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 MeterBasic one of the programs included on the Bonus CD accompanying the 2010 ARRL Handbook |
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Current revision is 2.42; revision history is at the bottom of this page These programs - Meter and MeterBasic - are designed to have a computer do the hard work in making a precision scale for a d'Arsonval analog meter. The resulting scales can appear as nice (or nicer!) as those found on commercial meters. Meter is a professional-level meterscale drawing program with no time or usage limitations. It requires a text-based key to operate. MeterBasic is a fine program for the hobbyist who wants to generate a simple scale on occasion. MeterBasic is based on a subset of the features found in Meter. It requires no key and has no time or usage limitations. To provide an incentive to upgrade from MeterBasic to Meter, many of the features found in Meter are absent. To upgrade from MeterBasic to Meter, simply download Meter, purchase the key for it and then take advantage of that program's many wonderful added features. |
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programs: |
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Meter is a full-featured professional-level program requiring a
purchased key to operate
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MeterBasic requires no key and has no time or usage limitations but has limited design capabilities |
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Meter draws up to four scales on a single plate.
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MeterBasic draws one scale on the plate. |
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The program does dB, vu, VSWR and S-meter scales; each of
those routines has appropriate options for customization. All of
those are in addition to totally-arbitrary scales.
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MeterBasic does not draw those special scales. A single simple
linear scale can be drawn.
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Each scale can have a specified linearity; specify a power
(wattmeter) scale or a slightly nonlinear AC voltmeter scale with a
few key strokes.
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MeterBasic draws linear scales. |
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Each scale can have its own font, selectable from most of those on
the computer.
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MeterBasic uses "Arial" (sans-serif) font for the single scale. |
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Each scale can have its own fontsize; ticmark lengths and the
spacing to the ticmark labels follows accordingly.
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MeterBasic allows the fontsize for the single scale to be selected. |
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In addition to each scale's label, five more text strings can be
placed on the plate. Each of these can be placed in arbitrary
locations with its own font size and color.
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MeterBasic allows no added texts. |
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A graphic may be imported and placed on the scale. All the common
graphic types (.BMP, .GIF, .ICO and .JPG) are accepted. Width,
height and placement can be freely adjusted.
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MeterBasic allows no added graphics. |
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Up to five "Highlights" may be added to a plate. These may be used
to indicate warning, overload, or target areas. Each has
independently assignable size, position and color.
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MeterBasic allows adding no highlights. |
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The plate (background) color may be freely specified.
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MeterBasic allows only a white background. |
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Each scale can have its own number of tic marks, how many are made
bold, how many are labeled, its color, etc.
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MeterBasic prints one scale on the plate and its color must be black. |
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Each tic mark and its associated label can be printed (default) or
not (by using the "Select Tics" routine).
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All ticmarks and their labels must be printed. |
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Text may be printed or omitted; most of the fonts available on your
computer can be selected.
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MeterBasic uses "Arial" (sans-serif) font. |
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This program has the uncommon ability to "flatten" the
arc a user-selectable amount to make a more modern-appearing scale.
This is most usable with the thin "tubular" or
"spadeless" style of pointer.
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Same as for Meter |
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The length and width of both the minor and major tic marks are each
adjustable.
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Same as for Meter |
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The arcs may be printed or omitted; their width (thickness) can be
specified. 360 degree arcs are supported.
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Same as for Meter |
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The program delivers output to any graphics-capable printer, color
or black-and-white, which has been installed on the Windows system.
Just prior to printout the printer-selection panel appears to allow
a last-minute change of printer or redirection to a file.
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Same as for Meter, bearing in mind that the output must be black printing on a white background. |
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The scale is written directly to the printer for maximum fidelity;
the output is not a "screen dump." The fidelity of the printed
output will be much better than even a high-end monitor.
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Same as for Meter |
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The scaleplate width and height, the mounting hole positions,
positioning of scales on the plate, and other items are all
adjustable.
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Same as for Meter |
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A calibration routine allows correction of printed output width and
height errors, regardless of the cause.
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Same as for Meter |
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Presentation on screen is autoscaled to always make a full-sized
image regardless of scale size. The printer printout is
auto-centered appropriately on the paper.
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Same as for Meter |
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The program handles plate widths from 20 up to 180 mm, plate
heights from 10 up to 180 mm.
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Same as for Meter |
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Extensive entry checking reduces probability of ridiculous results.
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Same as for Meter |
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A context-sensitive Help system with dozens of subjects and
numerous graphics forms a virtual manual. The AppNote on this site
is included in the Help system.
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The same Help system is used for both versions even though many of the features discussed are not available in MeterBasic |
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Updates and enhancements are added regularly to Meter; these are
available at no cost to the purchaser.
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No updates are planned for MeterBasic |
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In addition to that Help system, most of the input text boxes to
specify items are supported by a graphic illustrating the item
being changed. Just click on the button immediately-adjacent to the
entry box to see the supporting graphic.
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Same as for Meter |
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The various dimensional entries are all metric (mm). A ruler in
millimeters is printed out along with the scale.
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Same as for Meter |
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To support the ruler, a grid showing millimeters is printed on the
screen.
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Same as for Meter |
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All of the design data is written automatically to a "LastSession"
file at program exit time, allowing a simplified program restart.
Start the program, click on the "Last Session" button and continue
where you left off.
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Same as for Meter |
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The supplied file as downloaded is a self-extracting installation
routine. The program itself is installed in a standard manner. You
may place its icon on the desktop as a shortcut.
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Same as for Meter |
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Price of unlocking key: $34.95
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No key required |
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These programs are not general-purpose drafting tools, and they won't duplicate the appearance of all existing scales. They will, however, do a very nice job of making modern-appearing meter scales in a vast majority of cases. Using the text-based key system (no "dongle"), upgrades for Meter are free: just download any later version, uninstall the old, install the new and get on with your tasks! No upgrades are planned for MeterBasic. Meterscale drawing methods involving pen and ink, erasers, compasses, transfer letters, scanners and graphics editors and so on are now history. |
Here are screen dumps from Meter illustrating some of the outputs to the screen. Click on them to see larger versions; use your brower's BACK button to return. |
Plate design page: |
Scale design page: |
Text entry page: |
Graphic entry page: |
Highlight entry page: |
Help: |
Color selection: |
Linearity exponent help: |
vu meter: |
Wattmeter: |
S-meter: |
Arbitrary scale: |
White on black: |
Modulation monitor: |
Quadrant plate style: |
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Want to have a third-party monitor this page for any changes? Easy! Just go here or here to have a robot monitor this page for you. This allows you to be assured of knowing about the latest revisions to the program. Updated to 2.42 - added aspect-ratio adjustment capability to accommodate modern "wide screen" moniors; updated Help system Updated to 2.41 - cosmetic improvements (switch to Arial font for program texts) Updated to 2.40 - added circle on Preview page to assist in designing scales using round plates; found/corrected deleted-tics file-saving error Updated to 2.39 - remove useage counter Updated to 2.38 - cosmetic improvements Updated to 2.37 - major revision to toolbars (navigation); Help system accordingly updated Updated to 2.36 - added "Quadrant" plate style Updated to 2.35 - allow each of the four scales to have their own specifiable font sizes; associated ticmarks have their lengths adjusted accordingly, along with the spacing from ticmark labels to the ticmarks; Help system updated. Updated to 2.34 - use fiducials on plate corners instead of lines around plate to show size Updated to 2.33 - allow changing Special scale back to Standard scale; corrected inability of virtual/actual offset and bottom-to-bearing to be equal Updated to 2.32 - rewrite of graphic-import and highlight routines. Updated to 2.31 - added totally-arbitrary scale design capability to the other special scale designs. Updated to 2.30 - now use a font-selecting routine to select from most of those fonts that are loaded onto your computer (was formerly only serif or sans-serif). Updated to 2.29 - major update to add routines to design db, vu, VSWR and S-meter scales with appropriate options. Updated to 2.28 - add routine to delete (and restore) individual ticmarks and their labels Updated to 2.27 - miscellaneous interface upgrades Updated to 2.26 - allow specification of plate background color (was white only) Updated to 2.25 - fixed incorrect colors Updated to 2.24 - corrected inability of some menubar items to function correctly Updated to 2.21 - corrected problem involving saving texts Updated to 2.20 corrected error prohibiting entry of highlights Updated to 2.19 - Separate printer-driver routines for the "rotated" and "horizontal" ticmark labels. This generally but not always sidesteps printer idiosyncrasies encountered in some printers when they print text on an angle. (Horizontal text prints correctly.) Updated to 2.18 - font-size error in 2.17 fixed. Updated to 2.17 - a major re-write to allow the ticmark labels to "rotate" about the pointer bearing. Numerous other minor items were upgraded as well. Updated to 2.16 - corrected text-position and text on/off errors Updated to 2.15 - input error-checking refinement, prohibition of excess printout size which jammed some printers. Updated to 2.14 - corrected graphic size and position error, now toggle grid and pointer lines, near total rewrite of Help system. Updated to 2.13 - corrected ticmark label vertical position error, "X" exit error. Updated to 2.12 - added "toolbar" for quick visually-logical access to common items; corrected printer-cancellation error. Updated to 2.11 - added "Highlights"; made Help system resolution-independent. Updated to 2.10 - clarified menu item "Print"; fixed error in HPGL file. Updated to 2.09 - changed internal items to allow commas for decimal-point specification of text size in those regions affected. Updated to 2.08 - output to the printer now uses only half of a sheet of paper. Design data is printed separately (done from the Scales Design page or the Plate Design page). Updated to 2.07 - significant upgrade to allow up to five independent text items to be placed on the plate. Each of these has location, color and size separately specifiable. Application Note now part of the upgraded Help system Updated to 2.06 - make key system Windows-version independent Updated to 2.05 - use key file to convert trial version to full version. This conversion method simplifies upgrades from trial to full. Updated to 2.04 - save-file (an internal operation) modified for operation in global regions which use a comma for decimal Updated to 2.03 - added printer selection box Updated to 2.02 - added separate X- and Y-axis printer calibration Released - 2.01 2 September 2004 |
