FT METER - An Analog Meter for Yaesu FT-857D and FT-897D - The

Homebrew FT-Meter:

FT-Meter - DIY Homebrew project by MMTJ

Yaesu very thoughtfully added an external meter socket to the FT-857 and FT-897
which is excelleint since I like analog S-Meters and connecting a meter to these radios is
child's play. There are no additional circuits required, merely a 100k preset
potentiometer and a small microameter. A meter with a sensitivity of 100A, 500A or
1mA should be suitable, the final calibration being done with the small internal preset
potentiometer, setting the meter for Full Scale Deflection using the calibration setting
on the radio.
The menus of the FT-857 and FT-897 allow the radio to output indications of Signal
Strength; Power; SWR; Modulation; Voltage and Discriminator.
I looked at the Bowood Electronics website and found a very nice little 100A ammeter
measuring about 60mm wide by 50mm high, so I ordered one along with some other
components that were in my basket for the QRP power reducer and power
measurement project mentioned above.

FT Meter schematic circuit diagram drawn by Frank OK2FJ

FT-Meter - DIY Homebrew project by MMTJ

The physical construction of putting a small meter movement into a case should be very
straightforward, but there was the small problem of replacing the 0 - 100A scale
supplied with the standard ammeter with a suitably calibrated and printed scale.
Producing a new scale for the meter's dial with a professional appearance was more of a
challenge for my graphics / image editing skills! I searched Google for some helpful
images. LDG market two commercially manufactured meters for this job - the FTMeter and the much larger FTL-Meter; these retail at about 46.00 GBP and 66.00
GBP respectively - my FT-Meter should cost about 10.00, but I digress! The
photographs of these products illustrated the layout of the graphics, but nothing that
was reproducable for this homebrew project.
I was beginning to think that I might have to draw something by hand - then I
happened across the website of Frank OK2FJ. Frank has produced an excellent meter
scale for his version of the Yaesu FT-Meter. Frank obviously had the same idea as me,
to produce a homebrew FT-Meter for a fraction of the cost of a commercial unit, but
Frank has greater image editing and graphics skills mine. I saved Frank's image file
and then made a few of my own simple modifications to the image file using a basic
image editing program. The result is shown below and can be downloaded and saved,
ready to be re-sized and printed to match the size of the particular meter being used:

Above: The image graphic for the Yaesu FT-857 and FT-897 meter scale.
Save and print if required.

Printing The Scale: The scale can be printed on paper or thin card and possibly laminated,
which is what I did. White paper or card might be the obvious choice, but cream, light green,
yellow or light blue card would also make a good background colour.
When printed, the image will need to be scaled quite accurately to suit the size of the
particular meter movement being used, otherwise the needle will not line up properly with the
scale and the indication will be inaccurate. This can be done by trial and error until the
correct size is found - a bit of a fiddly and a rather wasteful method. Alternatively a bit of
simple math's can be used.
My image editing program allows scaling of the print-out using a sliding scale that shows the
total width of the image when it's printed and the dpi (dots per inch) output to the printer.
Knowing the total image width isn't especially helpful since what is needed in this case is the
dimension that is the distance between the left and right end markers of the S scale - the top
curve. My simple image editor does not allow an accurate measurement of a portion of the
image, so I did a test print, estimating that the resultant image would need to be 50 mm wide,
the output in this case was 920 dpi. I then measured the width of the top curve on the test
print, from end marker to end marker - it was 40mm. The scale of the original microammeter
is 34mm wide, so the print had to be scaled down in size.
The magnitude of the size reduction can be found by dividing that measurement, 40mm, by
the required measurement - in this case 34mm.
40mm 34mm = 1.176 (the scaling factor)
The original test print produced an scale that, at 40mm, was too wide. It needed to be 34mm
wide. The original image width of the test print was 50mm and therefore this needed to be
divided by the scaling factor of 1.176
50mm 1.176 = 42.5mm
The calculation suggests that 42.5 mm is the width required for the whole image. The image
was printed again at that width and the reulting print measured. It was found that the width
across the top curve from end marker to end marker was, indeed, the required 34mm.
The other way of doing the scaling is to note the dpi output of the original test print, in this
case 920 dpi, and multiply (not divide) that by the scaling factor. The original dpi figure is
multiplied, rather than divided, becuase the dots per inch will increase as the original image
size is shrunk. In this case the new, and correctly sized print, is 1082 dpi. Whichever method
is used, the second print should produce a scale of the correct size.

Above: The image graphic for a simple analog S Meter scale.

Save and print if required.

John, G0TEV, emailed with a helpful suggestion for those who want to produce a custom
made meter scale: Meter Basic is free and will produce a basic linear scale. Meter is a paid

for program that will allow more complex designs such as dB, vu, VSWR and S-meter scales.
Both programs are available here: http://www.tonnesoftware.com/index.html
Felix, ec2alv, writes: Hi, perhaps this may be of interest to you I use GALVA 1.85 to daw all
kinds of scales: variables, pots, meters, etc. for my projects. Just follow the examples and you
will learn to use it fast. Kind regards, Felix EC2ALV