would you buy this meter

[nomadradio]

The Bull Dawg. One ruff-tuff doo-hickey.

Or so it said on the face plate. It had a fatal flaw. The meter movement was originally a military-grade meter inside a hermetically sealed metal case with the glass crystal brazed to the metal can. Sealed, as in submersible. Had a multimeter Volts/Amps/Ohms scale. Carl broke the glass, cut the metal flange with tin snips and replaced the scale with his custom art work.

Just one problem. Now that the meter movement (and its magnet) are not sealed, there's nothing to prevent a tiny magnetic dust mote from clogging the gap between the meter's moving coil and the permanent magnet core. Sooner or later every Bulldawg meter will seize. A magnetic particle of some kind finds its way in there and the needle will hang. Doesn't take a very big particle. The gap between the coil and magnet is very thin.

No point trying to remove it, another one will find its way in there soon enough.

Haven't seen a Bulldawg that wasn't seized in years.

73

 

[Onelasttime]

The Bull Dawg. One ruff-tuff doo-hickey.

Or so it said on the face plate. It had a fatal flaw. The meter movement was originally a military-grade meter inside a hermetically sealed metal case with the glass crystal brazed to the metal can. Sealed, as in submersible. Had a multimeter Volts/Amps/Ohms scale. Carl broke the glass, cut the metal flange with tin snips and replaced the scale with his custom art work.

Just one problem. Now that the meter movement (and its magnet) are not sealed, there's nothing to prevent a tiny magnetic dust mote from clogging the gap between the meter's moving coil and the permanent magnet core. Sooner or later every Bulldawg meter will seize. A magnetic particle of some kind finds its way in there and the needle will hang. Doesn't take a very big particle. The gap between the coil and magnet is very thin.

No point trying to remove it, another one will find its way in there soon enough.

Haven't seen a Bulldawg that wasn't seized in years.

73

I wondered why they disappeared so fast. Really looked cool. I checked out for about 10 years around the time. You know young wife, young kids, no time etc....

 

[Onelasttime]

I have never been a big Dosy vs Bird type. To me they are all realative at best and not at all absolute and should all be taken with a grain of salt as far as tools go or test gear goes. For decades General Motors paid for me gear to be calibrated regularly so my findings could be used as evidence in court cases by legal.

Since I left that roll none of my gear has been calibrated and none of my cars or the cars I work on for my friends and family care. There is a time and a place to have regular third part calibrated gear but that is not always the case. Sometimes having industry standard test equipment matters and sometimes it is just smoke and mirrors. Putting too much stock in a meter or even the elements in some units is a bit over the top.

Very few people talk about their spectrum analyzer, comm test gear, scope and any certifications or even if they check their gear anaualy even if just self checked.

I have better test gear in my workshop than what NASA had when we put men on the moon. A lot of you guys would give me a hard time for some of my gear that is likely only slightly better than NASA was using when we put men on the moon even though I just work on my own radio gear!

I think people like to get overly excited and often offended by things that are more a distraction than they care to admit myself included. There is gear that is more important than other gear where every dollar spent pays off far more than a watt meter.

It is more important to actual use your gear to check the condition of the antenna system and gear each time you fire up the station for the day. Kind of like actualy checking the tire pressure in your car tires, taking a walk around, the vechile, checking the oil each day before you leave your drive way. Just like checking your guages on the instrument cluster is more important than just having them!

Sadly a lot of people have meters just because they want to watch it swing and they have talk back because they like the sound of their own voice not actualy talking to other's on the radio!

 

[Onelasttime]

I recall the first time I saw an MFJ digital antenna anlyzer in 1991. For the money it was the cats meow and gave you information that previously was harder to come by and verify.

Not long ago I got a $49 NANO off ebay. How do you go wrong as a hobbiest for that sort of money? Would I like a better more expensive tool? Yes! Do I actually need a better tool not really.