[600MRG] LF / MF Kit Transverter

[Frank Lotito]

I'd like to throw my two-cents in regarding the possibility of a LF / MF commercially available kit to salvage good performing transceivers, many which are current models:

(1) Lets remember who we are building the kit for - A limited audience of people who are not turned off on the prospect of building, and who are interested in participating on these proposed new bands.  To be successful, as well as snare  those sitting on the fence, the kit should be all inclusive, including an optional cost, preferably all metal case with all the necessary machine work done, and TR switching for at least the popular modes, such as QRSS, hand sent CW, and WSPR.

(2) The audience will be heavily biased to the "older generation. " That population, me included, are all to frequently afflicted with tactile and visual acuity problems, and whose endurance and steadiness leaves a lot to be desired.  Thus SMT is not justified from an ergonomics point of view, as well as not justified from a  technical point of view.  This is a super-extra l-o-n-g wave device, not a millimeter wave device! For many died in the wool scratch-built home brewers, dead bug construction for this device in this frequency range is more than adequate; but for a commercial kit, not the best idea.

(3) Along with (2) above, use of only "full sized" leaded components intended for at least one-tenth inch pitch PCBs, and this included ICs.

(4) Be careful when choosing components - It definitely is a bad idea to choose components already obsoleted, or the manufacturer earmarked as "not recommended for new designs."

(5) Be careful of the LO.  Choosing the wrong LO could open the user up to interference problems.  Fort example, as I vaguely recall the mid to late 1970's era 160 meter receiving up converter that appeared in QST that converted up to the 20 meter band.  A choice of LOs may be desirable to minimize the possibility of birdies just where you don't want them.  The LO probably does not have to be stable enough for QRSS 1200, but definitely stable enough for standard format WSPR.

(6) I see no justification in being able to shoe-horn the transceiver kit into the already fully-packed innards of a modern transceiver.  That is asking for trouble.  It may be the cat's meow to accomplish this, but again not required for successful transverter performance.

(7) An option to hire someone to assemble and test out the kit, or fix a kit that never worked since day the assembly person finished the kit.  The assembly instructions should also have in-process tests.

I'm sure there are other concerns - GL

73 Frank Lotito  K3DZ / WH2XHA