Yes, and I find the TH-D74A works very well as a receiver for the linear satellites. The Elecraft KX3 has greater sensitivity if the preamp is enabled, but at the expense of deafening background noise. In contrast, the TH-D74A has very little background noise in SSB mode, so copy is much more "comfortable." The tuning knob is much easier to control than that of the TH-F6A, with much less frequent inadvertent turning of the concentric audio volume knob while tuning. Even when I do accidentally turn the audio volume knob while tuning, audio level is unaffected when using the Bluetooth earpiece, which I find works very well for SSB, not so well for FM. This is a link to a description and photo of my pedestrian-portable radio setup: https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/kenwood-th-d74a-for-satellite-work.... I also hope to use the TH-D74A much more frequently for packet work once ISS and BIRDS-2 are operational.
73, Ryan AI6DO
On Sunday, August 5, 2018, 4:36:33 PM PDT, Robert Bruninga bruninga@usna.edu wrote:
I'm not following the thread, but are you using the THD74 in SSB receive mode on the linear sats? NeatBob, WB4APR
On Sat, Aug 4, 2018 at 7:32 PM, Ryan Noguchi via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Seems like most portable ops are using a second FT-817 to receive for operating the linear sats. I started out with a Kenwood TH-F6A, which I found marginal for this purpose. Then one of my Elecraft KX3s got the 2m transverter module and got used for only a month before being replaced by a Kenwood TH-D74A just after Field Day. The TH-D74A has been working out very well for me so far. From a portability perspective, I think the TH-D74A is tough to beat, especially since it's also usable for packet satellite QSOs and has a very convenient integrated audio recorder. I find I get quite a bit of desense on FO-29 with my pedenstrian-portable setup using the Elk antenna, but not with the Arrow II, nor with any of the Mode B birds.
I know some have been using SDRs with tablets or notebook computers, but I think that approach will generally be heavier and less conveniently portable than a single TH-D74A. That may not be important if you don't operate pedestrian-portable, as I do. The SDR approach offers the advantage of providing a panadapter capability, which was one of the two reasons I wanted to use the KX3 (and PX3 panadapter) as a receiver. (The other was to provide a much more sensitive receiver than the TH-F6A it replaced, although the TH-D74A is a close second.) Unfortunately, having the PX3 connected resulted in total desense of the KX3. Also, the KX3 was quite heavy and awkward to mount for pedestrian-portable use, compared to the TH-D74A.
Around the same time, I also replaced the FT-857D with a FT-818ND, which has been also working out well. The only down side has been losing the ability to crank the power up to 11 (watts) to get into AO-85 more reliably.
73, Ryan AI6DO