I've often read how inaccurate S-meters are on most modern HF transceivers. I took the opportunity to test some Icom HF rigs, a 746Pro, 735, 706 and a 756ProII. Below is a table showing the S-meter value, what the levels should be in both microvolts and dBm, and the measured value for each radio. Turns out the 735 and 756ProII tracks the S-meter standard above S-7 pretty closely, but other than that they're all over the map!
<>Check out W7GT's similar review of the Yaesu FT-1000 S-Meter: Web or ArchiveS-Meter
Measurements |
||||||||||||||||||
S-Meter Standard | IC-746Pro |
IC-735 | IC-706 | 756ProII | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Value | uV | dBm | uV | dBm | Delta | uV | dBm | Delta | uV | dBm | Delta | uV |
dBm |
Delta |
||||
MDS* | - | - | .062 | -131 | - | .06 | -131 | - | .07 | -130 | - | .097 |
-130 |
- |
||||
S1 | .2236 | -120 | 5.49 | -92 | -28 | 3.20 | -97 | -23 | 2.19 | -101 | -19 | 2.82 |
-98 |
-22 |
||||
S3 | .8902 | -108 | 11.0 | -86 | -22 | 6.10 | -91 | -17 | 2.48 | -99 | -9 | 5.07 |
-92.9 |
-15.1 |
||||
S5 | 3.544 | -96 | 25.4 | -79 | -17 | 12.2 | -85 | -11 | 3.35 | -96 | 0 | 9.12 |
-87.8 |
-8.2 |
||||
S7 | 14.11 | -84 | 54.3 | -72 | -12 | 27.0 | -78 | -6 | 11.4 | -86 | +2 | 19.1 |
-81.4 |
-2.6 |
||||
S9 | 56.18 | -72 | 108 | -66 | -6 | 76.0 | -69 | -3 | 43.6 | -74 | +2 | 54.1 |
-72.2 |
-.2 |
||||
S9+10 | 177.6 | -62 | 495 | -53 | -9 | 240 | -59 | -3 | 76.7 | -69 | +6 | 155 |
-63.2 |
+1.2 |
||||
S9+20 | 561.8 | -52 | 1.60mV | -41 | -11 | 912 | -47 | -5 | 133 | -64 | +12 | 549 |
-52.2 |
+.2 |
||||
S9+30 | 1.776mV | -42 | 4.42mV | -34 | -8 | 1.95mV | -41 | -1 | 227 | -60 | +18 | 1.55mV |
-43.2 |
+1.2 |
||||
S9+40 | 5.619mV | -32 | 11.4mV | -26 | -6 | 4.79mV | -33 | +1 | 398 | -55 | +23 | 5.69mV |
-31.9 |
-.1 |
||||
S9+50 | 17.76mV | -22 | 28.8mV | -18 | -4 | 13.8mV | -25 | +3 | 776 | -49 | +27 | 17.0mV |
-22.4 |
+.4 |
||||
S9+60 | 56.18mV | -12 | 66.8mV | -10 | -2 | 49.0mV | -13 | +1 | 2.04 | -39 | +27 | 53.7mV |
-12.4 |
+.4 |
Project Page |
Home Page |