My first "satellite" rig was a pair of Drake B-line twins with the TC-2 transmit converter and SC-2 receive converter, a homebrew 2-meter turnstile on a tripod in the driveway, and 10- and 15-meter dipoles in the garage & house attics. I could work RS-10/11, RS-12/13, and RS-15 in modes A, K, and T, as well as HF, and had less than $600 invested in the whole station.
Over the weekend I will be posting for sale a bit of ham radio history that will enable someone to uplink to AO-7 and FO-29 on the cheap... a KLM Echo 70. Watch for more details!!!
George, KA3HSW
----- Original Message ----
From: k6yk k6yk@juno.com To: nss@mwt.net Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Fri, February 4, 2011 11:33:46 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Linear Xpndr Operating Economics.
Boy, that sounds familiar ! My first Oscar station was a Regency HR-2B FM rig with ONE crystal in the middle of the uplink band on 2 meters, keying the high-low power switch. You couldn't hear the low power but the 15 watts on high power made it fine.
And the receivers were an HW-101 and Hallicrafters SX-117. Bought an AMECO preamp for HF, which helped out on 10 meters.
That was good enough to work lots of stations, maybe a total of 600 QSO's on OScar 6 and 7!
Then when the RS-10, 11 came along, I tried some mobile work using an ICOM 230, again only one frequency, keying the PTT line, no chirp, and Yaesu FT-301 for receiver. Larson 2 meter antenna and Hustler 10 meter antenna on the pickup. Worked quite a few QSO's that way, too!
All CW only, of course on mode A. Didn't get an all-mode rig until about 1986 during the "RS" era.
73, John