‰  NOW 35 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM SEPTEMBER 2013  QST  PAGE 54‰

FIRMWARE UPDATES SPEAKING OF THE FUTURE, THE DB 9 CONNECTOR ON THE MB 1S
REAR PANEL IS A SERIAL PORT, WHICH YOU CAN CONNECT TO A COMPUTER TO LOAD
NEW FIRMWARE AS UPDATES BECOME AVAILABLE.  YOU WONT NEED TO CONNECT A
COMPUTER TO THE MB 1 FOR ANY OTHER REASON, THOUGH.  THERE IS NO COMPUTER
CONTROL PROGRAM AND NO INTERFACE TO READ DATA FROM THE MB 1.  ARRL LAB TEST
RESULTS ARRL TEST ENGINEER BOB ALLISON, WB1GCM, COMPARED THE MB 1
MEASUREMENTS WITH THE TRANSMITTER OUTPUT POWER AS MEASURED BY THE LABS
CALIBRATED HP 437B POWER METER WITH APPROPRIATE CALIBRATED POWER ATTENUATOR
AND CABLES.  RESULTS ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1.  AS YOU CAN SEE, THE WORST
MEASURED CASE IS FOR 100 W CONTINUOUS CARRIER ON 28 MHZ, WHERE THE
MEASUREMENT IS LOW BY 10 COMPARED TO THE HP 437B.  IN ALL OTHER CASES, THE
POWER IS WITHIN A FEW PERCENT OF THE VALUE MEASURED BY THE LABS EQUIPMENT.
THE MEASURED SWR VALUES ARE ALSO VERY CLOSE TO THE THEORETICAL VALUES USING
RESISTIVE LOADS OF 25, 50 AND 100.  THE MB HF 1 COUPLER THAT COMES WITH THE
MB 1 HAS BEEN CALIBRATED AT THE FACTORY, AND A CALIBRATION TABLE HAS BEEN
STORED IN THE MB 1 MEMORY.  THE CALIBRATION TABLE USES REFERENCE
FREQUENCIES ON 80, 20, 10 AND 6 METERS.  TO PERFORM THE INITIAL SETUP OF
THE METER, I USED MY DIGITAL VOM TO MEASURE THE OUTPUT VOLTAGE FROM THE
COUPLER, AND USED THE CALIBRATION VOLTAGE PRINTED ON THE COUPLER TO FINE
‰  END OF 35 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ