What makes the BIRD 43 the "go-to" Wattmeter ???

[Captain Kilowatt]

I would love to see one of "the big three" develop a good GC meter by using a bandswitch instead of slugs, or freq-specific couplers (have the slugs/couplers built-in and selected from the band switch).

Just use an H series slug. They cover 2-30 MHz, but work fine on 160m, and are available in power levels from 25w to 10,000w. No need to switch anything.

 

[nomadradio]

What makes the Bird 43 the go-to wattmeter.?

Just plain, ugly ruggedness.

Back in the bad old days before antenna analyzers, the Bird was the meter you could carry out to the customer's car/truck and worry the least about dropping it.

Cheaper wattmeters might get you one drop before it broke, maybe two. The Bird would take it multiple times before you had to buy a new meter movement for it.

Apropos of nothing, but a TRUE peak-reading wattmeter will read the same with a "HELLLLOOOO" as it will by thwacking the face of the mike with a pencil.

73