| AB4D |
Rating:  |
2013-12-13 | |
| A little disappointing |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently completed putting together a Ten Tec 1225 Watt meter kit. Assembly went together just fine. The instructions are adequate and the parts count was accurate as well. The fit and finish is comparable with other Ten Tec gear I have owned. Initially, I was excited at the possibility of owning another true peak reading meter that could be more portable than the Alpha 4510 power meter I use in the shack.
In describing the functions of the 1225 watt meter, Ten Tec claims..."Both peak and average power measurements can be made and are independently selectable for both forward and reflected power readings."
However, my experience with this meter suggests it is more of a peak hold type, rather than a true peak reading watt meter. The issue with this meter, it only has an ability to calibrate the watt reading for either average or peak power, not both. Turning on either peak reading switch for the forward or reflective power readings, only activates a simple op amp circuit that increases the hang time for each analog meter. It does not accurately display peak power. This circuit does not accurately discriminate between carrier power used for AM or FM, and true peak power for CW and SSB.
When calibrated as suggested by Ten Tec using carrier power, the meter will accurately display average power. However, when reading peak power for SSB, the meter reads significantly lower than your actual peak transmit power. Using an Alpha 4510 as a reference, the Ten Tec 1225 falls short when measuring peak power.
I had high hopes for this meter, because I also own a Ten Tec 238B. I had anticipated mating the tuner with this meter to supplant the tiny watt meter in the 238 tuner. However, additional circuitry is needed in the 1225 to allow individual calibration for both average and peak power.
73 |
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| K9MHZ |
Rating: |
2013-08-26 | |
| Very, very nice item. |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Not having ever owned any Ten-Tec gear in 38 years of ham radio made me a little skeptical about taking the plunge and buying some of their gear. While on vacation in Tennessee, I dropped by Ten-Tec and got the royal treatment for just showing up......a factory tour and invitation to operate their factory station. They could not have been nicer people. Still....how good could their gear be....it's a small business with a very small market share, and their facility isn't massive like the big three in Japan.
Bringing home this kit and opening it up to inventory parts etc, was a VERY pleasant experience. The circuit boards are very professionally done, and certainly head-and-shoulders above any kit that I've ever seen in the past or present. The components are very high quality, and the design and layout of the meter is excellent.
As for operation of the meter after alignment, I couldn't be happier. It's solid and very accurate.
One of the personal complaints that I've had about Ten-Tec gear in the past concerned eye-appeal, or lack of it. Some of their older gear was just plain butt-ugly. Not anymore.....the accessories and rigs themselves are all quite professional in appearance and there is no compromise in the design numbers that they produce when under the microscope of gear evaluation. I'm totally pleased with what I've experienced with Ten-Tec recently, and recommend this piece of gear to anyone without any reservation. |
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| K8JHR |
Rating: |
2012-07-10 | |
| Nice Kit ! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I built the Ten-Tec Model 1225 SWR/Wattmeter kit over a weekend, and was able to calibrate it quickly, and easily, using either of the two methods provided. I spent a lot of time calibrating it, mostly because i wanted to play with it. Upon completion, it appears to work properly, and with greater accuracy and clarity than my Daiwa CN-101L wattmeter. (The Daiwa meter differs from ALL my other meters, 3 of which are made by Palstar, and all of which agree with the Ten-Tec meter - so I consider the Daiwa meter the odd man in the bunch.)
Meter is large enough to be visible from the end of the desk, and has a nice, consistent appearance with my Ten-Tec transceiver, linear amp, my 2 Palstar antenna tuners, and Palstar dummy load - they are all pretty much the same height and have the same black powder coat cabinets with similar white markings - so it just plain looks good and fits right in with the other gear.
Ten-Tec support is super good, although you should not need it.
Just My take. // James -K8JHR // |
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| AE7UT |
Rating: |
2012-07-02 | |
| Great starter kit - fun to build & works great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just finished building this wonderful kit.
I'm a novice builder with only one other kit under my belt. I built a Kendricks Scout Regen receiver.
The kit went together in about 10 hours of work for me. No mistakes. I just went slow and wanted it to work the first time! It fired up just fine without any glitches. I just can't tell you how much fun it was to build.
I use this with a Ten-Tec Orion II at the moment but plan to have it as the "real" meter for my Ten-Tec Eagle when I get one soon. It's working great between my Orion and a AL-811H. It's nice to know exactly how much your driving the amp with.
Next up is a Elecraft K1. More to follow!
73
Stan AE7UT |
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| K1FPV |
Rating: |
2011-12-08 | |
| Superb accessory for the shack! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Having bought a Ten-Tec 238C tuner, I was impressed with the accuracy of the cross-
needle SWR/Power meter on the tuner. At the time, I was ordering another item from Ten-Tec when I mentioned that I liked the meter on the 238C. The Ten-Tec rep informed me that the Model 1225 Wattmeter kit is basically the same. So I ordered it!
I was looking for another meter to put between the rig and my amplifier to get an idea as to how much drive I’m putting into the amp. It went together without a hitch. The instruction/assembly manual was excellent! Upon completion, I used a recently calibrated bird from another broadcasting engineer I know locally. I got the 1225 calibrated dead on! Ten-Tec also gives you instructions for using a DVM to calibrate the meter if you don’t have an accurate meter source to calibrate it. So, for grins and giggles, I used the voltmeter instructions to compare the calibration. To my surprise, there was very little difference between the accuracy of the two methods.
So, if you want a good, accurate and attractive peak/average reading SWR/power meter, like building equipment, aren’t afraid to solder and get into your gear, this is a good kit for the advanced builder or even a beginner provided the instructions are followed closely. It is a good accurate meter, fairly priced, and an attractive accessory for the shack. I highly recommend it!
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| W3QT |
Rating: |
2011-11-01 | |
| Excellent kit that performs like a champ! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This was a really fun kit to put together. It took me back 45 years to my Novice and early General days with Johnson and Heathkit kits, except this time it required work on a PC board. My eyes aren't what they were 45 years ago. That's not the kit's fault nor a criticism but my reality. The instructions are clearly written and reminiscent of those Heathkit days. One would do well to read each step the whole way through first before beginning that step. This meter does all I expected, does it well, and has a beautiful appearance in the shack. From beginners to old timers, this kit is a real fun experience. Way to go TenTec! |
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| VK7JB |
Rating: |
2011-05-25 | |
| Fun kit, Great meter |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I built this meter nearly 6 months ago, just for fun. I have several meters in my shack and really, didn't NEED another. (You know how it is.) But I was looking to inhale some solder smoke and so snapped up the kit at a local hamfest. And it was a lot of fun and uncomplicated to put together over a few nights, thanks to the clear construction manual. No problems, worked first time. Calibration is a breeze using either of the 2 methods described in the manual - I did both to see how they worked. The multi-color LED backlight is a cute feature and you can change the RGB mix to whatever you desire. A spin-off was that building the 1225 prompted me to really focus my understanding around exactly what these meters measure and how they do it. So I'm a bit wiser now too :)
There are only two features I will add to my meter to make it "perfect" in my eyes: a switch to turn the backlight off if I want to and perhaps a mod to be able to adjust the brightness of the backlight. It's OK during the day, but in a dimly lit shack, the backlight is very bright for my taste. But these are minor issues. This is a fun kit to build and would be an ideal introduction to kit building for a new ham wanting to get started on construction - a perfect confidence builder which rewards you with a sense of satisfaction and a useful instrument for your shack.
Excellent work Ten-Tec.
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| N1DZ |
Rating: |
2011-01-26 | |
| Its a winner! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Very nice easy to built kit. Clear step by step instruction manual. It took me about 3 evenings to build.
Attractive black metal case. High quality, large easy to read cross needle meter. Selection of different meter backlight colors. I created my own warm incandescent like glow. 1.2K across red jumper, 12K in series with green and remove the blue color wire. You can easily mix your own RGB color scheme. Fun!
It works like a champ. 20W-200W-2KW with peak and average settings. Using the factory calibration its accuracy compared well to my Bird Watt meter. It gives you however more information than the Bird meter as the cross needle meter gives instant SWR reading. Great for tuning antenna tuners and amps.
The meter includes a small power supply. I find it a very complete easy to built great working essential piece of equipment. Ten-Tec has another winner. Highly recommended if you are in the market for a HF wattmeter that does it all.
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| N3VBN |
Rating: |
2010-10-23 | |
| Kitbuilding is not dead |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I was told about this kit from a friend that visited Ten-Tec recently, This Meter was a breeze to build as long as you READ the instructions. It offers two methods to calibrate a BEAUTIFUL back light, excellent build and component quality, it is hard to beat this meter in this price range |
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| W4PGM |
Rating: |
2010-10-06 | |
| Easy Kit to Build |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I won this at SEDCO last month and just got time to put it together. An easy kit even for the aging group that I fall into. Manual is typical TenTec detailed, but a bit of a hard read in some places. I would suggest reading the whole manual first before you start. All of the parts were included.
The 4/5 reflect my feelings about the cost (remember though I got my for free; it seem high for what is available in the market. |
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