Reg,
Thanks for the feedback. Does this power meter measure peak power or does it just measure average or RMS power? I'm looking for a portable instrument to measure the PEP power from my QRP SSB rigs.
73, Mike N2MS
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On 12/14/2023 11:49 PM EST Reginald Beardsley via groups.io <pulaskite@...> wrote:
Just using the 8648C and a pair of JFW attenuators as reference, it appears to have an acceptably accurate dynamic range of 0 to -56 dBm The FW is terrible and doesn't even debounce the keys! But it does work decently. I suspect that with good FW it would be an excellent piece of lab kit. Annoyingly, all the chips have been sanded.
Response is highly variable with frequency. But I consistently found 56 dB of dynamic range within the limits of the 8648C after adjusting the offset and trying the step attenuators.
The big question is how to calibrate it on a hobby budget. With the addition of a couple of Peregrine attenuators and a frequency counter it could look up a correction factor and be a very useful lab instrument.
However, I've never checked the power output accuracy of the 8648C so the attached photos might be more accurate. Or not. However, a 2nd tinySA gave the same result. For $33 I'm impressed.
Have Fun!
Reg
