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astatic 600 meters are they any good

radioreddz

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Nov 20, 2005
367
107
53
so. maryland
looking for a three panel meter that has a 5000 watt meter scale. how does the astatic rate with the dosy. only way to get a 5000 watt on a dosy is to use the one large meter, i have no doubt about the quality of the dosy. also are ther any other sugestions on a three panel meter fo swr,modulation and watts.
 

You might want to try the HP-5000. I owned the Astatic 600 and it is not near as accurate as the HP-5000, at least the one I has wasn't. A friend of mine has a Dosy and bought a HP-5000 because he liked mine so much and doesn't even use his Dosy anymore last I talked to him. I really like mine and it is cheaper then both the Astatic and the Dosy!

Here is a link to see for yourself
Meters
 
GRUMPY said:
You might want to try the HP-5000. I owned the Astatic 600 and it is not near as accurate as the HP-5000, at least the one I has wasn't. A friend of mine has a Dosy and bought a HP-5000 because he liked mine so much and doesn't even use his Dosy anymore last I talked to him. I really like mine and it is cheaper then both the Astatic and the Dosy!

Here is a link to see for yourself
Meters
hey thanks group, tell me the HP 5000 who is it made by it's not made by workman is it.
 
radioreddz said:
GRUMPY said:
You might want to try the HP-5000. I owned the Astatic 600 and it is not near as accurate as the HP-5000, at least the one I has wasn't. A friend of mine has a Dosy and bought a HP-5000 because he liked mine so much and doesn't even use his Dosy anymore last I talked to him. I really like mine and it is cheaper then both the Astatic and the Dosy!

Here is a link to see for yourself
Meters
hey thanks group, tell me the HP 5000 who is it made by it's not made by workman is it.
forgive me i did mean to say grumpy just had group on my mind
 
Depending on how much you want to spend ? I'd look on Ebay for the older PDC 6000s made in the mid to late 90s , they were made well and could be calabrated fairly well by your local radio tech if need be. I do not care for the newer Dosy's or Astaic meters at all. IM no expert but they seem tight and cheaper then what they once might have been . PDC .....
 
I've been using the Astatic 600 for a few years now. It seems to have the same accuracy as my old ParaDynamics PDC 550. The meter does seem a little tight. I mostly like the big meters with 3 readings so that you can watch different things at the same time.
 
watch out the Diamond meters cannot handle full rating for long- ParaDynamics better

watch out the Diamond meters cannot handle full rating for long, read the instructions, duty cycle info it quite limiting-
ParaDynamics and the recent Astatic 600 have heavy duty line sections that do the job they are rated for durably. Still trying to figure out if the Workman P5000 is the same manufacture and quality as the Astatic and if the monitor function is amplified or not....

Dosy professional architecture meters kick butt in the resolution, accuracy, available features, and build quality department but costs a bit more. The professional architecture meters handles a lot of power reliably, even the one with the antenna switch, quality throughout. Options run all the way to an SSB freq counter and amplified audio monitoring jack on the most expensive Dosys. For those naysayers that want automatic setting in their meters and dummy-proof guarantees, well, I like setting the knobs to get my measurements so the Dosy is cream of the crop for me. Of course with any meter you have to be careful not to under-range your measurement or you will blow up your meter rather quickly.
 
My opinion on the Astatic 600

I got my Astatic 600 because it was the only model they had at the radio shop when I purchased my new radio and paid only a small sum for, almost a throw-in for buying my new transceiver at the shop. The meter worked 100% when I got it about 4 months ago and still works the same now. 5000 watts capable, Wow! -The Astatic / ParaDynamics 600 has a beefy tubular line section that can handle a lot of power, no doubt. The connectors however are so tight that you should be careful not to separate the connector to the solid line section when connecting and removing your cables. I did not realize this until I was trying to get my cable off and had to wiggle to get it out and being the anal person that I am, I was dreaming about ways to reinforce the internal center pin connection by using more solder or something.
The unit is made in Asia somewhere, seems like PDC shipped the manufacturing equipment over there as the internals look almost exact to the original PDC6000 but with better assembly quality.
What is dissapointing is that the meter face printing is very poor. Units like the Dosy have beautifully printed and accurate meter faces, but the Astatic 600 looks like cheap fuzzy silk screening not befitting a scientific instrument. Shame on the mess.
The cal knobs are on extension plastic shafts that have a lot of play and lateral slack so calibrating for full scale is much more difficult than say a Dosy with professional architecture (the single meter Dosys with solid potentiometers and metal lubricated shafts). The Astatic is so poor in this regard that if you nudge the knob laterally it will change your full scale reading. Then again I have experienced super equipment with poor potentiometers from expensive manufacturers like IFR and Rohde Schwarz (a real eye opener considering the cost of the commercial gear)

Otherwise fit and finish is nice and the internals are nicely assembled, soldered and clean design.

There is a reason why the Astatic 600 costs a less than Dosy full size meters, for the aforementioned shortcomings and probably because its made from cheaply paid but high quality labor. Materials are also on the cheaper side ala cheap meter face printing, cheap meter lens plastic, cheap rubber feet. The meter movements on close inspection have a cheap look to them, although they may be durable for years of service. Only time will tell, I've only had mine for a short time.

My final dissapointment with this full size triple meter is that it does not have the audio monitor feature found on other high end meters in this price range like the Workman 5000 which I wonder if it comes from the same manufacturing company. If the Workman 5000 was available when I got this, I would have chosen the Workman for that additional feature of a diode audio detector monitoring circuit. Online the Workman is a few dollars cheaper than the Astatic, but that may be due to the color box the Astatic comes in.
 

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