2304 Transverter

8 July 2023 - Have the 2304 transverter and amp in a plastic ammo box now like my 1296 transverter and amp.

The recording below is from the Cherohala Skyway during the June VHF and up contest - first time hearing the beacon.

4 March 2023 - Went to Brasstown Bald (parking lot) today to listen for the 2304 beacon on Joanna Bald but could not hear it there.  Checked my 2304 transverter, and  I found the problem - I was using 144MHz as the IF, and should have been using 434MHz.

23 January 2023 - picked up the 2304 antenna - it's a 8' Directive Systems looper.

17 January 2023 - Received the directional coupler a few days ago and measured the power at 7W out of the DEMI PA.

6 January 2023 - Tested the 2304 transverter on the bench - adjusted power out to 1W to drive the DEMI 1315 15W PA - I still need to measure the PA output - I need to locate a suitable directional coupler to do that.

3 January 2023 - 2304 transverter arrived last week and I have tested it on the bench - I am purchasing a large Directive Systems looper antenna from a ham in S.C. for use with it.  I also changed the DEMI 1315PA to a PTT-Low to key.

21 December 2022 - 2304 transverter is in customs.

15 December 2022 -2304 transverter shipped yesterday.

14 December 2022 - Per SG Labs my 2304 transverter should be shipping today - on my SG Labs 902 transverter it took about a month to receive it of which included customs processing of two weeks.

5 December 2022 - Today marks three weeks since I ordered the 2304 transverter from SG Labs - hopefully it will ship soon.

 27 November 2022 - 2304/5760 panel antenna.

14 November 2022 - Recently I picked up a deal on a DEMI 2304 15-watt PA and so I ordered a SG Labs 2304 transverter.

DEMI 1315 PA

KD4APP Lab

April 7, 2023 - Testing the power meter and sensor with my 3400 SGLABS Transverter.

April 3, 2023 - Returned the 80425C sensor because it was faulty and purchased a 80330A sensor 0.01-18GHz/2W which arrived today and works great.

March 22, 2023 - New lab gear purchased. Gigatronics 8041C power meter, 20954-001 cable and  80425C 0.01-18GHz/50W sensor.

December 16, 2021 - More work on the lab getting new equipment in place.

December 15, 2021 - The HP8350 Sweep Oscillator frame with 83592A .01-20.0GHz plugin arrived (top) - testing it with my new EIP548A counter and adjusting as the Sweep Oscillator warms up.

December 9, 2021 - Arrived yesterday - EIP548A 10Hz to 26.5GHz counter with Option 8 - works great - my current signal source only goes to 20GHz and it read it fine.

Just purchased December 4, 2021 - HP8350 Sweep Oscillator frame with 83592A .01-20.0GHz plugin.  And coming soon a listing of all lab assets.

Lab as of October 30, 2021

New addition to the Lab - October 6, 2021

Lab update - New lighting added - June 6, 2021

Lab is almost finished - April 11, 2021

Lab as of April 1, 2021

 

Lab as of March 31, 2021

Lab workbench progress as of March 29, 2021

432MHz

 

30 March 2023 - Got the new 70cm preamp and sequencer hooked up - used the diagram below - seeing a huge difference so far.

28 March 2023 - The 432 preamp and sequencer arrived - should be able to get it hooked up tomorrow.

22 March 2023 - Ordered a 432 preamp and sequencer from the DX Shop and it will be shipped tomorrow.

KD4APP HAM Station

14 January 2023 - Updated picture of my station.  Recently added a IC-7300 and a Flex 1500.

14 December 2022 - Current antenna setup.  Tower project underway - waiting on tower climber's availability.

12 September 2022 

Updated picture of my station.  Added Q5 222MHz transverter and IC-9700.  Active on 2m, 222, 432 as well as HF.

21March  2021 - My Station...

National 190 Tube Radio - bought in 1962 by the original owner and it works.

Tower

 

Status: Fully Operational

13 February 2023 - The jumpers for 902 and 6M arrived and I installed them.  Next task is to get an entry panel.

6 February 2023 - A local tower guy came yesterday and fixed the rotator and ran the 1 5/8" cable (1.2GHz) and some LMR600 (6M) cable and swapped a few jumpers around.  The rotator fix was easy - just added some washers for spacing between the rotator and the rotator plate.  QRV now on 222, 432 and 1296 - just need to get a few additional LMR400UF jumpers on the ground side to get 6M and 902 operational.

14 January 2023 - Still having issues with the rotor - I have ordered a Yaesu G-1000DXA as a replacement.  The antennas are 432 top, next 222, then 902 and 1296 on cross-boom and on the bottom is 6M.

1 January 2023 - The tower is up - antennas installed are 432, 222, 902, 1.2G, and 6M.  Currently the 432 and 1.2G are connected via 7/8" hardline.  The rotor will be reconnected soon.

28 December 2022 - The tower guy Ryan will be here on Sunday 1 January 2023 to put the tower up.   I have 4 x 7/8" hardline connectors so I should be able to get 3 sections of 7/8" cable.  Last weekend Donald picked up some 1/2" hardline from the Land Road house and I had purchased 2 N-Female connectors for it so I will use it on the 6M antenna. 

14 November 2022 - Last week I picked up the 220' of 7/8 hardline from my home in Ball Ground and tested it - it's still good - remarkable for something purchased probably 20 years ago.  Ryan (tower guy) helped identify the hardline connectors as RFS Cellwave and I have ordered two more N female connectors on eBay to be able to get two sections out of it.

31 October 2022 - Had to cancel the order for 7/8 hardline and switch to LMR-600 as delivery of the hardline was pushed to the end of November.  I ordered three 70' pieces of LMR-600.

18 October 2022 - Got the trees trimmed yesterday - I need to order the jumpers and hardline and then the tower will be ready to put up - hope to have it finished by the end of the month or early next month.

01 Oct 2022 - The first section of tower is in the ground - there will be three more 10' sections added along with a 10' mast so it will be well over the roofline.

15 September 2022 - I have several sections of Rohn 25 that I have had for years - a top, two full sections and 3/4 of a full section which will be partially buried - that should top out at about 30' and with the rotor and a 10' mast put me at  around 40'.  This will give me better coverage North, East and West.

Here are pictures of it when it was at Lake Arrowhead's Main Gate - they gave it to me for free to take it down.

10GHz January 2023

 21 January 2023

Worked Ben K4QF on 10GHz CW, 1.2GHz SSB, and 432 SSB he was in EN74HX on Lookout Mountain at Covenant College - I was at the Brasstown Bald parking lot in EM84CU.  Ben was Q5 on CW and 5x7 on SSB.  This is a 90 mile path.

I tried to work Ott W4WSR over near Haysville on 1.2GHz but was unable - we could work on 432.

I also worked Bob W4ZST on 432 but was unable to work him on 1.2GHz.

Below is the keyer setup in my IC-705

FlexRadio 1500

 

17 January 2023 - The Flex 1500 came back to me a few days ago - I added a 10M ohm pull-up resistor between pin-8 (3.5v) and pin-3 (PTT-out open-drain) and the PTT is working now to my transverter - unfortunately my Q5 222 transverter is setup for 1-10W of IF TX power and the Flex 1500 only puts out 2mW on the XVTR port - the transverter would need to be modified to accept less power.

10 January 2023 - The Flex 1500 is being sent back to me - there were no issues found on the FlexWire - the only issues found were a few filters out of calibration and this was corrected.  It looks like I will need a pull-up resistor to key my transverter - this will provide a high on RX and transition to a low on key down.

27 December 2022 - Sent the Flex to Troy Radio for repair.

25 December 2022 - Flex 1500 arrived 12/23 and HF is working great - tested with my transverter and the FlexWire interface has a low on pin-3 which is supposed to have a voltage present and go low only when keyed - checking the forum to see if this is a software/firmware issue or a hardware issue that will require a repair.

21 December 2022 - Picked up a FlexRadio 1500 this past week - should arrive on Thursday.