[VHFcontesting] IF rigs for transverters

[kr7o at vhfdx.com]

I don't know about the 706mkIIG, but the 706mkII has a full (or much 
higher) power spike with the power reduced.  I almost killed one of my 
thermistors because of it.

Here is what I am using for my microwave transverters:
706mkII set to 10w driving SMA TR relay, 30db 25w attenuator (provides 10mw 
out), then each transverter has ~10db of additional SMA attenuators in the 
TXIF line to set the proper drive level at ~1mw.

With this setup the worst case power spike the transverter TXIF port sees 
is 2.5mw (assuming 25w drive and 40db total attenuation) and should be safe 
for my transverters.

The reason I start with 10w is that my 1296 transverter takes 10w drive, 
plus it also makes for easy attenuator calculations.  The disadvantages of 
this are extra outboard components and the increased current draw (the IF 
rig is always putting out 10w), which can be an issue on battery power.  If 
I am operating on battery power for extended periods (like the 10g contest) 
I drop the IF drive to a couple of watts and change the attenuators 
appropriately.


At 08:42 AM 6/2/2004 -0700, N6KJ wrote:

>I currently use an FT-817 as the IF for my DB6NT 10GHz transverter.
>I bought the FT-817 just for this purpose because I was told that some
>"full power" rigs (like the FT-100D) put out too much power or have
>short power spikes at keydown that can fry a transverter.  I would like
>to replace the FT-817 with a "full power" rig so I can use full power
>on 6m, 144Mhz, and 440Mhz when not using the rig as an IF for a transverter.
>I've been thinking about the IC-706MkIIG or the FT-857D.  Does anyone
>know if these rigs are suitable for use with transverters (in general)
>and DB6NT (esp. 10GHz) transverters in particular?  Anyone using one of
>these rigs with transverters?  Any gotchas?
>
>Obviously, one option is to keep the FT-817 just for use with transverters,
>but that's an added expense.  Another option is to buy 6m, 144MHz, and
>440MHz amps for my FT-817.  This will cost about the same as buying another
>rig.
>
>Any advice?
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73, Robert KR7O/YB2ARO, DM07ba/OI52ee  (ex.  N7STU)
kr7o at vhfdx.com

www.vhfdx.com (KR7O/YB2ARO Weak signal, EME, microwave Site)