Analog Scales – Purpose of Metallic Strip

test-equipment

I have a couple of meters with analog scales and want to know why they have a shiny metallic area following the scale.

Multimeter

SWR Meter

Best Answer

The mirrored bands are to solve the problem of parallax when reading the meter. The technique for reading the meter is to adjust your head position relative to the meter so that the reflection of the pointer is obscured by the pointer. Then you are confident that you are looking at right angle to the scale and can read the value without parallax error.

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Figure 1. Needle reflection is visible and reading appears to be < 0.4.

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Figure 2. Needle reflection is obscured by the needle itself and reading now appears to be much closer to 0.4.

Images from YouTube.