I'm going to make my own circuit boards for the Miniverter, mainly
because the helical filters I got are a different size (much smaller)
than the ones Paul used. Otherwise, I am going to use an external LO
rather than the oscillator module in order to get more accuracy.
I am going to give these a try as tiny transverters on 144 and 432 MHz.
I hope to have these done in a couple weeks.
73, Zack W9SZ
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 2:33 PM, Les Rayburn <les@highnoonfilm.com> wrote:
> 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
>
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