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Reviews For: Bird 8173 50 ohm Dummyload

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

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Review Summary For : Bird 8173 50 ohm Dummyload
	Reviews: 2	MSRP: $500
	Description: 300 watts
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.bird-electronic.com
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	2	4.5

EA1AWY	Rating:	2023-05-11
Very good, once cleaned the contacts			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of these units, 250W, second hand. Both measured over 50 ohms (curiously the second one measured exactly 100) until I opened them up and cleaned the resistor contacts. These connections, including the "funnel" ground connection, were covered in a kind of greenish-black sludge. Once cleaned and assembled, it works flawlessly in terms of flatness and dissipation. Mine go up a bit in SWR above 2.4GHz and drop back down at 3GHz, according to my cheap nanoVNA. I have tested a 1kW linear with them and it has heated up after a considerable time. and not too much

WA4DOU	Rating:	2005-01-07
A Real DummyLoad			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Recently I was in the market for another dummyload. I reviewed the amateur oriented dummyloads, inc. "cantenna" style loads, a resistor in a 1 gal. paint bucket of oil. I found loads from $35-$300. Invariably they were light duty devices and typically could handle 100 watts to 1500 watts + but with derating curves for any given power level, sometimes to as little as 10 seconds. The bucket loads do a good job but always develop an oily film on top for dust to collect. You can't prevent this. I decided to purchase a used commercial load. This one is 300 watts continuous and can handle higher power levels if you appropriately derate it. And their vswr curve is very low into the several gigahertz range. There are a number of models and power ranges of these loads and in good used condition they can be obtained at a fraction of their original cost and at a very favorable price compared to amateur loads. I recommend these as serious loads that will perform for a lifetime.

Category:

SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

Product:

Bird 8173 50 ohm Dummyload

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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