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Reviews For: Bird 43

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

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Review Summary For : Bird 43
Reviews: 52MSRP: 265.00
Description:
RF power meter
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.bird-electronic.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00524.4
HB9DRX Rating: 2008-07-31
Still a Winner! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
During my professional life as an RF-Engineer and during the past 30+ years as a HAM I have been using all kinds of Wattmeters. The BIRD 43 was the only one that always did produce repeatable & reliable results! The calibrated bandslugs are unbeatable, very user friendly and build to last a lifetime...My several BIRD's are a vital part of my Shack, hopefully for the next 30+ years..!
-> I can only strongly recommend it!

Nick / HB9DRX
K6AER Rating: 2008-06-22
Clasic Wattmeter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own several Bird watt meters and they have all served me well over the last 35 years. It is a simple meter concept with each slug being calibrated for 50 uA output at full meter reading no mater what the wattage slug and frequency.

Lack of usage will cause the contacts to become tarnished but a gentle cleaning with a pencil eraser will keep the meter operating properly.

The contacts are directly connected to meter movement. A 9 volt battery and an 180,000 ohm resistor set the meter needle to the full meter position.

Calibration is typically 5% full scale. The meter is very rugged and the slugs will last a lifetime if they are not abused.

Most hams that have problems with the meters just need to do some preventive maintenance to the contacts for their meter to last a lifetime.
W4HH Rating: 2008-06-22
Not happy with my Bird 43 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my Bird 43 along with three slugs in the mid-1990's. I used it only occasionally and that may be the problem -- I can't make my bird 43 work reliably.

The Bird 43 uses slugs that are inserted into the front of the meter; different slugs for different frequency and power ranges. The slug has a small contact on it that must make contact with a tiny spring-loaded "finger" inside the meter case. The meter comes with a dummy slug that is supposed to be inserted when the meter is not in use.

I use mine so infrequently that something is happening to the finger contact with the slug. Most of the time, my Bird 43 does not work. To make it work, I have to open it, fiddle around with the tension on the contact, put it back together, hope it works, if not, open it, fiddle around, close it up, try again.

I finally put my Bird 43 on the shelf and purchased a Daiwa cross-needle meter -- a real waste of a fine piece of equipment but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
K0ZN Rating: 2008-03-29
Decent product, but EXPENSIVE to repair! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had a Bird 43 for years, it has been generally good, but (even when treated with great care during use) it has become unreliable with age. I have sent it back to Bird 3 times in the last 5 years. If I was rating the attitude of their service dept. people towards customers, I would give it a "2". Their repair charges are SKY HIGH. For such a simple instrument, the cost of repair borders on uneconomical. Ditto the elements. A Bird 43 is a generally a good product, but be assured, if it needs service it will be VERY expensive relative to the price of the unit. Unless you really need a lab quality meter for some reason, the average ham for station monitoring is better off with a good quality wide band SWR/Watt meter. Array Solutions and others make equal or better products that don't require slugs. Really, the "slug thing" is approaching obsolete. Bottomline: a Bird 43 is a good product, but it is not a "legendary" product as some would have you believe. Be sure to carefully look at competitive products before you purchase a Bird product; you will find it instructive.
W9DZ Rating: 2006-06-28
I'm keeping mine! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned my 43 for over 10 years and have added new elements from time to time. It has always worked great. I did install the peak reading kit which is a nice addition although it does tend to eat batteries. The initial cost is high but this is one meter that will last a lifetime.
KC9GUZ Rating: 2006-03-15
Great!! Time Owned: N.A.
I had a chance to use one that belonged to a tech i know and i was sold!! I dont have one yet, but im writing in response to using his.. Funny thing is, CBers hate these meters. They dont show the swing like a Dosy or something else cheap will. But oh well, for general ham use they ROCK! If i can ill find a good used one someday and be settled and satisfied!!
W6QE Rating: 2005-10-31
The Best there is! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned several Bird 43 wattmeters through the years and won't use anything else. I have 2 Model 43 wattmeters currently in line. One is on the output of my Amplifier with a 2500C slug and the peak reading kit. The other is on the output of my 2m/70cm radio with a 50 watt slug. When you need a measurement, and want it to be correct, use a Bird 43. I've added a few miscellaneous slugs for weird things but for the most part the "permanently in-line" configuration will not change.
Save yourself a lot of grief and make the investment in a Bird 43.
Milt
W6QE
dit dit
G8JNF Rating: 2005-10-01
Simply the best! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned a number of SWR and WATTMETERS in the past, but NONE have ever lived up to the performance and operation of the Bird 43. I now own two of them, one for HF and the other for 144/433MHz. I have used them at QRP levels and at 400W with no prblems at all, they are just made for the job. I'm sure if you buy one you won't be disappointed.

73's Duncan
G8JNF
G3LWI Rating: 2005-07-28
Glad I did Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased a second hand Bird 4314. (This is the model with the peak hold facility and an input conection for charging the internal batteries from the mains power supply. It had four elements, 2 VHF (5 and 50 watts) and 2 HF (100 and 500 watts), a connection lead for charging the internal batteries and its leather case. The cost including postage was about £150 (I think thats just a little over $200) On checking I found the 500 watt element to be dead. After speaking to the vendor we found that we could obtain a second hand one for about £45. We split the cost and completed the deal. After every thing I buy, I look at the object and say "Did I really need this ?" Why did I buy it, after all I had managed 48 years in ham radio without one. So why did I buy it? Well I guess it was because I had always wanted one. Well I am so pleased that I did. It has also told me facts that I should have known but did not really appreciate. Using the internal tuner on
my Yaesu rigs with a G5RV antenna I get very good SWR readings. The SWR reading on 7 MHz being 1:1.3. With a forward power of 100 watts my Bird told me that I was getting 40 watts of reflected power, something I had never appreciated. Yes most definitely one of my better buys for the shack.

John G3LWI
G0UWK Rating: 2005-07-22
The Best Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought a used 43 from ebay a while back
Apart from a fault on the Coaxial lead
linking the directional coupler to the meter
it has been great.
I decided to buy the bird for a few reasons.

1. I could not find a Japanese meter that would handle 400w on 432mhz
2. After running 30 mins of EME on 144mhz my Diawa CN101L was getting rather hot !
3. I wanted to measure my system cable loses

The bird was the perfect answer.
Some interesting information for those not aware, the high power plug in elements (500w & 1000w for example) have a large overlap of frequencies. For instance a 1000E covers 400-1000mhz but will happily read almost perfect on 144mhz for further details check out the bird manual there is a graph that will show what works & where (no guarantees but it may just save you some cash on purchasing another element)

Also i bought a used (and very old) element from ebay and found
that the readings were intermittent,
I used a heat gun to remove the front aluminum cover of the element (the heat gently melts the glue that holds the cover in place)
There is a small potentiometer inside that allows calibration adjustment of the element, the wiper in the pot must have been dirty because after moving backward & forwards a couple of times it has worked fine ever since. (please note i needed to loan another element of the same type to recalibrate my original one)
All was not lost !

Measuring cable losses is so easy now,
with other meters i found that the results
were inconsistent but the bird with a lower power element (5W) rings true to Andrew Fiqures on known lengths of LDF4-50
I am now waiting arrival of a 43P
If you can afford one and are interested in VHF upwards this is the meter for the job
I have even used it to realign The PA stage in my 432mhz transverter at 20mw levels !