Editor’s Note: We had longtime ham and guest blogger Wayne Smith, K8FF, put the Power+SWR Meter from Monitor Sensors through its paces, assessing its design, ease of use, functionality, and performance. Based near Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, Monitor Sensors has been designing and manufacturing high-performance ham radio gear, meteorological and environmental monitoring instruments, weather stations, and data loggers since 1986. The Aussie-made meter—well-equipped for a high-powered station yet equally at home in a backpack for portable QRP operation—is now available at DXEngineering.com.
Here’s what Wayne, K8FF found:
The Power+SWR Meter by Monitor Sensors is packaged very well in an extruded aluminum enclosure. Measuring 4.1 inches wide by 5.5 inches deep by 2.25 inches high, the meter is finished in black to match most current gear. The quality of fit and finish is excellent, and the design is very clean with only one button beside the readout on the front panel.
The meter is very easy to hook up with only coax in, coax out and 12 volts. There are two SO-239 connectors and a common 12-volt connector with cord supplied. It is suggested that you power it from the transceiver power supply to simplify hookup. The meter covers 130 kHz to 30 MHz, and I found that it works on 50 MHz with decreased accuracy. I was able to measure from 350mW to 900W on HF with good accuracy.
Average power output is automatically selected for use on SSB, and a bar graph can be selected by a push of the button for ease of tuning with a manual antenna tuner. The background color of the readout is normally a light blue color; it changes to pink then red as the SWR increases. The pink color begins at 1.5 to 1 and the bright red starts at 2.0 to 1 or higher, giving the operator adequate warning of higher-than-normal SWR. The meter provides a provision to interrupt the amplifier PTT line at high SWR by a simple change in the menu. There is also a provision in the menu to change brightness of the readout.
An indication of the band in use is located next to the SWR reading. For additional information regarding accuracy and other statistics, I suggest that you refer to a review in the March 2022 issue of QST written by AD5X.
Overall, the Monitor Sensors Power+SWR Meter makes a much-needed addition to any ham shack at a very fair price.
For full specs on the Monitor Sensors Power+SWR Meter, visit DXEngineering.com.
