I bought a 'Redot' brand digital VHF/UHF SWR meter on ebay recently.
Here's my thoughts and amateurish review....
My antenna setup consists of a discone for all of my scanners, a wideband vertical (25-1300 MHz), a 6.5dB UHF whip antenna for 477 MHz and a homebrew 27 MHz quarter wave vertical.
I was often curious to know what the SWR of my UHF antenna was and also the power output of my Uniden UH400SX.
UHF SWR meters tend to quite pricey, however a quick search on ebay revealed several sellers with a digital version that was reasonably priced.
All up, this cost me $52.03AUD, shipped from Hong Kong
It has female N-type connectors for the input & output. As most users probably don't use these connectors, a couple of adaptors will be necessary.
I purchased two N-type to BNC adaptors from WES Components in Sydney (cost about $3 each).
The meter is powered by three AAA batteries. You have to remove the rear cover by unscrewing four screws. See pic.
Once connected to the transceiver and antenna, you press the red ON/OFF button for a couple of seconds and the LCD display lights up blue with most segments illuminated. The blue backlight will then switch off and the display will cycle between the three modes. Each mode is shown for about 4-5 seconds. If you want to lock the display to a particular mode (ie. SWR), you momentarily press the red button. The display will stay locked until you press the button again. If you want the blue backlight to remain on, press the red button for a few seconds until it appears. Switching off the meter is achieved by pressing the power button until the display goes blank.
I checked the performance of my discone antenna at a range of frequencies and could see the SWR changing, indicating the meter was reading correctly.
Inside, the meter looks well made and is certainly far better than I expected for a 'Chinese cheapy'. The soldering and quality of the pcb are quite good. The case is all metal and the N-type connectors are of excellent quality.
I would recommend this meter and give it a rating of 9/10. If the connectors were BNC , it would get a 10/10!
Specifications:
Model:1050A
Frequency Range; 100 - 500 MHz
MAX.POWER 120W
V.S.W.R 1.00~19.9
FREQUENCY RANGE: Power @VHF(145mhz) / UHF(435mhz) SWR @100MHZ-500MHZ
Sampling rate: 100/S
Sampling to distinguish: 12BIT (Oversampling)
RF connector: N-KF(L16)
INSERTION LOSS < 0.15dB(VHF) , < 0.25dB(UHF)
Return Loss: >30db
Directional: >30db(VHF), >26db(UHF)
TEMPERATURE 0℃~70℃
Power consumption :<3mA (Backlight Off) <10mA (Backlifhg on)
BATTERY: 3 x AAA Type Battery or Rechargeable Battery
Dimension: 67x69x37 (mm)
Weight: 300g (not includes battery)
SIZE 66*68*37 (mm)
INTERFACE N(SL16)
WEIGHT 260g (without battery)
