[VHFcontesting] What's your favorite IF radio?

[Steve Kavanagh]

Dan:

I've used the HTX-100 in the past on 50/222/432, with a mod to get low power out.  It works, but does have its limitations as Zack says.  Mine is also a bit sensitive to low battery voltage (resulting in chirp and FMing on SSB).  And it tends to need to have the microprocessor rebooted after it has been unpowered for a while (instructions are in the manual).

I much prefer the K2 I have used recently on 50, 222, 432 and 903 MHz in the rover and on 2m in my CQ WW VHF FN05 operations.  It works fine down to 9V or so.  It can be set to read out the VHF/UHF frequency directly, including compensating for up to a few kHz of LO offset.  The drawbacks are that it costs at least 5 times as much as an HTX-100 on the used market, and you will be very unlikely to find a used one with the transverter interface board installed if you use a 1 mW TX level (and may have to look around a bit to find one with the SSB transmit board).  And it is a bit bigger than the HTX-100.

73,
Steve VE3SMA