T2tim wrote:I thought I would update this since I never bothered 2 years ago! I returned the handset to Thunderpole because I thought it was only outputting 3 watts on UK FM.....but: Thunderpole rigged it up to a watt meter in front of me and it is giving out 4 watts on UK FM. anyone who thinks it isnt should ignore what the handset is displaying and what it states in the user manual.
If Thunderpole used a good quality meter like a Bird & loaded it into a good quality dummy load, then the results will always be different to a radio's built in meter or a SWR/power meter.
The problem is almost all built in meters are only any good as a rough reference. And an inline SWR/ watt meter is again not going to be very accurate, especially if it's a CB quality meter. And unless a power reading is taken into a dummy load, then even with something like a Bird (or similar,) it's only ever going to give you a reading for power out on that antenna, not into 50 ohms.
Edited to add. A friend who is a professional RF engineer would say anything BUT a Bird into a dummy load is only a rough idea meter for what a radio really is putting out. He says that even meters like the Telewave 44 (About £350 - £400 secondhand) are inaccurate & not to be trusted for an accurate reading.