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write your own review of the Ameritron AWM-30 Peak Reading SWR/Wattmeter.
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W5JON
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 11, 2004 11:24
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Worth the Money
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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It was either spend another $125.00+ for another Bird slug, and still not have a Peak AND AVG Watt Meter, or get a full "powered" Watt Meter. So I went for the AWM-30.
My initial concern was the Ameritron and MFJ association, as shall we say I have been less then pleased with my MFJ purchases, as all are long gone. However, I have been really preased with the AWM-30, my one and only Ameritron product.
It functions exactly as specified, with accuracy very close to the Bird on power levels below 1KW. No RF problems from any amplifier, QRO, Henry, or Collins, while using their wall wart (I have never used a battery.
For about the price of a new Bird slug, it is well worth the money.
73,
John W5JON
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W9OY
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 22, 2004 12:00
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Needs some work
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought this meter to replace my aging Autek meter which has started to act erratically. I plugged it in and had trouble with RF driving my Pegasus crazy. This was cured with a little ferrite applied to the wall wart power line, and now I can run the legal limit without problem.
I use this meter for 2 different purposes, one to load my amp, and secondly to tune my tuner to minimum SWR. For loading the amp, the peak reading feature is great. I can send a few dits on the keyer and peak the amp in nothing flat. However when you are in peak mode, the SWR meter also switches to peak mode. It is impossible to tune a tuner when in peak mode. The hysteresis of the meter is too great. A better implementation would have been to make the forward power and SWR independantly able to switch between peak and average.
This can be done by lifting one end of C-102 on the circuit board and putting a seperate switch in that lead. I did this and the meter now works the way it should. Taking the meter apart for this mod was an interesting adventure in mechanical engineering and all I can say is make sure you have a nut driver handy.
The meter seems to be accurate up through 30mhz, and I wonder if the comment about its ten meter problem is related to RF on the wall wart line. Over all this is a good meter, just in need of a little redesign. I wish it would come with an RJ45 jack on the meter head and the remote sensor. This would allow you to simply use a CAT-5 jumper cable of what ever length you wanted between the meter and the remote sensor. Maybe the wm-30B will include these mods.
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WV1K
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 3, 2004 16:25
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Accuracy drops from 21 to 28 MHz
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I have not used this compared this to a Bird and it is using the calibration from Ameritron. That should not matter as hams paying for completed products should not have to calibrate them out of the box, despite ham ingenuity. I can buy a kit and do that, and have.
That being said, the AWM-30 is identical to my Yaesu YS-60 and the meter on my Mark V, and my MFJ-269 (I know others have remarked about the 269 being inaccurate and I'm sure theirs' are like my AWM-30 is).
But (and for me this is important) I do not have to spend my life calibrating the sensitivity over and over AND then tuning the amp etc, like the Yaesu YS-60 and it is much nicer to read than the Mark V or Yaesu meters.
The accuracy is fine on all the bands up to 15, but then from 21 to 28Mhz all ---- breaks loose and the SWR reads much higher than any of the three other sources. I hate to have to preemptorily defend myself against MFJ's increasingly poor quality control the past year, but,yes, I am measuring it at the same spot in the feedline.
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N5GLR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 13, 2004 16:58
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Excellent Meter
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I've owned and used this meter for about 5 months. I bought it new from AES and they included the wall wart needed to run the light (at a price less than MSRP). I find the meter to be accurate and easy to operate. The meter face is large enough to read from a moderate distance without squinting and the backlight helps in dim lighting. When I opened the case to install the 9V battery (for peak function when portable), I was impressed with the quality of construction and shielding. Stray RF does not affect the operation of this meter. I would buy another one.
N5GLR
Garry
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W4ILT
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 14, 2003 17:35
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Works Great!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Recently installed the AWM-30 wattmeter in the shack. The meter averaging position matches the meter reading on the LDG AT-1000 auto-tuner. Peak reading is a nice addition to the shack that works well. The unit is solidly built and should last for many years. I'm running it off the power supply at 13.8 volts, so I installed 2--15 ohms 5 watt resistors in series with bulb to increase bulb life in the meter after reading about the short life.
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KE4EX
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 1, 2003 12:28
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$ 4 $ # 4 # Great
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Picked this one up from a friend from western VA. He said it worked perfect, thanks Gail.. He was Changing the lookes of his station around at the same time I was looking for a swr/watt meter. I must say this unit has done everything it is design to do, NOT A FLAW. I have it set up last in line, always set to Hi Power.
I would buy another.
Punch up my call here or on QRZ stare's me in the face.
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N4SL
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 21, 2003 13:08
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I opened the unit
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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OK, the illumination failed in my unit after a year of ownership and light use. The unit works, only the meter illumination failed.
I took it apart, the incandescent bulb is soldered in so it's a pain to replace. Looking inside, the unit is built far better than any MFJ product I've taken apart (all of them, for failures) and the PCB material and soldering is good.
So, I'm stuck trying to hunt down a tiny, non-socketed incandescent bulb that I had to unsolder from it's housing. How cheezy.
I guess I'll replace the bulb with some LEDS in series, there appears to be plenty of room for that. The original bulb was quite BRIGHT. Also, the red and black wires leading up to that bulb are mis-wired, the + lead is black, the - lead is red.... good thing I checked or my LEDS wouldn't work.
Oddly, the insides reveals the sense head is mounted inside the unit but has a TWO FOOT long cable between it and the electronics and display... the cable is just wadded-up inside the box. Also, there is a connector and mount for a 9V battery!
It really looks like you could detach the sense head, which is fully enclosed, and mount it remotely to the display. I might try this as it would simplify my big coax routing.
I give this a '4' because they cheezed-out on the bulb, it's hard to replace and is of a type which will fail in a year or three. This unit got no harsh treatment.
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N4SL
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 26, 2002 20:34
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Well made unit, worth the money
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm finally going true-QRO (1500W out) and needed a much higher wattage wattmeter. I won't buy MFJ anymore and this product got good reviews... but I was plenty worried when the picture on their website showed "MFJ" in big letters on the unit's display!!
Not to worry. The unit is solidly made, has a nice large easy to read meter face with a bright, even lighting and the MFJ logo is NOT on the new meters. As their documentation states, it's more accurate in the upper-half of the display reading - this is true, but not a problem since the 100W/1000W are at mid-scale for the two ranges. I found the accuracy to be very good, better than I need really. My main goal is to tune my transmatch to 1:1 with a hands-free crossed-needle meter that I can use while actually transmitting without stopping.. like in a contest!
The 1:1 VSWR accuracy is slightly in question, it shows more like 1.2:1 sometimes when tuned with a good antenna analyzer... on some frequencies. The 1:1 'dip' doesn't quite agree. I think this may be a complex interaction between my amp and the transmatch or it may be RF affecting the meter. There is no specific grounding point on the meter to connect it to my large copper pipe ground, but I'm going to add one.
The display IS a tad scrunched at the upper-end, but if you are actually running 3KW then you are a cheating weasel, right?! Ha. I run 200W barefoot and 1500W QRO, these values are very easy to read on the meter. I ran a known 5W thru it, it read 5.5W - this is great in my book for a QRO meter.
I wanted a meter with a remote sensing head so the large coax cables wouldn't yank the meter around, but the meter is solid, well balanced and doesn't get jerked around by the coax - it's not a problem.
Really, this is a very nice meter, I'm glad I bought it. I paid $139 + $10 shipping from AES and it comes with the 12V wall wart, they don't try and squeeze $15 more bucks from you.
Note this meter will NOT work *at all* without 12V, not peak or average reading, but there isn't a big call for 1500W meters on batteries or field use, eh? Just wanted to warn you - this can be an inconvience for FD use.
I use the meter lighting to see if my rig power strip is on, pretty neat.
I see that PalStar has a meter that looks pretty good for slightly cheaper, would be interested to hear from anyone about that meter. I actually don't NEED the peak-reading since I don't operate SSB.
Steve N4SL Machias, WA CN88xa
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KB6HRT
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 14, 2002 10:54
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Good dampening meter
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Just received AWM-30 yesterday and after reading the little manual,hooked it up and tested it aganist the meter in the radio and an old Palomar meter i use and it is right on in every aspect. The meter is very well dampened which I like and well built. Its so nice to get what you pay for, Well done Ameritron for making this good product.
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KB9WIS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 17, 2001 11:47
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Excellant Meter
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've had this meter for only a few months, and I am very pleased! I used to own a "generic MFJ" watt/swr meter, and this one by far surpasses it. The only other meter than I can honestly say was more accurate is of course the famous ol' "BIRD", however in comparison with another ham's Bird meter it is actually right on the nose for most bands! It also even comes with "TRUE" peak reading capability which even more enhances the realistic accurate wattage readings. What's even more amazing is that the meter is less than $140 dollars!!!
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