SWR Meters in HF Rigs

[Riverman]

The ones in CBs are notoriously inaccurate. Are those in HF rigs reliable, or is a separate in-line meter recommended? Specifically, am wondering about the Yaesu 450D, Icom 718 and the Icom 7300.
Thanks!

 

[n8fgb]

I had a Ft450, and now have a 718. I find them to both be as good as an external. I would assume the 7300 would be as good.
Rich

 

[Riverman]

I had a Ft450, and now have a 718. I find them to both be as good as an external. I would assume the 7300 would be as good.
Rich

Thank you, Rich!

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The ones in CBs are notoriously inaccurate.

I keep hearing this time and time again and to tell you the truth the thing that I have found is that if people keep their fingers the hell out of their radios the meters are perfectly fine for monitoring SWR and are accurate for what they are intended for. If you quibble about it reading a 1.6:1 when it really is a 1.75:1 then you are being too picky. Since 1978 I have owned a lot of CB and HF radios and not one of them had an SWR meter that was so bad I would never depend on it for day to day use. Yes I always have an external meter but that is for convenience as some HF rigs I had had the SWR switch on the back of all places and not all my radios had an SWR meter built in.. Besides that I use combination SWR/RF Power meters.

 

[338_MtRushmore]

I keep hearing this time and time again and to tell you the truth the thing that I have found is that if people keep their fingers the hell out of their radios the meters are perfectly fine for monitoring SWR and are accurate for what they are intended for. If you quibble about it reading a 1.6:1 when it really is a 1.75:1 then you are being too picky. Since 1978 I have owned a lot of CB and HF radios and not one of them had an SWR meter that was so bad I would never depend on it for day to day use. Yes I always have an external meter but that is for convenience as some HF rigs I had had the SWR switch on the back of all places and not all my radios had an SWR meter built in.. Besides that I use combination SWR/RF Power meters.

Yes, thank you. I've never seen an internal swr meter be off much. The led bar style can be difficult to read though.

 

[Riverman]

Sounds good to me.
I've never had a poor meter in any of my CB radios but have heard lots of folks warning others not to trust them.
Thanks for busting that myth!
Have a Super Sunday!

 

[338_MtRushmore]

Sounds good to me.
I've never had a poor meter in any of my CB radios but have heard lots of folks warning others not to trust them.
Thanks for busting that myth!
Have a Super Sunday!

I wouldn't trust it without verification, but once verified I don't worry.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The led bar style can be difficult to read though.

I hate LED meters of any sort. Give me a good old analog meter any day.

 

[jon666]

just for the hell of it. i ran the swr meter on the radio. along with a external meter. it was the same on both