[NLRS] Introduction - Thomas WN1C

Sat May 25 01:46:48 EDT 2024

 I looked on line and can't find what kind of transistor is being used in that radio as the RF final, but I would guess that it's not rated to go up to 1.2 GHz.  I would think the power would be low even if you can change the filtering in the radio to pass 1296 Mhz.  But give it a try if you want to.
There is a seller on Ebay selling 1296 MHz transverters for around $100 with a 2m IF.   But that only puts out 100mW, so you would need an amp to get much use out of it.  I have one of his 902 MHz transverters but haven't tried it out.
If your "818" is a Yaesu FT-818, I'm sure you would find that a much better radio to use as an IF with a transverter.  I have a FT-817, and other than I don't like the menus and the display is small, it's a good radio.  I've replaced mine with a IC-705 that I like much better, but the FT-817 is still my main backup IF radio.  Plus the FT818 will do real SSB, and not be wasting half of your TX power on the unused sideband like the Quansheng UV-K6 would.
I'll try and give you an update if I get my UV-K6 on a transverter and make a QSO with it.
73 and good luck with your project,Mark   WB8TGY 

    On Friday, May 24, 2024 at 08:57:52 PM EDT, Thomas Murphy <thomasmurphy.mssm at gmail.com> wrote:  

Thanks for the IJV firmware reference! That looks usefully complete with the addition of the chirp-next interface module for PC memory management. I might give it a spin on the all-mode options with my 818 as communication partner. 

There was a clip on Youtube showing that firmware with 23 cm transmit does show a measurable output, but only a small spur on the spectrum analyzer. With any luck, a "little" transistor re-tuning and filter replacement can do better than that for some decent power out (a watt or two, I expect).

Good luck on your build! The series of radios certainly makes for a low cost option including as exciter.

- Thomas / WN1C

  On 5/23/24 21:36, Mark Korroch wrote:

 Thomas, 
  Just thought I would let you know that I've bought one Quansheng UV-K6 hand held transceiver, and have flashed the radio's firmware with the IJV v3 firmware.  Besides FM, the radio now does CW and DSB (Double Side Band).  I have tested it on 2m and a local ham that claims the radio sounds good on CW and also AM, USB, and LSB when it's in DSB mode. 
  My goal with this HT is to build a simple, small station with a transverter for one of the bands 10 GHz or higher. 
  I have not tried hearing any stations outside the 2m and 70cm band, but I see that I can enter 1296.100 MHz into the radio in CW mode. 
  73, Mark  WB8TGY  

      On Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 08:52:06 PM EDT, Thomas Murphy <thomasmurphy.mssm at gmail.com> wrote:  

   Hello NLRS!

  First, a thanks to Janice and Bruce for getting me set up with the club 
  resources!

  I'm Thomas, an amateur out of Madison, WI EN53GA in the midst of 
  expanding my operating capabilities and RF knowledge VHF+. In part for 
  POTA awards (https://parksontheair.com/pota-awards/) for 6m and N1CC 
  (operating on 10 unique bands at each of 10 parks or contacting 10 parks 
  each with 10 unique bands) and because smaller/easier antennas are 
  simpler for field work than HF at times. It's also fun to add bands to 
  the SOTA statistics. Plus putting my electrical engineering knowledge to 
  use in ways the day job doesn't really require is fun, too.

  My current project is contemplating how to put the wideband FM 
  transceiver of the popularly-hacked UV-K5 series of HTs to use on other 
  bands, particularly 33 and 23 cm for potential low-cost operation up 
  there (minus the uphill battle that is SHF surface-mount design). The 
  latest post on my blog about this contemplates the approach to this 
  (https://trm-radio.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-multi-pronged-approach-to-bk4819-ht.html) 
  and I'm thinking about test plans/techniques for the transmit side of 
  the mods. I'm also using the Q5 Signals documentation 
  (http://q5signal.com/image/catalog/5BVUXr2.pdf) for some inspiration on 
  the receive side.

  While I'm outside the NLRS ARRL circle, I hope to improve on my ARRL VHF 
  January performance later this year as portable analog. My January 
  operation was in at least a foot of fresh snow at Blue Mound State Park 
  qualifying SOTA and POTA activations along with reaching two unique 
  grids across the lower four bands with FM and SSB. The solo trip to view 
  the eclipse and play POTA/WWFF does lend me toward portable over rover 
  operation.

  Looking forward to working club members on the air in the future. 
  Currently not expecting to attend Aurora or Central States this year.

  I've got a Dish TV dish (no longer with LNBs) in storage and an 
  assortment of cables/parts to put to use. Maybe this year!

  - Thomas / WN1C

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