Index of Technical Information for Bird Technologies RF Test Equipment

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Back to the Test Equipment Index Technical Information for Bird Technologies RF Test Equipment
Originally Compiled and HTML'd by Mike Morris WA6ILQ
Formerly Maintained by Robert Meister WA1MIK
Currently Maintained by Mike Morris WA6ILQ.

Click here or on the above image to go to the Bird Technologies web site.
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Bird was founded in 1942 and 2022 marks 80 years of business. While we have a number of donated manuals below the Bird web site has a good selection of manuals for many of their current and discontinued products. Click on the image or link above to go to the Bird web site.

Click here to jump to the Manuals.

Information, Construction and Modification Articles

Bird Model 43 RF Wattmeter Repair Tips from www.chuckmartin.com
This is an off-site pointer (opens in a new browser tab)

Build an Isolated Tee Sampler for a Bird 43 Wattmeter By Kevin Custer W3KKC
Build an IsoTee Sampler for your Bird from a blank slug!

A Photo Tour of a Bird Wattmeter Element By Robert Meister WA1MIK
Ever wonder what's inside one of those elements? Bob took a bad one apart in an attempt to fix it, and took a bunch of photos along the way. And yes, he fixed it!
Note from WA6ILQ: And Bob's article even made the Hackaday web site: https://hackaday.com/2017/10/13/the-early-bird-repairs-a-slug

Inside Those Bird Slugs by Jim Pickett K5LAD (off-site pointer - opens in a new browser tab)
This article has an interesting way to test a slug before purchase...

A simple Bird 43 modification to add a X1-X2-X5 multiplier toggle switch by Mike Higgins K6AER 1.9 mB PDF
Get 3 power ranges from every Bird 43 element you have!! You can add a simple SPDT toggle switch to any Model 43 which will allow you to double or quintuple any slug. Example: a 500 watt slug will allow reading 500, 1000 or 2500 watts.
This article is from the September 2006 issue of QST Magazine.

The Legend Lives On - An RF Wattmeter For Power Measurements White Paper By Lynn Strube, Bird Technologies Group Applications Engineer

Miscellaneous Bird RF information compiled by Mike Morris WA6ILQ

Manuals

The Bird web site has a good selection of manuals for most of their current and many of their discontinued products.
Click on the link at the top of this page to go to the Bird web site.

DONATIONS OF ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OR PDFs OF MANUALS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Below are five versions of the Bird 43 wattmeter manual (there may be other manual versions that aren't here). The 43 Wattmeter is designed to measure RF power with a full-scale accuracy of less than ± 5% of the full scale value. The Model 43 has been manufactured continuously since the 1950s (for over 60 years) and relatively unchanged in that time period. Very few manufacturers can make that claim. And with the correct slugs it can measure RF power from 450 KC to over 2 GHz and from 100 milliwatts to 10 KW!

The Bird 45 series are basically a rack-mount version of the model 43. The 4521 has a single line section (i.e. use a single slug), the 4522 has two line sections (using two slugs) allowing measurements of both forward and reverse power with a single meter and a toggle switch to select between the two slugs. The 4527 has dual line sections, dual meters and a sampler output.

All of the model 43 manuals that we have use "Megahertz" as opposed to "Megacycles" and that dates all of them to newer than the mid 1960s.

Bird 43 Wattmeter Manual 2.26 MB PDF courtesy of K5GZR.
This version is dated 1969, does not have any "print through" and is a much better scan than the one below.

Bird 43 Wattmeter Manual 2.8 MB PDF courtesy of K4XL and BAMA
This version does not have a copyright date and has some "print through" of the other side of the page.

Bird 43, 43P, 4305, 4431, and 4521-27 Wattmeter Manual 903 kB PDF
This is Instruction Book Part Number 920-43 Rev. D, dated 1998, 2001.

Bird 43, 4431, 43P, Series 4300 and 4520 Wattmeter Manual 831 kB PDF courtesy of K4XL and BAMA
This is Instruction Book Part Number 920-43 Rev. E, dated 2004.

Bird 43, 4431, 43P, Series 4300 and 4520 Wattmeter Manual 831 kB PDF
This is Instruction Book Part Number 920-43 Rev. L, dated 2016.
Bird 4020-series RF Directional Thruline Power Sensor Instruction Manual 209 kB PDF
Covers models 4021, 4022, 4024, 4025, dated 2003.

Bird 4021 RF Directional Thruline Power Sensor Instruction Manual 260 kB PDF (used with 4421)

Bird 4022 RF Directional Thruline Power Sensor Instruction Manual 261 kB PDF (used with 4421)

Bird 4304A RF Directional Thruline Wattmeter Instruction Manual 387 kB PDF
The 4304 series has a front panel five position selector switch (5 Watts, 15 Watts, 50 Watts, 150 Watts and 500 Watts) and uses an element unique to this model series. It also uses a 20uA meter, not 30uA like in the 43, 43xx and 45xx series.

Bird 4350, 4351 and 4352 "Ham-mate" Wattmeter Manual 1.5 MB PDF
This is the manual for the Bird 435x series of HF and VHF RF Directional Wattmeters (thruline style) that were manufactured for the ham radio market under the name "Ham-Mate". The 4350 is rated at 200 watts (low range) or 2000 watts (high range), and from 1.8 to 30 MHz. The 4351 was the same unit but 200 watts (low range) or 1000 watts (high range). The 4352 is rated at 40 watts (low) or 400 watts (high) and from 50 to 150 MHz.

Bird 4360 and 4362 "Ham-mate" Wattmeter Manual 1.5 MB PDF
This is the manual for the Bird 436x series of HF and VHF RF Directional Wattmeters (thruline style) that were manufactured for the ham radio market under the name "Ham-Mate".
These were designed specifically for the amateur radio market and use internal fixed couplers. The 4360 is rated at 200 watts (low range) or 2000 watts, and covers the HF region from 1.8-30 MHz. The 4362 (photo 1) (photo 2) is designed for the VHF region from 140 to 180 MHz and is rated at 25 watts (low) or 250 watts (high). With the addition of a 47K series meter resistor and a bypass switch you can add a 0-2500 watt scale. It will work at 220 MHz and UHF but the higher frequencies results in overcoupling and the meter will read high (the spec calls for under 5% of the full scale value in the specified frequency range). As far as I know there wasn't a HamMate specifically designed for the UHF frequency range.

Bird 4380-series RF Power Analyst Instruction Manual 3 MB PDF
The 4381-83-85-87 are 100mW-10kW and the 4382-84-86-88 are 250mW-250kW digital thruline wattmeters. The 4381, 82, 83 and 84 are regular units; the 4385, 87 and 88 are rack mount units.

Bird 4391A Multi-purpose Thruline Wattmeter RF Power Analyst Operating Instructions 214 kB PDF

Bird 4410 Series Wattmeter Manual We have two scans here:
The first is a small file of 258 KB, the second has much better detail but is 2 MB.
This is the model with the front panel seven position range switch option that provides power multiplier factors of 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30 and 100 (plus a BAT position to read the voltage of an internal 9 volt battery). This functionality allows a single one kilowatt element to provide full scale readings of 0.1 watts to 1 KW. Unfortunately this wide measurement range requires the use of specific (and rare) 4410-series elements.
Note that the meter itself is unique to this series of meter.
The 4410 series uses a 9V alkaline battery and kills it pretty quickly; the approximate battery life is 24 hours of continuous usage. DO NOT LET THE BATTERY LEAK INSIDE THE METER.
The 4412 series is a 4410 with an internal power supply and a internal NiMH rechargeable battery. The AC cord uses a standard IEC connector (like on the back of your desktop computer) plus there is a 120 / 240 volt switch. Obviously it is designed to be used as a bench instrument, not a portable meter.

Bird 4421 Thruline RF Power Meter and 4020, 4027A, 4027F, and 4028 series RF Power Sensors Instruction Manual 900 kB PDF
Also includes RS-232 and GPIB interface information.

Bird 6104, 6154, 6156 Termaline Wattmeter Instruction Manual 170 kB PDF

Bird Series 8000 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 547 kB PDF

Bird 8135 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 431 kB PDF

Bird 8141 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 110 kB PDF

Bird 8201 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 175 kB PDF

Bird 8251, 8252, 8255 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Operating Manual 520 kB PDF

Bird 8320-series Tenuline Coaxial Attenuator Instruction Manual 495 kB PDF

Bird 8325 Tenuline Coaxial Attenuator Instruction Manual 490 kB PDF

Bird 8327-300 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Operating Manual 620 kB PDF

Bird 8400-series Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 423 kB PDF

Bird 8833 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 253 kB PDF

Bird 82A Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 1 MB PDF

Bird 800 Antenna Tester Operation Manual 1 MB PDF

Bird APM-16 RF Directional Thruline Wattmeter Instruction Manual 550 kB PDF

Bird Termaline Absorption Wattmeters Spec Sheet 280 kB PDF
Power ratings of 2 watts to 2500 watts, power scales of 25mW to 2500 watts, at various frequency ranges.

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This page initially created 30-March-2009 by collecting all of the Bird information away from the Other Manufacturers page and from other pages at this web site, including the Tech Index page.

This web site, the information presented in and on its pages and in these modifications and conversions is © Copyrighted 1995 and (date of last update) by Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors. All Rights Reserved, including that of paper and web publication elsewhere.

	Bird Model 43 RF Wattmeter Repair Tips from www.chuckmartin.com This is an off-site pointer (opens in a new browser tab)
	Build an Isolated Tee Sampler for a Bird 43 Wattmeter By Kevin Custer W3KKC Build an IsoTee Sampler for your Bird from a blank slug!
	A Photo Tour of a Bird Wattmeter Element By Robert Meister WA1MIK Ever wonder what's inside one of those elements? Bob took a bad one apart in an attempt to fix it, and took a bunch of photos along the way. And yes, he fixed it! Note from WA6ILQ: And Bob's article even made the Hackaday web site: https://hackaday.com/2017/10/13/the-early-bird-repairs-a-slug
	Inside Those Bird Slugs by Jim Pickett K5LAD (off-site pointer - opens in a new browser tab) This article has an interesting way to test a slug before purchase...
	A simple Bird 43 modification to add a X1-X2-X5 multiplier toggle switch by Mike Higgins K6AER 1.9 mB PDF Get 3 power ranges from every Bird 43 element you have!! You can add a simple SPDT toggle switch to any Model 43 which will allow you to double or quintuple any slug. Example: a 500 watt slug will allow reading 500, 1000 or 2500 watts. This article is from the September 2006 issue of QST Magazine.
	The Legend Lives On - An RF Wattmeter For Power Measurements White Paper By Lynn Strube, Bird Technologies Group Applications Engineer
	Miscellaneous Bird RF information compiled by Mike Morris WA6ILQ

Below are five versions of the Bird 43 wattmeter manual (there may be other manual versions that aren't here). The 43 Wattmeter is designed to measure RF power with a full-scale accuracy of less than ± 5% of the full scale value. The Model 43 has been manufactured continuously since the 1950s (for over 60 years) and relatively unchanged in that time period. Very few manufacturers can make that claim. And with the correct slugs it can measure RF power from 450 KC to over 2 GHz and from 100 milliwatts to 10 KW! The Bird 45 series are basically a rack-mount version of the model 43. The 4521 has a single line section (i.e. use a single slug), the 4522 has two line sections (using two slugs) allowing measurements of both forward and reverse power with a single meter and a toggle switch to select between the two slugs. The 4527 has dual line sections, dual meters and a sampler output. All of the model 43 manuals that we have use "Megahertz" as opposed to "Megacycles" and that dates all of them to newer than the mid 1960s.
	Bird 43 Wattmeter Manual 2.26 MB PDF courtesy of K5GZR. This version is dated 1969, does not have any "print through" and is a much better scan than the one below.
	Bird 43 Wattmeter Manual 2.8 MB PDF courtesy of K4XL and BAMA This version does not have a copyright date and has some "print through" of the other side of the page.
	Bird 43, 43P, 4305, 4431, and 4521-27 Wattmeter Manual 903 kB PDF This is Instruction Book Part Number 920-43 Rev. D, dated 1998, 2001.
	Bird 43, 4431, 43P, Series 4300 and 4520 Wattmeter Manual 831 kB PDF courtesy of K4XL and BAMA This is Instruction Book Part Number 920-43 Rev. E, dated 2004.
	Bird 43, 4431, 43P, Series 4300 and 4520 Wattmeter Manual 831 kB PDF This is Instruction Book Part Number 920-43 Rev. L, dated 2016.
	Bird 4020-series RF Directional Thruline Power Sensor Instruction Manual 209 kB PDF Covers models 4021, 4022, 4024, 4025, dated 2003.
	Bird 4021 RF Directional Thruline Power Sensor Instruction Manual 260 kB PDF (used with 4421)
	Bird 4022 RF Directional Thruline Power Sensor Instruction Manual 261 kB PDF (used with 4421)
	Bird 4304A RF Directional Thruline Wattmeter Instruction Manual 387 kB PDF The 4304 series has a front panel five position selector switch (5 Watts, 15 Watts, 50 Watts, 150 Watts and 500 Watts) and uses an element unique to this model series. It also uses a 20uA meter, not 30uA like in the 43, 43xx and 45xx series.
	Bird 4350, 4351 and 4352 "Ham-mate" Wattmeter Manual 1.5 MB PDF This is the manual for the Bird 435x series of HF and VHF RF Directional Wattmeters (thruline style) that were manufactured for the ham radio market under the name "Ham-Mate". The 4350 is rated at 200 watts (low range) or 2000 watts (high range), and from 1.8 to 30 MHz. The 4351 was the same unit but 200 watts (low range) or 1000 watts (high range). The 4352 is rated at 40 watts (low) or 400 watts (high) and from 50 to 150 MHz.
	Bird 4360 and 4362 "Ham-mate" Wattmeter Manual 1.5 MB PDF This is the manual for the Bird 436x series of HF and VHF RF Directional Wattmeters (thruline style) that were manufactured for the ham radio market under the name "Ham-Mate". These were designed specifically for the amateur radio market and use internal fixed couplers. The 4360 is rated at 200 watts (low range) or 2000 watts, and covers the HF region from 1.8-30 MHz. The 4362 (photo 1) (photo 2) is designed for the VHF region from 140 to 180 MHz and is rated at 25 watts (low) or 250 watts (high). With the addition of a 47K series meter resistor and a bypass switch you can add a 0-2500 watt scale. It will work at 220 MHz and UHF but the higher frequencies results in overcoupling and the meter will read high (the spec calls for under 5% of the full scale value in the specified frequency range). As far as I know there wasn't a HamMate specifically designed for the UHF frequency range.
	Bird 4380-series RF Power Analyst Instruction Manual 3 MB PDF The 4381-83-85-87 are 100mW-10kW and the 4382-84-86-88 are 250mW-250kW digital thruline wattmeters. The 4381, 82, 83 and 84 are regular units; the 4385, 87 and 88 are rack mount units.
	Bird 4391A Multi-purpose Thruline Wattmeter RF Power Analyst Operating Instructions 214 kB PDF
	Bird 4410 Series Wattmeter Manual We have two scans here: The first is a small file of 258 KB, the second has much better detail but is 2 MB. This is the model with the front panel seven position range switch option that provides power multiplier factors of 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30 and 100 (plus a BAT position to read the voltage of an internal 9 volt battery). This functionality allows a single one kilowatt element to provide full scale readings of 0.1 watts to 1 KW. Unfortunately this wide measurement range requires the use of specific (and rare) 4410-series elements. Note that the meter itself is unique to this series of meter. The 4410 series uses a 9V alkaline battery and kills it pretty quickly; the approximate battery life is 24 hours of continuous usage. DO NOT LET THE BATTERY LEAK INSIDE THE METER. The 4412 series is a 4410 with an internal power supply and a internal NiMH rechargeable battery. The AC cord uses a standard IEC connector (like on the back of your desktop computer) plus there is a 120 / 240 volt switch. Obviously it is designed to be used as a bench instrument, not a portable meter.
	Bird 4421 Thruline RF Power Meter and 4020, 4027A, 4027F, and 4028 series RF Power Sensors Instruction Manual 900 kB PDF Also includes RS-232 and GPIB interface information.
	Bird 6104, 6154, 6156 Termaline Wattmeter Instruction Manual 170 kB PDF
	Bird Series 8000 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 547 kB PDF
	Bird 8135 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 431 kB PDF
	Bird 8141 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 110 kB PDF
	Bird 8201 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 175 kB PDF
	Bird 8251, 8252, 8255 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Operating Manual 520 kB PDF
	Bird 8320-series Tenuline Coaxial Attenuator Instruction Manual 495 kB PDF
	Bird 8325 Tenuline Coaxial Attenuator Instruction Manual 490 kB PDF
	Bird 8327-300 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Operating Manual 620 kB PDF
	Bird 8400-series Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 423 kB PDF
	Bird 8833 Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 253 kB PDF
	Bird 82A Termaline Coaxial Load Resistor Instruction Manual 1 MB PDF
	Bird 800 Antenna Tester Operation Manual 1 MB PDF
	Bird APM-16 RF Directional Thruline Wattmeter Instruction Manual 550 kB PDF
	Bird Termaline Absorption Wattmeters Spec Sheet 280 kB PDF Power ratings of 2 watts to 2500 watts, power scales of 25mW to 2500 watts, at various frequency ranges.