Help needed repairing watt/swr meter

[cjruger]

I have this workman watt/swr/modulation meter. A while back i noticed when wiggling the antenna out connector on the back , signal would cut in and out. Looking inside there is a brass threaded rod or screw coming out of the center going into a copper tube and kinda screwed into or pushing on a insulated wire. I soldered the brass screw to the tube once and that fixed it, but after a lot of use it broke loose again and also the input connector is loose too. What is the best way to fix it, just solder it again? Is it junk get a new one? For the life of me i cant figure out how the rf flows thru here, is the tube the shielding and the wire the conductor? The wire comes out and is soldered to the bracket that holders the connector.

 

[Sideways]

QUOTE="cjruger, post: 495752, member: 26972"]I have this workman watt/swr/modulation meter. A while back i noticed when wiggling the antenna out connector on the back , signal would cut in and out. Looking inside there is a brass threaded rod or screw coming out of the center going into a copper tube and kinda screwed into or pushing on a insulated wire. I soldered the brass screw to the tube once and that fixed it, but after a lot of use it broke loose again and also the input connector is loose too. What is the best way to fix it, just solder it again? Is it junk get a new one? For the life of me i cant figure out how the rf flows thru here, is the tube the shielding and the wire the conductor? The wire comes out and is soldered to the bracket that holders the connector.



[/QUOTE]
I would just get a new one. Those cheaper meters aren't really made to be repaired imo.if you do repair it again, it will probably need calibrated. Youll need another meter to do that anyway. Never hurts to have a spare

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Just resolder it. If you want use a very short piece of stranded wire between the connector and the pipe to relieve the stress. The RF flows tbru the pipe to the other connector and the smaller tubes are the pick up lines the pick up the RF and send it to the detector circuits.

 

[cjruger]

Ya i solderd it and works good again, seems like a lot of rf radiates off the tube? There is no shield around it

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

If it was shielded then the pick up lines would not pick up any RF. The shield should be around the entire sampling section and not just the section between the two jacks.