What type of scope do you have? I have a new Hantek and older Tektronik scopes and both are accurate for the HF bands. I like to use a scope because you can measure SSB PEP power.
The issue I have with the Tek scopes are the old probes. The clip-on hook adapters make intermittent contact with the tip so I made an adapter to connect the rig and the dummy load directly to the tip and ground sleeve of the probe.
If your scope has a 50 ohm input you can attach an attenuator with the appropriate power level and attenuation and bypass the probe.
I do lots of portable operation and picked up one of these portable scopes. It is accurate up to 30 MHz. The voltmeter function is helpful but the function generator has a very limited range.
Good luck.
Mike N2MS
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On 05/23/2025 4:10 AM EDT Bill <bill@...> wrote:
All,
Would a simple diode detector be a (relatively) accurate way to measure RF power?
I suspect my o'scope is reading RF incorrectly. I have 4 different x10 probes and with each one I get dramatically different results, up to a 30% difference. So, I can't trust my scope!!
Thus, measuring RF power presents a problem to me. I don't have access to any calibrated power measuring devices, but am quite confident of the calibration of my DVM.
Or, if diode detectors are inaccurate, do any of you have any tried and true ways to measure RF power with a decent degree of accuracy...say within 10%?
W2EB
Bill Lazure
