Recently Hackaday featured a Youtube video demonstration—from the Rick’s Ham Shack channel—about using modern technology to replace an aging piece of test equipment.

About Dip Meters

Dip Meters are known by various names: grid dip oscillator (GDO), grid dip meter, gate dip meter, dip meter, or just dipper.

[A GDO] is a type of electronic instrument that measures the resonant frequency of nearby unconnected radio frequency tuned circuits. It is a variable-frequency oscillator that circulates a small-amplitude signal through an exposed coil, whose electromagnetic field can interact with adjacent circuitry. The oscillator loses power when its coil is near a circuit that resonates at the same frequency. A meter on the GDO registers the amplitude drop, or “dip”, hence the name.

Dip oscillators have been widely used by amateur radio operators for measuring the properties of resonant circuits, filters, and antennas. They can also be used for transmission line testing, as signal generators, and for measuring inductance and capacitance of components. Measurement with a GDO is called “dipping” a circuit. ¹