Bird 43 wattmeter

[Beetle]

If you have two meters, neither of which has been calibrated by a certified cal. lab in the last year or so (along with the slug(s) for Bird 43s), neither meter is useable for quantitative measurement. If you're using your first meter as a standard of "reading right", how do you know?

 

[Low_Boy]

I was told there is no calibrating a bird meter it is all in the slug.

 

[dozerman]

Aren't Bird meters, by the company's website, only good for CW? Asking for a friend.....

 

[Ben Hebert]

One was bought new in Januaryfor personal use and I bought a used one for testing radios for other people

 

[543_Dallas]

Im assuming youre using the same slug to compare the two meters.

If you have a lab power supply and an accurate amp meter you can test the meter. It should read full scale at 30ua (microamps). If you do this be careful setting up the test fixture because the meter is very sensitive and easily damaged.

I have one that would stick around the 400 watt mark. I was able to take it apart and fix it with a gentle breeze of keyboard duster. I can't stress enough how easy it is to destroy the meter. Whatever dust I blew out fixed the problem but it was so small I never saw it.

Check the contacts in the line section and the coaxial connector on the line section that goes to the meter. Ive had bad connections there also.

Aren't Bird meters, by the company's website, only good for CW? Asking for a friend.....

They're good for measuring an unmodulated AM carrier or FM also. You can buy a pep kit for them if you have the need.

 

[dozerman]

@543_Dallas , but wouldn't pep kit render it useless? Maybe not useless but just as accurate as, say, as Dosy or other pep meters?

 

[543_Dallas]

@543_Dallas , but wouldn't pep kit render it useless? Maybe not useless but just as accurate as, say, as Dosy or other pep meters?

The pep board has an on/off switch. A meter that reads peak envelope power can be a useful tool. I can't speak for the accuracy of a dosy.

 

[Beetle]

I was told there is no calibrating a bird meter it is all in the slug.

But the meter itself - the indicator - is a separate part of the complete instrument. It's typically a 30 microampere movement, which should require 30 ua to drive it to full scale, plus or minus five percent (Bird specifications). The slug must also be calibrated, ideally along with the meter with which it's being used. Overall maximum allowable error: plus or minus 5%.

If your meter is a 43P (with the peak reading function installed and operating), the maximum allowable error when measuring SSB is plus or minus 8%.

 

[Low_Boy]

10-4 Beetle I knew the slug had to be calibrated that they could be off never did quite understand the meter part. I also have two bird meters one shows a little different than the other. I sort of like the one that's a bit stingy.

 

[nomadradio]

Did you scrub the silver oxide from the inside of the opening where the element goes? The surface inside is plated with silver.

Silver tarnish builds up sooner or later. Usually makes the reading fluctuate, but can also make it read low. Don't use any kind of abrasive. 91% rubbing alcohol works okay if you don't have contact cleaner handy.

73

 

[Onelasttime]

The meter movement is the most important part of that unit. Just make sure if you need a replacement you buy the real thing and do not take your chances on Ebay not worth the risk in this case. The slugs do not matter without the precision movement. In fact if you wanted to build your own the movement is the most important part in my limit opinion I will let other's with more experience weight in though.

 

[Onelasttime]

A bit of trivia for you guys. I am sure you guys have heard of silver being called White Gold! The Egyptians named it that.

Do you want to know why? Prior to the industrial revolution, there was not sufficient sulfur in the air to cause silver to tarnish so once it was refined and polished it never had to be polished again so the Egyptians called it white Gold since Gold was the only other metal they knew of like that! Once the Industrial revolution happened so much sulfur was tossed into the air that suddenly silver needed to be polished.

99% of the population has no clue about this but that is why!

Another thing if you go by idiotic Egyptologist which are waaayyy to conservative about the age of the Pyramids and the Sphinx of the Pyramids where 2475-ish years old by the time Cleopatra was born!

 

[Beetle]

[QUOTE="Onelasttime, post: 626175, member: 21190"

Another thing if you go by idiotic Egyptologist which are waaayyy to conservative about the age of the Pyramids and the Sphinx of the Pyramids where 2475-ish years old by the time Cleopatra was born![/QUOTE]

I heard it put another way: On a historical timeline, Cleopatra was closer to humans walking on the moon than to the building of the Sphinx.