I just finished building the 1209 2m to 6m transverter, and I have to
admit I'm impressed! Overall difficulty of assembly was not bad at all,
plenty of room on the circuit board for my big fat fingers to put in the
parts. No SMD's here! They did short me one 47K resistor, and added an
extra 2.2K. My only disappointment was the _large_ list of assembly
manual corrections which had to be made by the customer. Last time I
toured the Ten Tec factory, they were printing thier own manuals. Since
the assembly book is bound with a plastic spring, it seems to me it
would be an easy matter for Ten Tec to re-print the necessary pages and
make the corrections by replacing the incorrect manual pages prior to
shipping the kits to the customer. The case is made of HEAVY steel with
an aluminum insert. This makes it seem like a professionally assembled
unit. The receiver peaked up nicely. The assembly manual gives a chart
for setting the RF input power to many values ranging from 1/4 watt up
to 10 watts. I chose to set mine up for 1 watt input. Only one resistor
is included in the kit for setting the input power, and it's for 5 watts
in, so I had to dig in my junk box for the correct value resistor to
lower the input value. After a bout with "operator error" when hooking
the unit up for final testing and adjustment, the transmitter did nicely
at 11 watts (for .5 watts in!) on my DAIWA CN-620 SWR/power meter with
outboard dummy load- 3 more watts than advertised. An increase from 1/2
watt to 1 watt RF input produced negligible power increases. During
assembly I set the 94MHz IF with a cheap low-resolution frequency
counter, and was pleased to find 50.125MHz was at 144.124.6 on my
Kenwood TS-700S all-mode 2m radio. I connected the little 1209 to my 75m
delta loop. My first contact on 6 meter SSB was KE4VZI, Jim, of nearby
Surfside Beach, SC. About 12 miles away, Jim was 10 over S-9. The noise
floor was S-5 at that time. I then dialed around to see what was there,
and found a local AM broadcast station (supposedly on 1.520) at 53.810.
I changed from my 75m loop to my three element tribander at 60 feet, and
the broadcast station went totally away. I suspect a properly tuned 6m
antenna will probably provide a signal boost on 6m and some attenuation
of the unwanted broadcast station. Sorry for the length of this message-
but when I looked for a review of this unit, none could be found. I hope
you find this information useful and interesting (hopefully enough so
that you order and build your OWN 1209!) To say that I am generally
pleased is an understatement- THANKS Ten Tec! Look for me on 50.125 for
a demo-
73 all- Web Williams- KR4WM at FM03RK
Now QRV on 6 meters thanks to Ten Tec from Myrtle Beach, SC
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"Those that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin (1773)
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