I'm not grasping what a "forward and reflected power meters" are.
From the article:
"Don’t confuse an analyzer with an oscilloscope, .. .. Oscilloscopes display electronic signals in a time versus amplitude format.. .. as it displays audio or RF voltages. Think of an RF spectrum analyzer as a radio with a slide rule dial .... It is a marvelous tool for seeing RF across the entire FM band. .. ..You can see what and how much is happening on every frequency.."
Agilent N9340B Handheld Spectrum Analyzer:
More recent analyzer systems are much less expensive and consist of a notebook computer connected to a small box. ... a one-box solution because the cost of an analyzer is often around $1,000."
"Most transmitters have forward and reflected power meters. But that only applies to the frequency of operation.
A spectrum analyzer, with a return loss bridge, can look at the station’s frequency and nearby portions of the spectrum to see where antenna reflected power is lower or higher. .. ... Not all RF spectrum analyzers are created equal. There are cost vs. performance tradeoffs. Just because an analyzer can look at the frequencies you want to see, doesn’t mean it is good enough for doing FCC required measurements. ... .. What’s the right model for you? Shop with care. In general, higher cost means more accurate measurements.."
Forward and reflected power meters?
Your transmitter has the power going to the antenna from the amp and being dissipated into space but if a mismatch and not all of the power going into the antenna some of the power gets reflected back into the amp. That's why you don't run an amplifier with out a load like a transmitter with no antenna. That overheats the output and can blow the final.
A meter can measure the forward and reflected power. You want to see little reflected power and mostly forward power.