Commercial 2m Transverter

[VK5FACE]

Been Looking For A Transverter To Run 2m SSB With My Icom 718. But Im Not Having Much Luck Finding A Commercial Built One. Cant Use Anything Homebrew Due To Licence. But Most Seem To Be Homebrew.Anyone Have A Commercial One That They Could Reccomend

[VK4GHZ]

Andrew, for a mere €1130 (AUD$1800), Kuhne offer their TR 144 H fully assembled 28-144 transverter to lawyers, CEOs, brain surgeons, and anyone else with more money than they know what to do with.
(You could purchase an IC-910 for this)

http://www.kuhne-electronic.de/en/produ ... -h-40.html



Down East Microwave also offer a 28-144 transverter as well.
http://www.downeastmicrowave.com/cat-frame.htm
http://www.downeastmicrowave.com/cat-frame.htm

A cheap and cheerful alternative might be to keep a look out for a second hand Yaesu FT-290R or the FT-290R Mk2.
Even older IC-202 (with an analogue dial and limited coverage) come up every now and then.

Had you not bought the IC718 already, I would have suggested a Yaesu FT-817, which does HF, 6, 2 and 70cm @ 5W out.
Older transceivers that also do HF/6/2/70 also include the Yaesu FT-100 mobile and Icom IC-706 mobile.

But as far as commercially manufactured 144 MHz transverters go, I think your options are limited, and relatively expensive.

[VK3MEG]

elecraft make one

[VK4GHZ]

elecraft make one

http://www.elecraft.com/XV/XV.htm
(It's always helpful/appreciated if you can include links)

These are kits though.

The professionally-written, fully illustrated manual will appeal to experienced as well as first-time builders. The kits are easy to assemble, featuring "no-wires" construction, and all surface-mount parts used in the kit (15 total) are pre-installed at the factory.

[VK3YE]

Andrew - one possibility is scanning VK Ham/ eBay etc for Microwave Modules series of transverters.

These were available in various bands eg 2m/70cm/23cm.

These were used about 30 years ago when there was a strict divide beween HF and VHF gear and nothing did both.

Like single band multimode VHF transceivers, this product category is pretty much extinct (except for LF and microwaves).

But there would still be some gathering dust and I suspect that asking prices would be very low due to the proliferation of cheap 'all in one' rigs.

Try putting up a wanted ad either there or here.

Just be mindful that transverters are easily overdriven and need a fairly low driving power. High end 1970s/80s HF rigs had a transverter output which provided low power for this purpose. I don't know if the IC718 goes suitably low, though an attenuator is simple to make (the main risk is compromised receiver gain unless it's switched out then).

Another possibility is finding an old FT290R + 30w amplifier for a usable stand-alone package. The FT790R is a 70cm version. But for the price of two you could possibly almost get a used FT817 which gives more bands and is smaller.

[VK2AXL]

Peter is right. When I was operating 2m SSB a lot (15 to 20 years ago) I started out with an FT480R and upgraded to an FT290R2 + 25w amp.

You can get FT480s for $200+. The receiver performance isn't startling, but I should imagine many have been fitted with pre-amps by now.

Since you are restricted to commercially built gear, that'd be your best way forward. Or get the study material and upgrade. Your going to do that eventually anyway

[ZL1UJG]

Hi,
I was going to comment about the minimum power on the HF rig, but someone has already beat me to it.

There are some other transverters such as the old Yaesu FTV700 series, which offer better performance than the MMT series. The old Microwave modules transverters (MMT) suffer from a number of issues. They dont have terribly good frequency stability for digital modes.

I found the FTV700 series transverter good enough for digital modes on 2m as standard, but they are only 1mW drive (0 dBm). So some interface is required to drop between the minimum power of the HF rig.

Not terribly state of the art, but adequate and at the right price.

I have a Flex1500 driving mine,and a DSE 100w PA, plus a masthead RX preamplifier, to make up for the slightly deaf Flex, and do MS contacts every Sunday (NZ only)

Kevin
ZL1UJG

[ZL3MH]

Running a budget Station on the Ham Bands that you can fix yourself. This is what I use.

I looked at the repair of the FT-ONE, FT101, FT901, FT902, FT301, FT7 are the rigs that
are the easy to fix. The 301 is too old.The FT-ONE, the early models were down on
receive. The 101b+e is too old with TV sweep tube finals and a reciever that on todays
market is below par. That leaves the 901, 902 which are very good but not to many
were imported into ZL as they were about $2000 at the time and new solid state
rigs where coming out like the IC701 , TS120,130 etc. The 701 was a nightmare
to fix and not many are left going now. The 120, 130, had a band change switch
sandwiched between two boards that made it extremely hard to fix. All thou,s
old Yaesu rigs had plug in Boards that generally made them easy to fix except
if the synthesizer packed up like in the FT-ONE that would be the end of the
rig, bar spare parts. There is one that I have not mentioned the FT101zd MK1,2,3.
That is one I have gone for . All except the IF and RF boards are plug in and easy to get
at. The above two boards are on a plug in and out system of about 3 to 4 connectors
and extension leads can be made up. Lots were imported into ZL and they cost
from $1300 to $1500. Now a MK3 in brand new condition can be picked up for $500
and one that is not too good for next to nothing , say for parts. I got a MK2
for $100 with the Transmiter not going properly. This has IF width/shift, warc
bands, moble power unit, narrow cw filter, fan, AM board and digital read out.
The MK3 had a APF, Notch and FM board if installed and they work real well.
They have a very good noise blanker which is adjustable as we are surounded by 11 kv
power lines, 6146 finals, digital read out and the MK3 has a remote memory
digital vfo ( FV101dm ). It is reletively easy to fix and keep going these
15kg heavy weights than most other rigs except the FT901, FT902 which has all plug
in boards and FM and AM as standard. I also have the FL2100b, FTV650b ( 50w 6m ) and the
FTV250 2m transverters on one of my FT101zd's. The other rigs for 2m that are easy to repair are the FT221 and the FT225 which also have plug in Boards. Also the TS700s
was very popular.

My HF station is the FT101zd MK3 > FV101dm > FL2100b and the VHF station is the FT101zd mk2 > FTV650b ( 6M 50w ) > FTV250 > AM17 ( 2m 500W ). Both Transverters are linked together with a 11 pinACC connection lead which loops in and out from the FT101zd. Finally
I am interested in 6 and 2m DX, Amateur Radio Satellites and SSTV.

Bye now ZL3MH Murray