Thanks for all the responses on the FT-736 and the pointers to the pic hardware emulator.
Just to be clear, does the N6BIL emulator allow the manual tuning of the FT-736?
It would seem that the lack of the ability to tune is a significant problem to making contacts.
73 and Aloha, Tom, NH6 Y
Tom
I read up on that N6BIL emulator box, it appears its' main purpose is to emulate an FT-847 for software that does not support the 736.
This won't solve your manual tuning issue.
A local buddy that uses a 736 does the manual tuning using the tuning buttons in SATPC32. He is seriously considering using 2 radios for transponder SAT's The 736 for transmit and a another radio for receive.
Dave W0DHB
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Tom Worthington Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2013 11:41 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] FT-736
Thanks for all the responses on the FT-736 and the pointers to the pic hardware emulator.
Just to be clear, does the N6BIL emulator allow the manual tuning of the FT-736?
It would seem that the lack of the ability to tune is a significant problem to making contacts.
73 and Aloha, Tom, NH6 Y
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
The lack of manual tuning when under computer control is a fundamental limitation of the rig. When it switches to CAT mode, the front panel is disabled. Nothing an external box can do to change this.
For the FM sats, full computer control is still possible, since all you need is to stay on the single Doppler-adjusted frequency. It is definitely an annoyance when working the SSB/CW sats, however, but I find that operating the good old fashioned way (manually) still works well enough. Possibly easier than setting up two rigs, depending on your setup.
The NORmal and REVerse tracking settings of the SAT mode switch really helps here. All you need to do is find yourself in some quiet part of the transponder passband, then switch to the tracking setting for your particular bird. (I believe they're all Reverse at the present time.) Then you can spin the knob to find a QSO, and join in. You'll remain close to the right tuning for a few minutes (except at TCA), and can adjust real-time once you start talking by taking it out of tracking and over to either Tx or Rx (generally whichever band is higher).
Not too hard once you do it a few times.
Good luck, and enjoy the rig,
Greg KO6TH
Tom Worthington wrote:
Thanks for all the responses on the FT-736 and the pointers to the pic hardware emulator.
Just to be clear, does the N6BIL emulator allow the manual tuning of the FT-736?
It would seem that the lack of the ability to tune is a significant problem to making contacts.
73 and Aloha, Tom, NH6 Y
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
On 18/11/13 5:40 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
Thanks for all the responses on the FT-736 and the pointers to the pic hardware emulator.
Just to be clear, does the N6BIL emulator allow the manual tuning of the FT-736?
It would seem that the lack of the ability to tune is a significant problem to making contacts.
No, an emulator/translator won't allow the FT-736R to be manually tuned. This is a limitation of the ancient CAT interface on this radio. The only way you could manually tune the 736 would be with an external encoder connected to the translator's micro, so the translator can send the VFO adjustments to the radio and the new frequencies (that were sent to the radio) back to the PC.
participants (4)
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David Beumer -
Greg D -
Tom Worthington -
Tony Langdon