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Red Dot Digital SWR Meter

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rlborger(at)mac.com
Guest

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:54 pm Post subject: Red Dot Digital SWR Meter

Bob,



The Red Dot Digital SWR Meter that I ordered last week has arrived from China.

Here's a picture of the front:





It appears very well built with a steel(?) case.



Here's a picture of the back:





Now for the best part.  Here's a scan of the instructions, front and back:



Do we have a Chinese translator in the house?



It appears that it takes 3 AAA batteries.  I'll have to remove the back and confirm that it looks like the picture and put some batteries in it.



I think I'll wait until you have had the opportunity to test the one you have on order before I go any further than that.



Blue skies & tailwinds,

Bob Borger

Europa XS Tri, Rotax 914, Airmaster C/S Prop.

Little Toot Sport Biplane, Lycoming Thunderbolt AEIO-320 EXP

3705 Lynchburg Dr.

Corinth, TX  76208-5331

Cel: 817-992-1117

rlborger(at)mac.com

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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
Guest

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:20 pm Post subject: Red Dot Digital SWR Meter

At 05:43 PM 2/8/2012, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  Bob,



The Red Dot Digital SWR Meter that I ordered last week has arrived from China.

Here's a picture of the front:



It appears very well built with a steel(?) case.



Here's a picture of the back:



Now for the best part.  Here's a scan of the instructions, front and back:


	




   I think mine is here too. Need to get to the PO Box in

   the morning.  I've looked for an English instruction

   manual but nothing turned up in the time I had.



   I did find this narrative by a user:



Specifications:



MAX.POWER 120W

V.S.W.R 1.00~19.9

FREQUENCY RANGE VHF(145mhz) / UHF(45mhz)

COVER:100mhz~500mhz

ONSERTION LOSS < 0.15dB(VHF) , < 0.25dB(UHF)

TEMPERATURE 0?~70?

BATTERY

3 x AAA Type Battery or Rechargeable <2mA



(battery not included in this sale)



SZIE 66*68*37 (mm)

INTERFACE N(SL16)

WEIGHT 260g (without battery)

Instructions:



Battery installation: Remove 4 black round screws on the corner of 

back cover and open it. Install 3 AAA batteries. BE CAUTIOUS to the 

polarities. Put the cover on and fasten the screws. IMPROPER 

INSTALLATION OF BACK COVER WILL CAUSE ERROR ON U-BAND MEASUREMENT!



Connect the Output of your transceiver to "TX" and Antenna or Load to 

"ANT". NOTE: UV-Band meter utilize "N" type connectors; and"SL16" 

connectors (normally named "M" connecter) for HF-Band. Proper 

adaptor/cable is required if your device has different type of connectors.



Press the red button to power on. After 2 seconds of LCD self test, 

it's ready for normal measurement.



UV-Band meter will display in sequence:"+ XXX P" (pass through 

power),"- XXX P" (feed back power)," XXX G" (SWR value), 2 seconds 

display for each mode. Press the red button will hold the current 

display. Press it again to continue the display.



Under the environment of night or weak illumination, just press and 

hold the red button for 1 second to turn the blue back light on. 

Press and hold the red button for 1 second again to turn it off.



8 minutes after no power was measured, it will power off 

automatically. Press and hold the red button for 2 seconds to turn 

off manually.



   Bob . . .

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rlborger(at)mac.com
Guest

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:17 pm Post subject: Red Dot Digital SWR Meter

Bob,

Thanks for the quick reply.  One last question.  After you power up the SWR Meter, do you transmit on the radio to get the readings or does it magically throw electrons about to get the readings?

I'll take it to the hanger tomorrow and, with any luck, I'll be able to give it a test.

Blue skies & tailwinds,

Bob Borger

Europa XS Tri, Rotax 914, Airmaster C/S Prop.

Little Toot Sport Biplane, Lycoming Thunderbolt AEIO-320 EXP

3705 Lynchburg Dr.

Corinth, TX  76208-5331

Cel: 817-992-1117

rlborger(at)mac.com

On Feb 8, 2012, at 7:07 PM, Robert L. Nuckolls, III wrote:

 	  Quote: 	

 At 05:43 PM 2/8/2012, you wrote:

> Bob,

> 

> The Red Dot Digital SWR Meter that I ordered last week has arrived from China.

> Here's a picture of the front:

> 

> It appears very well built with a steel(?) case.

> 

> Here's a picture of the back:

> 

> Now for the best part.  Here's a scan of the instructions, front and back:

  I think mine is here too. Need to get to the PO Box in

  the morning.  I've looked for an English instruction

  manual but nothing turned up in the time I had.

  I did find this narrative by a user:

 Specifications:

 MAX.POWER 120W

 V.S.W.R 1.00~19.9

 FREQUENCY RANGE VHF(145mhz) / UHF(45mhz)

 COVER:100mhz~500mhz

 ONSERTION LOSS < 0.15dB(VHF) , < 0.25dB(UHF)

 TEMPERATURE 0?~70?

 BATTERY

 3 x AAA Type Battery or Rechargeable <2mA

 (battery not included in this sale)

 SZIE 66*68*37 (mm)

 INTERFACE N(SL16)

 WEIGHT 260g (without battery)

 Instructions:

 Battery installation: Remove 4 black round screws on the corner of back cover and open it. Install 3 AAA batteries. BE CAUTIOUS to the polarities. Put the cover on and fasten the screws. IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF BACK COVER WILL CAUSE ERROR ON U-BAND MEASUREMENT!

 Connect the Output of your transceiver to "TX" and Antenna or Load to "ANT". NOTE: UV-Band meter utilize "N" type connectors; and"SL16" connectors (normally named "M" connecter) for HF-Band. Proper adaptor/cable is required if your device has different type of connectors.

 Press the red button to power on. After 2 seconds of LCD self test, it's ready for normal measurement.

 UV-Band meter will display in sequence:"+ XXX P" (pass through power),"- XXX P" (feed back power)," XXX G" (SWR value), 2 seconds display for each mode. Press the red button will hold the current display. Press it again to continue the display.

 Under the environment of night or weak illumination, just press and hold the red button for 1 second to turn the blue back light on. Press and hold the red button for 1 second again to turn it off.

 8 minutes after no power was measured, it will power off automatically. Press and hold the red button for 2 seconds to turn off manually.

  Bob . . .

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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
Guest

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 6:19 am Post subject: Red Dot Digital SWR Meter

At 08:02 PM 2/8/2012, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  



Bob,



Thanks for the quick reply.  One last question.  After you power up 

the SWR Meter, do you transmit on the radio to get the readings or 

does it magically throw electrons about to get the readings?


	


   No, this is a passive instrument. It reads your "forward"

   and "reverse" power in watts. So it is both a test of your

   transmitter's power output and a display of antenna/feedline

   quality.



   I'll run to the Post Office in the morning. I'm pretty certain

   I have one waiting for me there.

   Bob . . .

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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
Guest

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:40 pm Post subject: Red Dot Digital SWR Meter

The "Red Dot" SWR meter was waiting for me at the

Post Office this morning. I don't have a lot of sources

for significant power generation at VHF but here's

what I found.



When compared with some Bird wattmeters, the Red

Dot readings were in agreement to within 10% or

better at 130 MHz (1W hand held) and 146 Mhz

(5, 10 and 50W transceiver). The Red Dot pronounced

one of my loads as presenting a 1.2:1 SWR and

the forward 9W, reverse 0.08W readings were

consistent with calculations to produce

1.2:1 SWR.



Even with the 1W hand held, it was in direct

agreement with the Bird equipment at 0.9 watts

out.



When you power it up, it cycles between forward

power, reverse power and SWR. You can hit the button

to hold it in one of these three readings if you're

making adjustments.



Inside appearance is good. It even has multi-turn

trim pots and itty-bitty variable capacitors no

doubt useful for calibration (or re-calibration

in the future). The interior inspection revealed

the time honored pair of directional couplers

and their associated load/detector components.



The real value for this little guy probably

lies with the microprocessor driven display.

I have every reason to believe that the designers

use a processor not only for a/d and display

driver, I suspect their calculations take

low power detector non-linearities into

account as well. A 1W power level does not produce 1%

of the DC output as a 100W power level.



 From what I've seen today, this instrument appears

to be a good value and MUCH more suited to VHF

measurement than most of the commercial-off-the-shelf

CB/HAM meters in circulation.



If you're contemplating acquisition of this

product, don't forget to order BNC-F to N-Male

adapters. You'll also want to fabricate a piece

of coax about 2' long with BNC connectors on

each end to let you insert the instrument into

your ship's transmission line.



   Bob . . .

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