Monday, August 8, 2011

Para Dynamics PDC 550 SWR Watt Meter

The original Para Dynamics company from Scottsdale Arizona designed a small three window RF power meter back in the 1970's named the PDC 550. This meter was much smaller than the PDC 600 meter and utilized smaller meter movements. The Power was limited to 1000 Watts at 27 MHz and had three selectable ranges; 10,100, and 1000 Watts. What was unique about the Para Dynamics lineup was the ability to measure and view SWR, Wattmeter, and Modulation simultaneously.

The frequency range was limited to the 11 meter (27 MHz) CB band. It could be possible to utilize this unit for the Amateur Radio 10 Meter band, but due to the design of the coupler the insertion loss fell off below the 27 MHz range, although I have heard of successful users in the 12 and 15 meter bands. According to the PDC 550/600 manual it states that this unit is capable of usage up to 220MHz. I have not verified this claim, and I have not measured the insertion loss at this frequency; however, the original PDC from Scottsdale Arizona states it is capable.

See PDC 550 manual Click here:


For information on the Valor PDC 600 Click here:





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3 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 5, 2014 at 9:13 PM

    Does that meter read peak or average power? Do you know how many db down the rf sample is? Because I would like to hook up a freq counter.

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    Replies
    1. Technician TimesApril 8, 2014 at 4:33 PM

      It reads average power. Freq range is 25-30MHz. I will see if I still have the insertion loss for this meter.

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  2. SpenceNovember 11, 2014 at 12:01 AM

    I could use a schematic for this meter, please. If anybody has one please email me. kb5wqw@hotmail.com

    Thanx

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