[600MRG] Fwd: Re: Testing new Transmit downconverter

Thu Apr 25 12:04:51 CDT 2013

Hey Neil,

I suppose these rigs have the high stability boards in them but its encouraging 
to know that the smaller yaesu rigs, where everything is packed so closely 
together, are staying on freq.  If one of the goals is to populate these bands, 
and that is one of my goals, that will be important since there are so many of 
those radios on the air today.

I'll be on again tonight.. Thanks again to all that have contacted me on the 
list or directly with comments.  I was swapping a lot of equipment around last 
night and experimenting so I am grateful for everyone's patience.  Also it was 
awesome to see so many listeners out there last night.  Condx were not great.  
Really appreciated!

73,

John /XIQ/NJD

________________________________
From: Neil Klagge <w0yse.7 at gmail.com>
To: John Langridge <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Thu, April 25, 2013 11:34:08 AM
Subject: Re: [600MRG] Fwd: Re: Testing new Transmit downconverter

A very interesting discussion, Gentlemen. Thanks.

I, too, have a Yaesu rig that seems to be very stable. It is the old FT100d (not 
the 1000d) which I think is probably better than the 857/897 on LF/MF (altho I 
am not positive about that).  It seems to stay on freq on receive when I use 
Argo to copy qrss60 even, so I expect it will do the same on transmit. Some day 
soon I may find out for sure on the tx part...hi

Neil (Klagge); 
[Are there any other "Neil's" out there on this refector? Just curious]
:-)

On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM, John Langridge <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net> 
wrote:

Oh I certainly understand that problem.  I've been fortunate so far with my
>yaesu rigs to be relatively stable and I realize that my situation may be the
>exception rather than the rule - both the FT1000 MkV and the FT 920 seem to be
>pretty good.
>
>That said, I'm not too interested in the longer modes personally, and really
>prefer QSO's but I do think there is a lot of value in the data recovered from
>WSPR2.
>
>Thanks again.  What I really like about this option is that it gives an
>affordable solution to get on than band that is not surface mount.  I am sure
>there will be others that come out of the woodwork shortly.
>
>73,
>
>John /XIQ/NJD
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: pat bunn <pbunn at patbunn.com>
>To: 600mrg at w7ekb.com
>Sent: Thu, April 25, 2013 10:58:52 AM
>
>Subject: [600MRG] Fwd: Re:  Testing new Transmit downconverter
>
>
>
>
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject:     Re: [600MRG] Testing new Transmit downconverter
>Date:     Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:56:15 -0400
>From:     pat bunn <pbunn at patbunn.com>
>To:     John Langridge <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net>
>
>
>
>John,
>
>The one that I built worked flawlessly also - That was not my point - The
>stability is in the transceiver driving the transverter - Most transceivers are
>not frequency stable enough in transmit mode to work with slow mode
>transmitting. They get hot and drift a few cycles.
>
>If you can find a transceiver that will be stable during long 10-15 minute
>transmit cycles, you will have no problem.
>
>Pat
>
>
>On 4/25/2013 10:06 AM, John Langridge wrote:
>> Hey Pat - sorry to hear about you experience.  The one I built based on the
>>G3XBM-design driving the GW3UEP amp worked flawlessly through the 2012/2013
>>season and continues to function pretty stable even using a 3.2 rock for an 
LO.
>>
>> For CW I use a homebrew VFO and separate amp but could use the transverter 
>with
>>good success.  I just hate dealing with the offset that the radio 
automatically
>>applies to the carrier freq which is why I prefer the home brew VFO.
>>
>> John Molnar's board is very unique in that it has an option for and out board
>>10 MHz GPS locked LO instead of the crystal.  That is something I will look at
>>going forward. The board seems to do well and is good value for someone who 
may
>>be new to putting kits together and wants to get on the band.  I give it a
>>thumbs up so far and I am doing some tweeking this morning to make sure I got
>>the toroids wound properly.  My original downconverter does not use toroids 
but
>>had equal adjustments that had to be made to make sure I was getting max power
>>and best wave form.. Too bad we can't just wind them and put them in HI!
>>
>> thanks for the comments.  SO far I like what I see on the board XKA designed.
>>Its certainly much easier than the dad bug design I used for the original box!
>>
>> 73 and looking for you in the noise!
>>
>> John /NJD/XIQ
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* pat bunn <pbunn at patbunn.com>
>> *To:* John Langridge <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net>
>> *Sent:* Thu, April 25, 2013 8:45:59 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [600MRG] Testing new Transmit downconverter
>>
>> My experience with transmitting down converters is not all that good - 
>actually
>>bad. They are easy to make from scratch, but the problem is with stability in
>>the transmitter or transceiver. I found my IC718 to be worthless for WSPR,
>>especially WSPR-15 even at 1 watt output due to thermal heating causing
>>significant frequency drift. I think Dex also had the same problem with a 
newer
>>ICOM tranceiver.  The IC718 set at one watt out got physically hot to touch
>>after a 15 minute WSPR transmission and was impossible to decode by Dex,  80
>>miles away( a very strong signal) due to drift
>>
>> They are probably fine for CW, but for long QRSS or other long transmit 
modes,
>>you are likely to be disappointed.
>>
>> After testing several different methods to stabilize the transceiver, I 
bought
>>a used HP signal generator to generate my transmit signal to feed the class D
>>Amps. I have this GPS disciplined and am very happy with this solution.
>>
>>
>> Pat
>> WG2XCT
>> N4LTA
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 4/24/2013 8:47 PM, John Langridge wrote:
>> > First of all, let me say thanks to all of the stations that continue to
>>listen
>> > and transmit on 630m as the days seem to get longer at an alarming rate and
>> > noise keeps going up.  The last month has been brutal here in NTX but the
>>last
>> > few nights have shown some improvements.  Thanks again!
>> >
>> > Tonight I am testing a new transmit down converter developed and kitted by
>>John
>> > Molnar, WA3ETD/WG2XKA.  The kit is pretty sweet, with a minimum of parts 
and
>> > appears to be capable of producing close to 20 watts using an IRF510 at
>13.6v
>> > and around 2 amps.
>> >
>> > SO far I really like what I am seeing.  Anyway, I will be testing it 
tonight
>>but
>> > plan on letting it run in some capacity over night, whether as exciter only
>>or
>> > driving the amp, I have not yet decided.
>> >
>> > 73 and again, thanks for listening!
>> >
>> > John KB5NJD/WG2XIQ
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > 600MRG mailing list
>> > 600MRG at w7ekb.com <mailto:600MRG at w7ekb.com>
>> > http://w7ekb.com/mailman/listinfo/600mrg_w7ekb.com
>> >
>>
>
>
>
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