Bird Watt meters and Elements

[VK2SN]

Hi all,

where can I buy a Bird 43 Thruline watt meter and its VHF/UHF elements in Australia please.....????

Or do I need to buy it from the US and if so, where do you suggest.

Or maybe you can suggest another type of quality power meter..??

Please advise,

thanks,

Sean Neylon

VK2SN

[VK3HZ]

G'day Sean,

Not sure what you're trying to measure, but perhaps I can offer a "critique" of the Bird solution and a possible alternative.

Firstly, the Bird's are not as accurate as you might expect - even worse if the element has been abused. Secondly, they're fairly seriously priced, even second hand. Expect to pay $500 for a good condition unit, PLUS the elements which can be $75 each.

An alternative setup that I use is a directional coupler with a milliwatt meter and attenuators. I use the Celwave couplers (black block with N connectors and TNC coupling ports) ex-AMPS equipment and readily available at Hamfests (in VK3 anyway) for $20. The meter is Boonton 42B (10nW to 10mW) which, with a 10dB attenuator on the Boonton, gives max of 1kW FSD through the coupler (40dB coupling). All up cost less than a Bird with ONE element, and much more versatile. The couplers are good for 2, 70 and 23, while the Boonton will go to 18GHz.

If you are keen on accuracy, then you probably should have the couplers measured. I can provide some coupling figures for mine.

Celwave couplers have been permanently installed in the outputs of my 2m & 70cm linears for several years with no ill effects. For relative PO monitoring, I built simple diode rectifiers into TNC connectors and the DC output will easily drive a 1mA meter directly.

If you want to pursue either the Bird or Coupler solution, I'd recommend trying Alan Devlin - http://www.users.bigpond.com/alandevlin/index.html.

Regards,
Dave
VK3HZ

[VK2SN]

Thanks Dave,

Im away next week but will look into this when I return..Good idea..!!

thanks for the input..

Sean Neylon
VK2SN