Callsign	Required
Password

If you've forgotten and/or need to reset your password, please enter your Callsign and use the button below.

If you are not a member of the eHam community

Please consider registering to e-Ham.

Manager

Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Array Solutions Powermaster

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.

Review Summary For : Array Solutions Powermaster
	Reviews: 182	MSRP: 525.
	Description: 5% accuracy, temperature and frequency compensated, 1.8-54 MHz, peak-hold modes, bargraph display of power and SWR for easy antenna system matching, PC programmable via RS232, more. I use two of these meters in my own station, no suprises there for sure, they are great! But we're adding features you may want to know about. The accuracy is NOW 3% with our HP equipment technique which calibrates out more uncertainty. The coupler heads are interchangeable from HF to uWaves with the new LITE 3.0, and all instruments in the field will be upgradable to a new feature, the COUPLER SCANNER. It will automatically scan multiple couplers for you. Pretty cool stuff. AND more features to come.
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.arraysolutions.com/pm2-3k-so?search=Pow&page=4
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	182	5

N4RSR	Rating:	2006-12-10
#1 Meter			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Power Master is by far the best meter out there. I really like its safety features, alarms and software updates. Well worth the money!!

W7PTT	Rating:	2006-12-06
AWESOME Meter			Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
If I could give this meter a 6, I would. It is extremely accurate and easy to use. This meter is a must for every ham, especially if you run an amplifier. This is one piece of ham gear I will not sell. 73 Bill W7PTT ---------------------- Earlier 5-star review posted by W7PTT on 2006-01-12 This is a great perfoming meter. It is full of features. I love how you can control the amount of delay of how long it holds the output power reading (from instant, to a few seconds). It is well worth the $400.00 price tag.

K3KLC	Rating:	2006-12-01
Great Item			Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a very pleasing amateur radio accessory. It provides power and SWR information in a very easy to read / interpret format. The ARRL laboratory reported very favorably on this unit's accuracy. Highly recommended!

N6CHA	Rating:	2006-11-18
The Real Deal			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
An outstanding piece of equipment for the Ham shack. The service was fabulous, and done on a personal level. These are the kinds of vendors we need in Amateur Radio. I spent some time talking to Bob, w5ov, at Array, and he was as helpful as he could be. The meter works great, as did my previous VFD-HF digital meter. It sure looks great sitting on top of my PW-1. Great product, great service, and these two things make for a great company!

K5UY	Rating:	2006-11-06
Watt Meter			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Through the years, I’ve struggled to find a Watt Meter (Besides a Bird) that could handle the traffic, is accurate (As a Bird) and has a display that was readable with my 55 year old eyes. The recently purchased POWER MASTER Software Defined Watt Meter from Array Solutions meets all these prerequisites. With a newly comprised cosmetic face lift, this meter is attractive and fits in well with my FT-2000. Its accuracy matched my Bird Watt meter (that I trust), through the bench test from zero to 5 KW. The guys at Array Solution are pleasant to talk to and guarantee that their meter will meet or surpass its spec sheet. I had some apprehension about a digital meter, but this apprehension was quickly put to rest as I found the meter action easy to see, accurate and easy to tune VSWR and Power output. Did I say fast? The read-out speed is very fast, a major concern of mine with this type of meter. The Computer software display did little for me, but I suppose some of you may find a use for it. The sensor cable to the remote power sensor could be longer by just a tad, but it’s adequate. I like the auto display timeout feature. This meter is loaded with features that many of us may or may not need. All of the features I tested have worked. It costs a little more, but in Amateur Radio some of you may have noticed that you get what you pay for, especially with accurate watt meters. Once you learn your way around the mode functions and set up features, this meter will make you smile. I’ve recently had some very disappointing experiences with watts meters. I will share with you a brief description of each and my observations, so you can feel my frustration and my pleasure as I searched for a watt meter that would meet its manufacture’s advertised expectations. The following observation, focus only on the primary function, “Accurately Measurement of our station power levels and reflected power” PALSTAR WM-150; purchased about two years ago and was accurate up to about 1500 watts. But bench test revealed that the upper end of the scale (over 2000 watts) of the PALSTAR meter was 20% inaccurate. PALSTAR was contacted about the problem. After Paul offered shallow excuses and defend his less-than-honest marketing practices; he sent me another meter which tested the same. Money down the drain. RADIO CRAFT PRO 3000; was purchased this year. This meter seemed to be the pill for my watt meter ailments, but this was short lived. The meter looks really nice. Radio Craft is right on the money cosmetically. Nice big meters, with blue lights, However, bench testing revealed similar issues as with the PALSTAR. The 3000 PRO would not show power levels above 2500 watts and at 2000 watts, the accuracy curve dropped sharply. The meter stops measuring as the BIRD METER continued to show our tests. Readings up to 2000 watts were very accurate. VSWR readings varied from band to band. I believe this meter has some real issues with SWR measurements. There seems to be some interaction issues with this meter on different antennas and environments. Now, both the PALSTAR and RADIOCRAFT meters are marketed as 3000 watt RF Meters. Lets be real here guys, how many of you have amps that run more than 1500 watts. You may not run them past the legal limit but you still paid for an accurate 3000 watt meter for what ever reason. I understand from some of the guys around, the band the failure rate on this meter has been high although mine never failed. Considerably better than the PALSTAR, money down the drain. I realize that sometimes money is an issue when purchasing a watt meter. However, if you’ue picky and you want upfront honesty, dependability, accuracy and bragging rights with out spending a fortune on slugs, the Power Master SD Meter is the meter to buy. Bill K5UY

W2DAP	Rating:	2006-10-21
Excellent			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Highly accurate, user-friendly and EZ on the eyes. Equals my Bird at every test point I have checked. If you use an amplifier this is an essential component when installed in the PTT line. I like the company and feel confident that I have the best amateur radio wattmeter available and as a plus I can conveniently upgrade the firmware.

N3OC	Rating:	2006-09-10
excellent all-around wattmeter			Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I already had digital wattmeters for my HF stations, so I bought a Powermaster at Dayton for my VHF station, since it appeared to be the only one with both HF and VHF calibrated sensors available. The folks at Array Solutions (OK, I'm one of their buddies) hand-selected a pair of couplers with almost identical calibration values so I could use the same head for both 6m and 2m without having to change the calibration settings. I then used a y-cable to connect both to the powermaster at the same time, and was pleasantly suprised to find they did not interact, and I could have 6m and 2m on the same wattmeter head without changing any cables. (Obviously you can only transmit on one band at a time.) This setup worked great for me! Brian N3OC

OZ4GA	Rating:	2006-08-31
Excelent			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
If you want a first class instrument look no further, you found it. I love mine, and I can hardly image why, I should want any other instrument. With its individual calibrated probe, it has ~3% accuracy. The 10KW probe is awesome. This is a Lab grade instrument at a better price than a Bird and the spiffy Alpha instrument. It's equally accurate. Array Solutions did a great job with this on. I would like to see an OSX and a Linux version of the software though.

AD5X	Rating:	2006-08-26
Lab Grade!!			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a great power meter. For the first time, I feel very confident in knowing what my true transmit power is (I watched Array Solutions actually calibrate my unit). I have a detailed review on my website at www.ad5x.com. Phil - AD5X

KB9GPN	Rating:	2006-08-17
Simply outstanding!			Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've been running my PowerMaster as part of my Pegasus driven digital station and have found it easy to use, repeatable, consistant when compared other other meter readings (I don't hav eth test gear to calibrate it against a reference) and an excellent value. Software has recently upgraded, so I am looking forward to working with that. I know that Array Solutions has been asked about Mac OSX and Linux software versions, so if you have an interest please let know. 73 Steve K9ZW (ex-KB9GPN)

«
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
»

Category:

SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

Product:

Array Solutions Powermaster

Summary:

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

Remarks:

Describe your experience with the Array Solutions Powermaster and tell us why you give it the rating you did (required). Other useful information would include your experience with similar products, infomation on a product that you would purchase instead of this one, and so on.