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Road
Junior Member
Username: Road

Post Number: 11
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 11:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Can some one please tell me what exactly is a meter telling me about my radio when it gives me a 1.Forward power meter reading 2.Reflected power meter reading. 3. Peak envelope power reading. Thanks in advance for your reply!
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Captian_radio
Intermediate Member
Username: Captian_radio

Post Number: 292
Registered: 9-2004
Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 9:38 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In the forward position it is showing the out going wattage, that is if you are talking about a watt meter, the reflected is the amount coming back down the coax due to any swr issues,peak is like is says ,its showing the peak envelope power which is usually about 3 times what you would see with a meter that can only read RMS.
Bob CEF451/VE1CZ
Robert L. Spicer The days of radio are just beginning!
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Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero

Post Number: 4067
Registered: 7-2004


Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 9:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

PEP meter is what is normally considered 'swing' on CB. really meant for SSB, it shows 'nice' numbers on AM.
some meters, like my palstar wm150 in my truck are 'cross needle' meters that read forward & reflect at the same time, you use a graaph to figure out your SWR. others like my diamond sx100 have a switch to read FWD & REV separately, but also have an swr meter.
'reflected' power is how many watts do not go out your antenna due to any mismatch(swr), but are 'reflected' back into the shack.
it is possible for an swr meter to SHOW a satisfactory swr reading due to a problem somewhere in the system, yet a 'reflect' meter would show a LOT of reflected power-BAD. usually happens when using amplifiers.
so, if you were using a radio that had a 25 watt carrier, you'd hope to see less then 3% reflected power, or less then 1 watt relect, which would be an swr of about 1.3:1.

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