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Current revision of Meter is 2.52; 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. It is updated frequently. 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. The two programs are compared below: |
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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 six 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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The meter movement nonlinearity can be accommodated; this
is especially useful when inexpensive meters are involved.
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MeterBasic assumes an ideal movement. |
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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, eight 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 eight "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 foreground 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 only "Arial" (sans-serif) font. |
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A nicely-designed Wizard is available at program startup to
assist in the design of a new scale from scratch.
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MeterBasic has no Wizard. |
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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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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
explanatory graphic.
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Same as for Meter |
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A stand-alone manual ( PDF, 6.5 MB ) is available for free
download.
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That manual applies to both Meter and also MeterBasic but many of the features 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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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. Its icon is placed on the desktop by
default to enable 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. Screens on MeterBasic are somewhat simplified because some of the options are not present. 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: |
Exponent help: |
Linearity entry page: |
Two scales on a plate: |
Special scale menu: |
Ohmmeter scale: |
Wattmeter: |
S-meter: |
Arbitrary scale: |
White on black: |
Modulation monitor: |
vu meter: |
Wizard part 1: |
Wizard part 2: |
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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 2.52 - Significant upgrade to Plate design page; refined as far as possible the horizontal positioning of texts on pages; removed "Center horizontally" button on text-entry page (problematic). Updated to 2.51 - Added "Center horizontally" button to the text-entry page; refined horizontal positioning of texts on printer. Updated to 2.50 - A MAJOR rewrite of nearly the entire program. Ten texts, ten highlights, "up/down" buttons to make changes with instant visual feedback on that same page. Updated to 2.49 - A major upgrade involving the additon of a Wizard to assist in the design of a file from scratch. Updated to 2.48 - File-reading and Preview screen error handlers changed to have separate routines for font errors and all other errors. Updated to 2.47 - added Ohmmeter design routine Updated to 2.46 - corrected problems in special scales routines Updated to 2.45 - added ability to not print ticmarks and arc for each scale (one set of tics, multiple set of labels) Updated to 2.44 - increase number of scales on a plate up to six; increase number of highlights up to eight; increase number of arbitrary text strings up to eight; miscellaneous upgrades Updated to 2.43 - added movement nonlinearity correction capability; updated Help system 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 |
