[Amps] Bird Element Calibration?

[Bob Nielsen]

On Fri, Mar 25, 2005 at 10:48:53AM +0000, David Kirkby wrote:

> 
> 1) In response to Gary Smith I said " I suspect Bird use Calorimeters 
> for internal use, but would not use them  to calibrate each and every 
> element they sell, as the method is too time consuming."
> 
> 2) "Another big problem for amateur power measurement would be line 
> voltage  variations. Since any such measurement by Calorimetric methods 
> will take 10's of minutes at least, there needs to be a way of keeping 
> the RF and DC power constant."

The Hewlett-Packard Calorimeter I used at Hughes Aircraft in the early
1960s was much faster than that.  It didn't take much longer to make a
measurement than using a bolometer-type meter--not instantaneous, but
perhaps several seconds.  I recall it would measure up to 10 watts,
which was sufficient for the measurements I was making, but higher power
levels would still require the use of attenuators.

73, Bob N7XY