Hi!

Another option for diplexers as bandpass filters would be the MFJ diplexers. I use an MFJ-916B diplexer for my satellite station, and I saw a test comparing this with a Diamond MX-72 diplexer that was done a little over a year ago:

http://www.w4gso.org/news/comparing-duplexers-mfj-vs-diamond/

Summary: the MFJ diplexer outperformed the Diamond unit. Also, the MFJ diplexer costs about half of what you normally see for the equivalent Diamond or Comet units. And the MFJ-916B is made in Taiwan, not Mississippi.

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 10:51 PM, Bob WB4SON@gmail.com wrote:

I actually dug up a Comet CF-4160J Diplexer (both Comet and Diamond call them "Duplexers") and swept its response with my Spectrum Analyzer, using the Low-Frequency and Common Port. I was also curious to find out if it mattered if the High-Frequency Port was terminated or not.

The bottom line is that this particular Diplexer would reduce the 2-meter 3rd harmonic by 55 dB, and had an insertion loss of 0.12 dB. And I confirmed that there was a small reduction performance if the High-Frequency Port was not terminated.

I would expect the performance of Diamond models would be similar and I will test one when I find one.

The actual report can be found here: http://wb4son.com/wpblog/?p=2828 (if the link is blocked, try WB4SON dot com and search for CF4160)

73, Bob, WB4SON _______________________________________________

I too have an MJF I use with my Elk and it performs well. More recently I've been using an arrow with my FT-1634 and had no real problems with desense on Mode J. However, on Mode B I had all sorts of problems. FM wasn't so bad but on AO-7 it was practically useless unless I ran <1 watt. As a test I just threw on the arrow diplexer as an LPF and it gave marginal results. I tried many things to get rid of the problem going so far as to convert my 817's to N type rear connectors, hand built and sweeped a set of jumpers, you name it same problem. Eventually I decided to try a terminated diplexer. Not having anything on hand I desoldered the 70cm pigtail on the arrow diplexer and soldered (2) 100 ohm carbon film resistors in its place. Next AO-7 I gave it a shot and it worked like magic even when I was QRO at 5 watts.

With this lesson learned I believe the need for termination may be poorly represented by a bench test. I think that much of the UHF I was trying to block was actually making its way back through the BNC because of its proximity to the radiator. I now have it sealed and wire tied to the boom of my arrow and it works better than I ever expected the arrow diplexer could.

73

Mike Diehl AI6GS

On Mar 28, 2017, at 7:19 PM, Douglas Tabor dtabor@estesvalley.net wrote:

Thanks for that info Bob. Like Patrick, I also use the MFJ Diplexer (and spellcheck likes duplexer too) and have had good success with it. I will be ordering a terminator to correct my laziness (and maybe get a dB or two).

Appreciate your reply,

Doug, N6UA

...

On Mar 28, 2017, at 16:51 , Bob WB4SON@gmail.com wrote:

I actually dug up a Comet CF-4160J Diplexer (both Comet and Diamond call them "Duplexers") and swept its response with my Spectrum Analyzer, using the Low-Frequency and Common Port. I was also curious to find out if it mattered if the High-Frequency Port was terminated or not.

The bottom line is that this particular Diplexer would reduce the 2-meter 3rd harmonic by 55 dB, and had an insertion loss of 0.12 dB. And I confirmed that there was a small reduction performance if the High-Frequency Port was not terminated.

I would expect the performance of Diamond models would be similar and I will test one when I find one.

The actual report can be found here: http://wb4son.com/wpblog/?p=2828 (if the link is blocked, try WB4SON dot com and search for CF4160)

73, Bob, WB4SON

Douglas Tabor dtabor@estesvalley.net

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