Topband: S meters

[Jim Brown]

On 1/18/2021 12:02 PM, Richard McLachlan wrote:
> On 160 listening on  my rx antennas K9AY etc my S meter on the K3S is also on zero most of the time. Really strong U.K. sigs push it up to S4 occasionally. I am sure most guys I am working would appreciate 509 good copy reports. I will try it tomorrow.

At the beginning of my 65 years in ham radio I learned how to give RST 
(plus C or K) by ear based on definitions from ARRL publications. I 
trust that RSGB and other national organizations did the same.

A well calibrated signal strength meter can be useful for engineering 
work, but very few rigs have one. Those that I'm aware of that do are 
Elecraft and several SDRs. Most Elecraft rigs provide menu settings to 
allow the user to properly calibrate the reference level and amplitude 
linearity of the S-meter with a user-supplied signal generator, and they 
sell a suitable signal generator. They also provide the tweaks to 
calibrate their outboard P3 and PX3 spectral/waterfall displays RF level 
at the antenna input.

73, Jim K9YC