[VHFcontesting] W1GHZ Flex1500 Mini-Transverter

[Les Rayburn]

Russ & The Group,

The W1GHZ mini-transverter is impressive, and the price is certainly right too. But I’d love to see assembled versions offered. If I had the time to build a kit, then I wouldn’t need to spend all my time on the night before a contest rushing around like a crazy man. I have two kits on my bench now that could probably be assembled in two or three evenings of serious effort, but they’ve been completed piece meal an hour or so at a time..and it’s taken months. Many of us prefer a plug and play solution. 

Working just two hours with the Flex 1500 as the IF rig for my transverters was all it took to convince me that SDR really is the wave of the future for VHF Contesters. The ability to see stations that are off the calling frequency also has the added advantage of encouraging people to move away from these channels without having to worry about what you might be missing. Also, if someone is off frequency on a microwave band, it really cuts down on the time required to “find them”. 

If you’re operating with transverters and haven’t tried this yet, I highly recommend it. I think that the Flex gang is planning to come to the SE VHF Convention in Huntsville. Maybe they could arrange to set up a couple of 10Ghz rigs using the Flex 1500 as the IF? I think you’d make a believer out of a lot of people in a hurry. Married to the W1GHZ mini-transverters, you’d have a powerful system for driving microwave gear. 

I’ve resisted the thought of buying and using transverters for 144 and 432 since I have a “perfectly good Icom IC-910H” but after this contest experience, I may take the plunge and purchase transverters for the lower bands too. Using the SDR visual interface is almost a completely new experience. And during 6 Meter band openings, wow! 

Last June we had a nice 2 Meter e-skip opening, and stations spread out across about 40khz of the band on either side of 144.200. While I worked four new grids that day, I later learned that I had missed at least two more by having to tune so much, looking for other stations and then bouncing back to the calling frequency to be sure that I didn’t miss any newcomers. Using the SDR, I could have done all that visually, and likely would have picked up those additional two grids. 

There are some bugs left to be worked out of the software as it applies to transverters, but the basic concept of “SDR vs. traditional radio” is no contest at all. Those who are serious about their point totals, or just need to take every advantage that they can get (like those with serious limitations in antennas) will love having this “ringer” on the team. I’ve got no connection to the company, just a very satisfied user. 

73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114

6M VUCC #1712
Grid Bandit #222




Check out W1GHZ's small transverter for the Flex-1500:
http://www.w1ghz.org/small_proj/small_proj.htm

It's low power, though, so if you have a microwave transverter with high drive requirements then you'd have to modify it.

-Russ  KB8U