[R-390] Another R-390A Carrier Meter Question

[DJED1 at aol.com]

I agree that the meter is pretty good for reading signal level- at least as  
good as most S-meters.  But I've got to correct one thing- According to my  TM 
11-856A, which shows the meter reading vs signal level, the meter in theory  
reads from 0 dB at one microvolt, and on up to 40 dB at 100 microvolts.  So  
50 microvolts (S-9) should be at 34 dB if the receiver gain is set for the most 
 accurate meter reading.  So now we've got three ways to set the IF  gain: 
the manual way for a certain diode load voltage, the Chuck Rippel way to  
maximize sensitivity, and now the correct meter reading way.  And I'll bet  none are 
the same setting.
I checked my meter with a good signal generator, and found it off by about  
10 dB at 30 dB, then pretty close as I went up towards 60 to 100 dB.  When  
propagation was good a few years ago the strongest SW broadcast stations around  
6 MHz could just hit 100 dB.
Ed