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Reviews For: Diamond SX-200 Pwr/SWR Meter

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

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Review Summary For : Diamond SX-200 Pwr/SWR Meter
Reviews: 30MSRP: 50
Description:
1.8-200 MHz, 200/20/5 Watt settings.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00304.5
KG6WLS Rating: 2009-01-22
Very Good For The $$ Time Owned: more than 12 months.
For the price, the SX-200 is accurate and a fine compliment to the shack. No complaints here.

73 de KG6WLS
IW0GVG Rating: 2009-01-22
Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Good.
Very good
*****
KD5OXQ Rating: 2008-04-08
Good Meter Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This meter is very accurate and reliable. I've been using it for about a month now, and I am very happy with the way it has performed. The SX-200 also has a very nice look sitting beside any radio.
K9EX Rating: 2008-04-05
Great SWR Meter for QRP! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I've owned this for awhile now and it's a fine SWR bridge. Yes, it's a traditional bridge in the sense that you have to manually adjust the forward reading to max scale before throwing a switch to see the reflected reading but this meter is accurate, so the minimal effort is worthwhile in my opinion. If you have a contemporary 100W rig and also play around with QRP rigs like I do, then you'll really appreciate the 5W scale - it works great! With the SX-200, there's simply no reason to have a dedicated "QRP" SWR/watt meter - the SX-200 works equally well from QRP up to 200W. I have also owned a Diawa SWR/watt meter and I think this meter is a bit more accurate, but I think the Daiwa may have a slight edge on construction quality. No matter, I'm sticking with the Diamond due to its excellent QRP capabilities. This is a great product at a fair price.
KB1KVL Rating: 2007-11-14
Good Meter for the Money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I run this piece of equipment constantly and have never had any problems with it since it was new over a year ago. It is an easy to read meter.
Great meter for the money.
Please do not spam me with questions about it.

73
Ken
DU8-BSC Rating: 2007-11-06
accuracy and reliability Time Owned: more than 12 months.
im using my diamond sx-200 for three years now! still performs like still a new meter! so accurate even on my ht firing power on low is 0.5 watt still it read just the same! nice meter needle display and my meter light still going on!no burn issue! sometimes im on my hf band or vhf band it performs so accurate from swr to power output reading! nice outer design!well made! keep up your good works DIAMOND! i highly recommend this product! quality, sensitivity, reliability and durability!

73s to all fellow hams!
SHERWIN DU8BSC
PHILIPPINES
OE3SGU Rating: 2007-07-22
Best value Time Owned: N.A.
Using this one for some weeks now I am really very satisfied with the value for the money. It is accurate in the low power range according to my WM-2. The finish is nice and I am going to add the SX-100 or SX-1000 for the higher frequencies and higher power (if ever needed...). Price is about 65 Euro.
KK4DW Rating: 2007-01-06
MSRP Correction Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just an addendum to my previous review. The current price of a Diamond SX-200 at AES is $94.99 + tax. I don't think anyone is selling a new in box one for anything close to $50.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by KK4DW on 2007-01-05

I am forced to echo the common fault of the lamp burning out prematurely. If you ever experience this, as with a previous writer, I suggest opening up the case, carefully prying out the meter assembly, remove the front clear cover, cut the lamp leads rather than try to unsolder them. I used a Radio Shack PN 276-316, a 5 mm, 20 ma, 3.7V blue LED with a rating of 2600 mcd, not because I was enchanted by blue but because of the chintzy selection of LED's they now have cut back to, it was the highest mcd rating available. (Radio Shack inventory of small components is a joke anymore). I had a power cube that put out right at 13 Volts so I calculated a 1/2 W, 470 Ohm resistor would work
fine. I just soldered in the LED, flat side (cathode) to the right post and then clipped the external DC red power lead off the socket and put the 470 Ohm resistor in series with the lead rather than try and unsolder anything from the little PC board. I have a fear of PC boards and soldering irons from many a bad experience. In summation, the makers of this rice box should be ashamed for ever using an incandescent bulb, secondly ashamed for hard wiring it inside the meter movement, thirdly ashamed of not putting a bulb rated for say 18V or so in there that would never burn out in a lifetime or better, an LED. Best yet, putting a spare bulb taped inside the box, and making the socket clip in or twist in or screw in from the front without ever even having to take the box cover off. Geeeez, guys, don't you ever talk to techs who have to fix things like this for a living ??? I guess not.
SM5ZBK Rating: 2006-12-24
Usefull and honest Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is my very first SWE/power meter. I bought it because the specifications were better and more suitable for me than some other meters, and it was on sale.
The equipment I use it with is a Yaesu FT-817 (max 5W output) so the choise of a meter not for QRO power was obvious.
The accuracy of the meter is totaly acceptable. On AM I think it's very accurate. When mesuaring SSB PEP the manual states that the shown value is about 70-90 % lower than the real value. My calculatons using a signal source with known power showed the statment to be correct. With that in mind it's pretty easy to get a PEP reading to.
Measuring SWR requires a little fiddeling with the controlls. First you have to set the meter in CAL mode and trim it with the big cal knob. Then you switch to SWR mode and can read SWR. When operationg on the same band and with the same power level you only need to do it once. But when changeing band it is best to calibrate again, when changeing power it is required.
The meter scale is pretty easy to read and has dangerous SWR levels marked in read. There is a meter lamp but I haven't tried it.
The manual is good and contains everything you need to know. I think it is very good that the formula for calculating SWR is in the manual. The manual is also very honest when it comes to providing information about cases when the reading might be inaccurate.

I give this device a 4 because there is nothing with it that is really wrong. The accuracy is enough for me and when opperating it right it is easy to read and use. The manul is also good.
One thing to remeber when thinking of buying this meter is that it is not cross neddle so there is some fiddeling with buttons to measure SWR when chageing band. If this is not acceptabel then you should get a cross neddle meter instead. Otherwise, for the right price it's a good meter.
KI4MCW Rating: 2006-11-08
Not so hot on VHF Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I like my SX-200 aesthetically - it seems well-constructed, and looks great alongside the rest of my gear. On my particular unit, though, the reverse-power sensor (diode?) doesn't work so well. This leads to wildly inaccurate readings on 2 meters, including reverse power readings greater than the output of my rig (!), and SWR readings well beyond infinity even after calibration.

Forward power readings seem fine. In fact, I was able to _calculate_ SWR by measuring forward power, reversing the coax connections on the back, and measuring forward power again (which is now really reverse power), and using the standard formula. The reverse power reading problem may also not be an issue at HF frequencies - I don't have an HF rig to test with yet, so I'll reserve judgement there.

It looks like others have had good experiences with their SX-200's on VHF, but for myself I'd have to say that this is not the best tool for testing a 2m rig.