I took my next step in this great Radio Amateur hobby of ours! I blew something up! 🙂
Recently I bought a Diamond SX-100 power meter to use with the Ameritron Linear I bought.
I’m using the linear with my two dipoles; the 15m one and the fan dipole for 10m and 20m. To switch between the dipoles I have a (manual) switch. Now as all radio amateurs know, you have to switch the linear to the band you wanna use it on. Of course I also need to put the antenna switch to the same band the linear is using.
Now guess what happens when the linear band is not equal to the band of the antenna you’re using….. Boom!!! and a funny plastic smell that tells you this is gonna cost you money! I’m sure the power meter should be able to handle this but it didn’t.
Because I do need a good power meter for the linear I looked on ebay quickly and found a second hand Ameritron AWM-30. This is a power meter from the same brand as my linear so I’m guessing it should be able to handle all the mistakes people can make with linears. The linear itself is also very forgiving; if the SWR is to high it jumps right away in error mode and you have to push the standby button to get it out of this mode. I’m expecting my power meter to do the same, or at least not blow up!
Oh well, just another one of the lessons I’m learning in my “new” hobby I guess! 🙂