[TenTec] 6 Meter Transverter

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On Wed, 2007-07-04 at 15:25 +0100, Doug Turnbull wrote:
> Hi All,
> I have just ordered a TT 1208 6 meter transverter from AOR UK so I would
> imagine this popular transverter is again available in W land.   I plan to
> use this transverter with my O2 and hope to drive an ACOM 1000 with the
> eight watts to get perhaps 80 Watts output.   Has anyone tried this
> combination of O2, TT1208 and ACOM 1000?   I must read the manual once the
> kit comes.   Perhaps one uses the low power output at the back of the Orion
> 2 to drive the transverter and then uses the "TX OUT" and "TX EN" signals to
> control the ACOM 1000 amplifier.
>                       73 Doug EI2CN
> 
I have a 1210 I think it is. 2m IF to 6m RF. It can take up to 10 watts
input, but if the series resistor in the attenuator is jumped it works
with a milliwatt or two. Its RF keyed which doesn't work at that low a
drive level and I found there's no snap action in the keying circuit so
that PA and driver bias are not driven to full level which increases the
distortion of the output. It would be better to be hard keyed which is
possible by grounding the collector of the transistor driven by the RF
detector. Then the diode RF switch is so lossy on receive that the NF of
a transistor that ought to have a NF under 1 dB comes out at 7 dB. All
the rest is from excess noise and before I came up with several other
ways to get on 6m, I was in the process of changing to an external
relay. The DC power also has no RF filter which added more computer hash
to the receiver.

For the price it works better than nothing, but there is room for
improvement. I have made several contacts with mine, but the 100 watts
from my FT-857 is so convenient that I'm not going to complete the mods
that I've started.

-- 
73, Jerry, K0CQ,
All content copyright Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer