TV Field Strenth Meter

[scooter]

Gday all

Bought this Field Strenth Meter at a garage sale for $5 yesterday. Appears to be "TES" brand, model MC 661 C.

I bought it with the intention of using it for mucking about with fine tuning the TV aerials at home here, and the aerial my folks use in their motorhome.

Would like a bit of help/documentation/knowledge, etc.

It appears that I attach an antenna feed, UHF or VHF, to the respective RF socket, select the correct MHz range to suit the channels I'm sussing out, tune/fine tune to the correct frequency, then move the aerial around to get the best reading?

The power and battery buttons needs to be held ON for a reading to register on the meter, momentary I think you call these switches, does this sound right or should the switches push on/push off?

The battery button gives a small reading on the meter, does this indicate the juice left in the batteries or something less obvious? The batteries look like a couple of packs of 4 (I think) C size cells wired/taped together in the back of the box.

The UHF button is presumably to switch to UHF range?

The microvolt x 10 button, is it used to magnify a low level signal for reading?

Why the phones socket?

Any help/info on this would be appreciated.

Pic attached.


Cheers..................Sean, tinkerer with stuff that doesn't concern me...:)

[Exador]

Gday all

Bought this Field Strenth Meter at a garage sale for $5 yesterday. Appears to be "TES" brand, model MC 661 C.

I bought it with the intention of using it for mucking about with fine tuning the TV aerials at home here, and the aerial my folks use in their motorhome.

Would like a bit of help/documentation/knowledge, etc.

It appears that I attach an antenna feed, UHF or VHF, to the respective RF socket, select the correct MHz range to suit the channels I'm sussing out, tune/fine tune to the correct frequency, then move the aerial around to get the best reading?

The power and battery buttons needs to be held ON for a reading to register on the meter, momentary I think you call these switches, does this sound right or should the switches push on/push off?

The battery button gives a small reading on the meter, does this indicate the juice left in the batteries or something less obvious? The batteries look like a couple of packs of 4 (I think) C size cells wired/taped together in the back of the box.

The UHF button is presumably to switch to UHF range?

The microvolt x 10 button, is it used to magnify a low level signal for reading?

Why the phones socket?

Any help/info on this would be appreciated.

Pic attached.


Cheers..................Sean, tinkerer with stuff that doesn't concern me...:)

If you got it for $5, it's more than likely stuffed, as these things start at about $1500 and go on up. I'm not familiar with the particular model, but you seem to have most of the functionality sussed. The "microvolt x 10" switch will simply remove a layer of attenuation which is in place to protect against overloading the meter, as you suspected. I can't comment on the momentary switches for power/battery functions, but it doesn't sound right. The phones socket is there so you can listen to what you're tuning in. Don't forget that these things are receivers.

Best of luck with it. If you require calibration, which is more than likely the case if it's an oldie, send it to Electrophone (SAMS) in Sydney. AFAIK, they have the only public facility for the task.

[Iain]

There is a place in Black Rock who repairs and calibrates these, cannot recall his name but given that a new digital meter only costs $600 it probably is not worth the cost of repair.
If, as you state, for mucking around, it gives a reading, although it may not be accurate it will serve to indicate a maximum signal while twirling an antenna (don't forget to move up and down to for maximum signal).
For frequencies go to www.laceys.tv and they should all be listed there.

[scooter]

Thanks for the info, fellas, knew you'd come good. :)

Any further submissions welcome.


Cheers................Sean

[jasee]

In reply to the op, the power button should latch on (sometimes the latching doesnt work). the power supply should be 4.5volts., at which point the meter pointer should reach the red point on the dial (when the non latching battery button is pushed) with the on button on. The phone socket was for listening for the buzz of the uhf video signal or the sound signal (broadcast in analogue from a slightly different frequency to the video). Don't know what the situation is in Australia but here (the uk) we still have analogue signals broadcast from the same transmitters as the digital ones, so an analogue meter such as this is still a useful instument for lining up aerials (I came across this old post whilst googling!)

[scooter]

Goodonya, jasee, thanks for joining up & posting :2tsup:

I used it a while ago to locate the best reception with the aerial I have coneected to the computer TV card. The non latching switches are a pain but got the job done.


Cheers................Sean

[les88]

When setting up antennasI use a long best quality coaxial cable connected to a small TV, that I can see. Move the antenna to the best reception and Bobs you uncle.