On Mon, 18 Dec 2006, Mike Andrews wrote:

Some friends and I have been looking into making antennas for 70 cm.
and higher frequencies, but we don't have an MFJ-269; my MFJ-259 tops
out at 175 MHz. I _do_, however, have an SWR meter that supposedly
works up to 500 MHz( and maybe higher), and an HP 8640B that is good
to about 1.2 GHz.

If the SWR meter is sensitive enough, could I get at least ballpark
SWR values using the 8640B as a source,

You did not say what an 8640B is. Signal generator? Transmitter? Power
out?

Main thing is to get the "forward" power to read something on the meter
(preferably full scale, but even if you get half or quarter scale, then
you are able to get a rough idea of usabiltiy of the meter). Then see what
it shows on the "reflected" scale. Figure ver roughly if the reflected
power is half the forward (regardless of the actual location on the meter
scale), then you have about 3:1 SWR. Turn the meter around to get an idea
if the diodes (and associated circuitry) are well matched for forward and
reflected.

I have used a number of el-cheapo CB SWR meters even up on two meters and
they work surprisingly well, even more sensitive than ham SWR meters for
VHF-UHF, and not that far off of what the ham SWR meters report, and so
are good for handie-talkie measurements. So, yes, you should get useful
ball park figures.


running the signal through
the SWR meter to the antenna? Or am I way off in left field?

--
Mike Andrews, W5EGO

Tired old sysadmin