April 13, 2024 - Been working on this little project. Changed out all the electrolytic and wax/paper capacitors so far and did some rough tuning - able to pickup some stations on the built-in antenna, so pretty happy about that. Next Step is to test the tubes.
6 April 2024 - RESOLVED
After sending the transverter to Bulgaria in November and them not receiving it, it was finally returned near the end of March. I let them know it was back and asked if they had an idea on a fix and if I could do the fix. Hristiyan had me check a few voltages before and after performing a test to replicate the issue, he decided there was an oscillation issue - he had me change out a cap (see below circled in red) and that resolved the issue. This will be used as my 902 rover.
20 October 2023
I have an issue with my 902 transverter - I am monitoring a 902 CW beacon I built and it's S3 to S5 sometimes at my house - if I switch to a SSB memory in my ICOM 9700 and transmit when I return to the 902 beacon memory I have lost about half the signal or more (usually down to S0) - the only way to get the S3/S5 signal level back is to remove power from the 902 transverter.
See two videos below.
Any thoughts on why this is happening?
2024-03-30 - I have had this radio for a while - it was given to me through a fellow ham - it belonged to a non-ham's Grandmother. It was working shortly before he gave it to me, but the dial string broke. I have ordered some dial string and will get this radio on my bench for testing soon.
29 March 2024 - Got some of the capacitor replacements in place.
17 February 2024 - Received this today and opened it up - found a dirt dobber home on the transformer - It was as hard as cement so no telling how long it had been there. Removed it and cleaned off the areas that I could. This is a future project.
Went to Alabama on November 13, 2021 to do some 10GHz communications and caught the 1296 MHz bug and bought a SGLABS 1296MHz transverter, SGLABS 25W amp and antenna (all below) - arrived December 30, 2021. Update: I also have a Icom 9700 I use as a base on 1296.
10 March 2024 - New 1.2G M2 base antenna and tested at home on tripod - below video is the 1.2G beacon from Joanna Bald.
29 July 2023 - Worked Vic WB4SLM on 1296.1 in EM85DA (Hayesville, NC) this morning - he was 5x2 and Q5.
28 July 2023 - The Gemini 1296 amp is hooked up to my Icom 9700 and I am only able to drive it to 50W before I see a SWR issue - did some investigation and the Comet window jumpers I am using can only accept 10W at that frequency - they also have a 1.8dB loss at that frequency. Need to get my entrance box installed to fix this.
8 July 2023 - The Gemini 1296 250W amplifier from The DX Shop was shipped early this week and should arrive sometime next week.
23 March 2023 - Worked Vic WB4SLM in EM82dm on 1296.1 SSB via my home station in EM84au - this is a 154 mile path. Just 2 miles short of my 156 mile record with Bob in Alabama.
14 February 2023 - I ordered a Gemini 1296 250W amplifier from The DX Shop for base station operation - radio is a Icom 9700 and antenna is a Comet yagi. The amp estimated delivery is August 2023.
March 5, 2022 - Setup one of my Ukraine sources as a 1296.35MHz beacon at -1dBm and connected it to a tri-band vertical (2m, 70cm, 1.2GHz) at my home. Traveled to Brasstown Bald which is 7.5 miles East of me to check out my 1.2GHz system.
January 15, 2022 - update
Have the transverter, amp and PTT buffer in the Ammo Box.
January 8 - update
Built the PTT buffer that works with the Icom IC-705 - same DEMI product I use with my 10GHz transverter.
January 4, 2021 - update
Working on power connections and the PTT buffer. Here's a look at the TX signal on USB.
December 31, 2021 - update
Transverter and PA arrived yesterday. Testing RX from my signal source. Next to build the PTT buffer and PTT cables and the power cables.
December 2, 2021 - Update
The antenna is here and the transverter and amp shipped 12/1. The transverter is v2.3 and the PA is a new v2 with improved LNA, with 16dB gain and NF 0.7dB typical.
November 20, 2021
Here's a hookup diagram I found from QZ1BXM.
Looks like there is a new version 2.3 which has a 10MHz external reference port - lower left SMA.
November 18, 2021
26 February 2024 - Picked this up at the Dalton hamfest this past weekend for $100. This will match my 75A-3 receiver.
26 February 2024 - Got this assembled - now to test it.
14 February 2024 - Been pretty busy with work lately, but did manage to get some more done on this project over the past few days.
5 February - There is a 220v transformer that was available in the IT-12 and that's what I have in the IT-12 I acquired - the part number is below.
3 February 2024 Update - Cleaned up the tube sockets and some other solder points more and checked the switches orientation - as suspected they were backwards and I removed and reinstalled them in the correct position. Also started working on cleanup of the transformer wiring and discovered the transformer has an additional set of wires on the primary - was this for 220v hookup?
3 February 2024 - More desoldering work to get ready for the rebuild. Installed the capacitor from the rebuild kit yesterday.
1 February 2024 - Started work on rebuilding this - it's in rough shape inside - someone must have restored it but they did a terrible job - transformer lines cut and spliced and they used electrical tape to insulate the splices. Also found one resistor not connected. Removed most components and used my desoldering iron to clean up the tube and terminal strip contacts. These are pictures before I started the work.
31 January 2024 - Additional testing and it's only working on audio - I did some checks and it looks like the rebuild kit should fix it. Hopefully the transformer is OK.
29 January 2024 - Got this back on the bench yesterday - I added the ground wire and that resolved the hum issue and it's picking up the signal now from myAWG. The eye tube might need replacing but I will explore this more as time permits.
28 January 2024 - Picked this up earlier in the week and got it on the bench for an initial checkout. All tubes tested good - I ordered a capacitor rebuild kit which also includes all diodes, resistors and capacitors used in this kit. There is a bad hum on this and it's not picking up a signal as expected, so I believe it has something out of tolerance.
27 January 2024 - Had the HW-12 on the bench this week - replaced the electrolytic capacitors and did a tune up on the receive - receive is good but no TX.
25 August 2022 - Over the past week I worked on fixing the HP-23 power supply - the switch was bad and I had to wire it to put 250v on the LV output, as well as wire up the cable (8-11 pin) to connect it to the HW-12. Yesterday I powered up all of this and was able to receive a test signal on 3.818 MHz from my AWG setup for AM modulation. Below left HP23 power supply, bottom right HW-12 and top right SB600 speaker.
1 August 2022 - Received a Heathkit HW-12 I ordered - this is another future project. I ordered a HP-23 power supply and a 8-pin to 11-pin cable to power this.
January 18, 2024 - One last picture - Real ham equipment glows!
January 15, 2024 - More testing today. (Updated)
80M - 500W
40M - 500W
20M - 600W
15M - 500W
10M - 400W
January 14, 2024 - Checking the 30L-1 this morning on 80M and got 500W - very happy about that and consider this project a success.
January 12, 2024 - This past week I looked over the full 30L-1. I verified all the capacitors and resistors looked good, fixed the meter glass putting it back in its proper place (was pushed in), forgot to change the meter lamp, and also added the MOV on the back for grid flashover protection. Then I buttoned the unit back up and pending receipt of a few cables it's ready for testing with the KWM-2.
January 7, 2024 - Put the 30L-1 amp on the bench to check it out. Took the bottom cover off and the diode board looked good. Also verified the small "fuse" and that the 2W resistor was changed to a 5W resistor. Will check the back and add the MOV if necessary and check the capacitor board. The meter will need to be removed and the glass ring fixed so the glass is in the right place.
December 9, 2023 - The amp arrived and it looks good - the tubes lit up and appear to be in good shape visually - I saw 2000v so that part is good - I didn't pull the case off but it appears to have the original diode and HV board.
December 4, 2023 - Purchased a Collins 30L-1 amp to go with my KWM-2.
