On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 10:20 AM Zach Metzinger via AMSAT-BB [email protected] wrote:
On 2019-07-04 12:04, H. Stephen Nipper via AMSAT-BB wrote:
Don't give up you will make some contacts. The other option for you is to spend more money and get on the linear birds.
You could easily get on the linear birds with an existing HF rig and an inexpensive transverter[1a][1b] for the uplink.
Eh, what you describe might be inexpensive, but I wouldn't call that easy. I already find it a pain to throw my 910H on top of my car and connect everything to it and be anchored to my car. I much prefer my FM setup which hangs on my shoulders and requires minimal connections.
What you describe has a LOT of components: HF radio, transverter, SDR, computer, and all the cables required to connect all that together. All to be assembled every time you want to operate, and disassembled afterwards. Unless you're assuming some sort of base station, but then what inexpensive/simple antennas will he use?
If he already has an Icom IC-706MKIIG, Yaesu FT-857D, FT-817, or something similar, he could at least do half duplex linear, and if he also has a Kenwood TH-D74, TH-F6A, or some other HT with VHF/UHF SSB RX, he could do full duplex, with a lot less components. Even a 706 MKIIG + an SDR would be less complicated than the HF+transverter+SDR setup you suggest.
73, John Brier KG4AKV