[Elecraft] Transverters

Tue Aug 6 19:03:02 2002

Guess, you've never operated any VHF gear except for possibly a Heathkit
twoer or an FM rig. You are totally wrong on the transverter.

Who is hacking anything. You flip a switch and the output of your rig (Tx
and Rx) is funneled through a transverter to come out on a different
frequency. You flip it back and your on HF.

As far as cost, you can get a transverter for a little over $100 up to $400
for a Down East Microwave which is superb. Or you can get a 6 meter
transverter from Yaesu for about $700. A good HF rig coupled to a good
transverter is superior to any VHF rig or Hf/VHF/UHF box in existence. The
Kenwood TS-2000, Yaesu FT847, Icom 901, etc. all drop dead when a strong
signal comes on near your frequency. With a good transverter this is not
likely to happen. In addition you get to use all the features of your HF
radio. Many VHF rigs come without any cw filtering.

So net net, a transverter provides a better radio at a lower cost than any
VHF rig built to date that Im aware of.

73 de Dave, N0IT

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike McCoy" <[email protected]>
To: "w8krr" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 4:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Transverters

> At the risk of appearing naive and/or dumb, I just don't 'get it' when it
> comes to transverters.
>
> I guess if you wanted to convert from microwave 'inexpensively' you don't
> have much choice. But otherwise, if you want to listen/operate on a
> particular band why not just get a radio designed for that band instead of
> 'hacking' a rig that wasn't originally intended for it? First, as cheap as
> VHF rigs these days are I just can't see how umm... 'forcing' an HF rig to
> operate on VHF would be money better spent. I certainly can't think it
would
> perform as well as a rig specifically designed for 2 mtrs. Secondly, given
> we're on the downward side of this solar cycle I'd say give it a year or
two
> or so and I suspect 6 mtr rigs will be cheap too ;)