reverse slug for reasonable accuracy.

I retired my Bird 43 and the vast assortment of slugs for a Telewave 
Model 44A wattmeter and never looked back.  The drawback to the 44A is 
it is limited to 20-1000MHz.  The Bird would be good for HF use.

73, Joe, K1ike

Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2018 18:40:41 +0000
> Always bear in mind that their odd meters (30 uA) are very non-linear and
> measurements made using element ranges that fall in the bottom 1/3 or so of
> the scale are the most accurate.  Overall, they claim to be accurate to +/-
> 20 percent of full scale.  HORRIBLE in
> today's world!
>
> FWIW ...
>
> 73!
>
> K0PP