I think that you will get a lot of different responses to this question
John. Here is how I have simplified my home/rover station. Its one
solution. I bought an FT-897 which comes stock with 6, 2, and 432. As
an added bonus, it has HF too ! I then installed a DEM 222 full size
transverter inside it's battery bay so that my radio now covers 1.8 MHz
through 440 MHz, including 222, all in one smallish box with a handle.
For 902 and up I have an old 2m multimode mobile rig that I use as my IF
rig. It's PA has been modified to provide +DC on the IF line on XMT, so
no extra PTT control lines are needed, just one coax switch to move the IF
line from transverter to transverter. Being able to liaison on the low
bands on one radio (2, 222, or 432) while working on one of the microwave
bands on a second radio is important. This is about as clean a home
station / rover station as I have had with one radio covering the lower
four bands and one radio (along with some "boxes") covering the microwaves.
The 2006 CSVHFS Conference Proceedings will have an article as to how I
internally added the DEM 222 transverter board to the FT-897.
73, Jon
W0ZQ
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