Fox Delta Kits: LCD SWR Meter

[W3WN]

Anyone familiar with the Fox Delta kits in general, and if so, their various SWR kits in particular?

I've got most of the parts I need to build my KW-level Transmatch this winter; everything but a switch or two (multiple outputs, bypass, etc.) and something to fill the hole on the front of the case (the gutted case of an old Drake tuner -- just the inside aluminum).

So the thought occurs to me that since I have a hole to fill anyway, instead of going with a "stock" analog SWR bridge from somewhere (possibly acquiring an old meter and moving it into this case), why not try a digital meter instead?

That said, I'm not familiar enough with the various offerings to know what is actually a decent kit out there, and what's dreck.

The Fox Delta kits look good (and unlike many others, they're not limited to QRP or 100 W levels), but I'm just not familiar with them. http://www.foxdelta.com/products/swr-hf.htm

It looks like I actually need two kits to make this work: The SWR bridge, to sample the signal, of which there are a couple to choose from; and the SWM-2 LCD meter assembly, which analyzes & displays the appropriate values.

Any thoughts? Any ideas of somewhere else to look? There's no great rush, as I probably won't start on this until the weather gets pretty cold out, I'd simply like to have everything ready when the time comes to work on it.

Thanks!

[N8YX]

Know Parallax BASIC? Get a Stamp, a graphic (128x32) LCD, a couple 8 or 12-bit serial A/D converters then roll your own front end.

The line samplers can be built using "plumber" construction, and I have an old Motorola unit which is yours for the asking.

[W3WN]

Know Parallax BASIC? < snip >

No. The last BASIC I used was PowerBASIC (formerly Borland's Turbo BASIC) and that's been a good many years.

I wouldn't rule out doing this someday, but not yet.

[n2ize]

Know Parallax BASIC? Get a Stamp, a graphic (128x32) LCD, a couple 8 or 12-bit serial A/D converters then roll your own front end.


The line samplers can be built using "plumber" construction, and I have an old Motorola unit which is yours for the asking.

I am thinking of doing something similar with a functional Geiger counter circuit I built a few years ago. In it's present incarnation it gives audible clicks each time the Geiger tube registers a count. So if you want to get a rough idea of background radiation levels, or the radiation level of say a vintage radium watch you have to manually count the clicks over a period of several minutes to determine CPM and then multiply and divide by a few numbers (based on the particular tubes charachteristics) in order to determine radiation levels in unites such as urem/hr. For example, yesterday I measured a background level of between 5 - 7 urem/hr. Not bad at all. If I put my old 1940;s radium dial watch next to it the count rate goes high enough where I can no longer count the clicks manually... imagine wearing one of those for years on end...

I want to incorporate a digital readout to the counter so I don't have to sit and count clicks. The bast way I can think of is to use a Stamp and an LCD readout. But this will be the first I have ever dealt with a BASIC Stamp and I don;t know too much about doing this yet. So it will be a beginners learning experience for me. Of course in addition to the readout the counter will be left with the ability to give audible clicks as well.

[N8YX]

I want to incorporate a digital readout to the counter so I don't have to sit and count clicks. The bast way I can think of is to use a Stamp and an LCD readout. But this will be the first I have ever dealt with a BASIC Stamp and I don;t know too much about doing this yet. So it will be a beginners learning experience for me. Of course in addition to the readout the counter will be left with the ability to give audible clicks as well.

I've done a lot of Stamp programming and Parallax' support forum is excellent. Feel free to ask either resource. I think someone already did what you're planning and has posted source code.