Will second Zach's favor of the HTX-100. They seem to be cheaper in
sunspot cycle lulls, however. They're Uniden HR-2510 at heart, and
RatShack actually made improvements over the '2510 in terms of RX
performance, simplifying by dumping AM/FM/LSB. This is my 222 IF for
the field. Tip: buy several, mod them all, so you have a back-up.
Various issues have cropped up on all three of mine, such as locked up
VFO and squirrely RX audio. Having a spare in the parts box in the
field is helpful, so you can keep plugging in the 'test / Sprint, then
go home and fix/drop kick the bum IF rig.
Using Peaberry SDRv2 for home 222 -- low power anyway, perfect fit. SDR
fits in the prev. ver. DEMI case, just put a USB port on the back (or
front) and go.
Also use FT-817 for 10GHz.
Also use old IC-251As for my W1GHZ "Cheap Rover" boxes 902-2304. Mod'd
the 251A for 0dBm easily, bypassing the last three stages in the PA w/
some '174 jumped over to the T/R sw. RX performance is OK, if you don't
mind the vac flour display and overall bulk. Removing the 110VAC PSU can
make room for low power xvrtrs if desired. Already outfitted w/
"spare" RCA F plugs on the back, so they meant for you to get in there
and mod. However, some 251's are going $100+ higher today than they
were 10 years ago on FeeBay..... go figure....
- J
On 3/13/2015 2:44 AM, Zack Widup wrote:
The HTX100 is better. It has a couple drawbacks too, but mostly I have
lived with them.
The two main ones for me are on CW mode. One is the lack of an offset
in CW. Most ham rigs that do CW will offset the transmit and receive
frequencies by about 700 Hz on CW so you hear a tone when you're
zero-beat on transmit. The HTX-100 lacks this and I have to use the
RIT knob to manually offset. The other is that, on CW, it receives
both sidebands equally well. So in a busy CW segment such as on 6m
when it's open, you hear people both above and below you in frequency.
That isn't so much a problem on the higher bands.
I modified one HTX-100 by removing the amp / heatsink module and
putting an aluminum plate on the rear. I put a low-power 144 MHz
transverter in place of the speaker. I put BNC connectors and
power/switching interface connectors on the plate. The HTX-100
supplies about +16 dBm to the amp module on transmit. That works out
well for a transverter. You don't need a huge attenuator to reduce
this to the 0 dBm level. This makes a nice microwave IF rig.
A lot of people seem to be happy with the FT817 as an IF rig. I have
an FT290RII that I also use as a microwave IF radio. It does quite
well.
73, Zack W9SZ
On 3/12/15, Dan Evans <dan.evans@insightbb.com> wrote:
Hello group,
I'm planning to add a new transverter for 222 to the Rover line up, so I've
been thinking about IF rigs for the past few days.
Currently, I have an HTX-10 that I modified for low level drive I plan to
use. However, the HTX-10 has a couple of serious faults. First and
foremost, the transmit audio is horrible. The stock mic really sucks, so
I'm planning to wire up a different hand mic. Hopefully this will fix the
audio problem. The second problem is the lack of CW mode. My plan here is
to wire up a sound card interface so I can use the computer to send CW.
Somewhat of a hassle, but it should work.
Given the faults of the HTX-10, I have considered just getting a different
IF rig. I wish I could go buy a new KX-3, or one of the fancy new FLEX
setups, but I can't afford that. I'm thinking more along the line of the
HTX-100, or an HR-2510.
So, what's your favorite IF rig? Why?
73
Dan
--
K9ZF
Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Clark County Indiana. EM78el
The once and future K9ZF /R no budget Rover
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Check out the Rover Resource Page at:
<http://www.qsl.net/n9rla>
List Administrator for: InHam+grid-loc+ham-books
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