CB and Ham Radio Techs Love Their Bird Wattmeters

[xrunner]

^^^ I said SOME hams, for all the grumbling readers out there.

That should help. 

Hopefully they will let you have a look at their meter.

It's used. Certainly we can write-off immediately that it was abused ... 

[joeqsmith]

I thought about getting the Surecom SW 102HF to compare against the home made meter. 


https://www.ebay.com/itm/313981493163?hash=item491ac15fab:g:qyEAAOSwsMhicNhy&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0GenG0BIdWUGHa1cU1ZdM75HiEd9JMwuyZGhgvHiI8wj2yFF7YsAW9D%2BFACp4jjI1HIJMBzF5EtZIRaGzufUsnFn3uJj%2BdRhnfbUUagICi3muwng5RH5H9v6CaA3PuTMbHV%2BUvzZGrMggKsJiqrZ4GC23znXogxZ2EsX5NdYG1uJwCWFnXEr02AaFdZi2vLrRKEnwtGRFIHqrsE4w7K675HsTKmFhnZW3d6Or7ZWn6dC2AqVM3AauBIjWMK6EtLlwET%2FPqEB4xl7z3o9hQCH0ZA%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM6Py919Fg

[joeqsmith]

It's used. Certainly we can write-off immediately that it was abused ... 

The bar for abuse was set pretty high early on...

[bd139]

That looks like my ex wife owned it 

[xrunner]

How do you like this new display? 

Well what happened? The white OLED went tits-up. Remember I had it running on 5V when I first got it, because I assumed it was like all the other OLEDs I have in that respect, and it didn't say it needed 3.3V. It started acting weird so I determined after that it required 3.3V. Even though it had been working after that, it finally crapped out. RIP.

I just did a little patch job to the code and presto - a tiny blue OLED works fine. It's actually a lot clearer than I thought it would be. It's just really tiny.

Anyway - new white OLED ordered. Pressing on - full steam ahead.

[fourfathom]

Anyway - new white OLED ordered. Pressing on - full steam ahead.

Watch out for pixel fading.  I am using a similar (smaller) OLED display and, as I was warned, the pixels fade with use.  I have one that I've left running for months with a largely static display and the usually-lit pixels are much dimmer than the seldom-lit ones.  I ran a test on another display where I set the pixel brightness to minimum and ran a static display that one second out of 60 reverts to a all-pixels-on mode.  After a couple months of this cycling the faded pixels are quite noticeable.  The low intensity probably helped, but not completely.  You might consider a screensaver pattern when the display isn't necessary but you want to show the world that the device is still runnning.

[joeqsmith]

How do you like this new display? 

Looks like you are planning on using two of these side-by-side.  Guessing the second one is for the clock.

[xrunner]

Watch out for pixel fading.  I am using a similar (smaller) OLED display and, as I was warned, the pixels fade with use.  I have one that I've left running for months with a largely static display and the usually-lit pixels are much dimmer than the seldom-lit ones.  I ran a test on another display where I set the pixel brightness to minimum and ran a static display that one second out of 60 reverts to a all-pixels-on mode.  After a couple months of this cycling the faded pixels are quite noticeable.  The low intensity probably helped, but not completely.  You might consider a screensaver pattern when the display isn't necessary but you want to show the world that the device is still runnning.

Yea I've seen that happen. I made an NMEA data display for my GPSDO about a year ago using a white OLED. Just captures the data and displays the time and a few other interesting things. I did program the display to blank from about 10 PM to 6 AM local time.

I can see some fading now but it isn't too bad. My camera can't capture it or I would show it (the pic is right after I made it). This power meter project won't have anywhere near the hours that the other project has on it.

[xrunner]

Updates, no explanation required. 

[xrunner]

Ordered used (two): Hirose HCS2-110F DC to 15 GHz, 11 - 14 VDC, SMA (F) RF Coaxial Switch. Tested

Insertion loss: 0.2 dB up to 4 GHz

Power handling: 15 W

Reason: Experimental capability TBD ...

[joeqsmith]

Looks like they spec them out to 15GHz.   

https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/81268/HIROSE/HCS2-110-F/184/1/HCS2-110-F.html

[xrunner]

Looks like they spec them out to 15GHz.   

https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/81268/HIROSE/HCS2-110-F/184/1/HCS2-110-F.html

Right Joe. I only quoted the lower range for my purposes (lower than 500 MHz), which would be to measure the lower power on a ham mobile or any power on most HTs (say up to 10W). Since I'm finishing up the second power meter, I was looking to see what additional capability I can squeeze into a bit larger case. I'm thinkin' I can get the current range of this log amp and then a higher range if I can switch in an attenuator. It's just an idea at this stage, but why not keep the thread going?

It's entertainment at no cost to you. 

[joeqsmith]

Now you've spilled the beans.   With the two,  I was thinking you were placing them back-to-back to add a way to bypass it.   

[xrunner]

Now you've spilled the beans.   With the two,  I was thinking you were placing them back-to-back to add a way to bypass it.   

More ideas to consider ... 

[joeqsmith]

How about making a Watt meter that plugs into your cell phone?   You could have the nice graphic display, Ethernet, BLE...  You could log the data to the cloud.  Send out emails when the power is out of range....   With the graphics and aspect ratio, it seems well suited to emulate the Bird meter on the screen.  Endless possibilities... 

[bd139]

You could sell that. Mind you half of them don’t know how to use a phone

Hamfest today. Facetious bastard mode activated.

[joeqsmith]

You could sell that. Mind you half of them don’t know how to use a phone

Hamfest today. Facetious bastard mode activated.

    I wouldn't be at all surprised that many of them would struggle with a cell phone.    I can certainly say that many bought the $50 NanoVNA, I suspect thinking it would be as easy to use as their $50 analog multi-meter.     They have heard the term SWRs and know they need to get their SWRs down, as they have passed their exams and are of course experts in RF.   

Several years back, I was asked about designing some hardware for an Apple cell phone.   I spent some time reading about their ID that they required for all hardware devices and eventually went through some hoops to gain access to their inner sanctum.  Once there, all I really gained was more marketing BS.  The hierarchy reminded me of some organized religion and I walked away from the project.   

I did play around a bit with a friends Android after getting Dave's 121GW meter which seemed like a much more hardware developer friendly platform.

[bd139]

I wouldn't get into the whole iOS vs Android thing on here. I have some strong opinions on that front related to the day job which mean I prefer things that are not developer friendly

But yes, NanoVNA, forget it with most hams. I see a lot of second hand ones "never used" here on eBay 

As for the bitching about hams thing, nailed this today. Yes that's nicotine and tar stains.  Bleurgh. Fortunately it's cleaning up nicely.



Yum

[xrunner]

Yes that's nicotine and tar stains.  Bleurgh. Fortunately it's cleaning up nicely.

What are you using to get the nicotine off? I usually use Simple Green for the first pass.

[joeqsmith]

Yes that's nicotine and tar stains.

Whats a 2-pack habit cost today, not considering the long term health effects?   Google:

How Much Do Cigarettes Cost? According to the National Cancer Institute, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $6.28, which means a pack-a-day habit sets you back roughly $188 per month or $2,292 per year

5k a year?!  I don't come close to that in the meters I have damaged over the years. 

[bd139]

Yes that's nicotine and tar stains.  Bleurgh. Fortunately it's cleaning up nicely.

What are you using to get the nicotine off? I usually use Simple Green for the first pass.

Basic kitchen cleaner (dettol / spray detergent) and microfibre cloths. Does wonders. Doesn’t damage anything

[xrunner]

Well it may not look pretty but it's all wired up and working very well. The replacement OLED is supposed to be delivered today. I'll be able to complete it and do one more adjustment of the calibration once it's enclosed in a shielded case.

[Mark19960]

Does it work better than a Bird meter?

My experience with those chinabay OLED displays is that they tend to die or burn in.
I was able to prolong their life with blanking and by shifting the display around by a few pixels.

[xrunner]

Does it work better than a Bird meter?

Why yes - yes it does. It absolutely works better than a Bird meter. 

My experience with those chinabay OLED displays is that they tend to die or burn in.
I was able to prolong their life with blanking and by shifting the display around by a few pixels.

Well as I said just recently, I have a project that uses a white OLED running since last year 24/7 but I blank the OLED every night from 10 pm to 6 am. I see a bit of burn-in on that one. But I also have a soldering station that has a blue OLED for maybe 4 years and I don't detect any burn-in at all.

This power meter, in the course of a year, won't be turned on all that much. Even if this current project had burn-in after some years of use I really don't care. I'll just buy another OLED they aren't really all that costly.

[joeqsmith]

Well, the Bird being in-line and basically limited by the slugs,   I would say the two each have their advantages.

Which costs the most and has the most bragging factor?  That's really all that matters.