Note 2: Told some of my ham friends I got this power meter (they know what I do over here, some have visited). I said it isn't a "Ham" thing like MFJ stuff it's legit lab equipment and wasn't made for "casual" ham radio use. But it certainly can be used for that hobby if I wanted to. One of them asked me how much power it could measure. I said, well the sensor can measure from -30 dBm to +20 dBm without attenuation. He said that +20 dBm sounded like a lot of power.
I said - don't get one. That's me - saving power sensors for posterity - one day at a time. ![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif)
You actually let some of those Hobos in your house? Did you have to fumigate afterwards?
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif)
I'm one of those hobos!
More on topic, & onto non ham matters, back in the day, for the lower powered analog TV sites (around 2kW), we used a HP410c & a special pickup "tee" (can't remember the hp part number of that), read the RMS value of the RF, then calculated the Power with a calculator (a hp one, of course!).
This translated OK as "sync tip power", as the 410c probe is a "sample & hold" type of detector.
As there are no amplitude variations on the Sound carrier, for that, it gave average power.
I have a 410c, & have been looking for the "tee", but I think, even if I get one, the setup might be too insensitive for ham power levels.
For higher power sites, the default was a water cooled load------knowing the flow rate & temperature rise, we could calculate the average power, then knowing the amplitude of the syncs, we could further calculate "sync tip power".
We did have one of the HP RF level meters which was good for lower level stuff, but it got little use, as a spec an could get us to around 1dB accuracy.
The tee is either hp 455A or later part no. 11042A, here are a pair I bought to go with my 410B/C voltmeters and a 458A (aka 11043A), BTW all these parts are listed in the 410C manual.
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1213769)
David
Thanks, David.
Yes, I knew they were listed, but was too lazy to either search for one on this "iCrud" device, or turn on the "real computer" & look at the downloaded file!
I still have to mess with the 410C a bit to refurb the DC probe, but apart from that, it has been a good buy at $A40 from the local Hamfest.
The tees are "rare as hen's teeth" in Oz, though!
I really have to dig around in the junk & find all the various other RF gadgets which I have picked up over the years, which include a very nice Siemens directional coupler, & a couple of similar units of unknown provenance.
I would dearly love to pick up a 7L12 or similar Spectrum Analyser plugin for my Tek 7613, but such are usually overpriced.
My ham radio based measuring does not require any great degree of accuracy-------"in the paddock" is usually close enough.
Cheers, Bryan.