> I'm thinking of an up-to-date version of the Yaesu FT-936R 736, right?
One feature the FT736 has is full duplex cross-band, to support satellite operation. Is that something the VHF/UHF K3 should have also? Al N1AL On Wed, 2011-05-25 at 11:05 -0700, Lew Phelps K6LMP wrote: > Here's another member of the group offering unsolicited product design > ideas to Elecraft...which they surely don't need, but I know they > welcome. > > My "big wish" product for Elecraft would be an adaptation of the K3 > with multiple slots for small-ish transverters to make a pure VHF/UHF > rig. > > I'm thinking of an up-to-date version of the Yaesu FT-936R, which was > and still is very popular with the weak signal VHF/UHF crowd. It has > four slots for band-specific modules. The rig came standard with > modules for 6 meters and 2 meters installed, and two open slots that > you could fill with 220, 440, and/or 1296 mHz modules. One could also > remove the 6 meter module and use all four slots for vhf/uhf bands. > Hams could buy the bare rig and as many or as few of the band modules > as they wished (sort of a precursor of the K3 modularity, but more > limited than Elecraft's offerings). Even today, with all the whiskers > the 736 has grown over the years (and its mediocre sensitivity), the > "scarce" 222 mHz and 1296 mHz modules fetch $400 to $800 on eBay. > > That, I think, indicates how much demand there is for a rig tailored > specifically for the VHF/UHF contesting crowd, EME and satellite > work. > > The 736 modules put out 25 watts except for 6 meters. Each band had > its own antenna jack, facilitating attachment of amplifiers as desired > with less band-switching complexity. > > I can envision a "K-4" line based on the K3, but with the inside > reconfigured to accept transverter boards plugged into a mother board. > If they could be engineered to output 16 watts, you could get 500 > watts out from a dedicated one-band amp with 15 dB gain. With 25 watts > out, you could reach 800 with an amp. The band-specific amps could go > into a separate box or boxes, "plug and play" with the K-4. That > would create a great weak signal VHF/UHF setup! The K3 is a marvelous > IF strip as it stands. This would make a more compact and > purpose-specific rig than the K3 plus separate transverters, since you > need a K3 plus a transverter plus a separate amp for each band to > output 500 watts on any UHF band. > > To achieve this, you'd have to take over the space inside the existing > K3 that's used by the internal HF amp and ATU, and maybe the space > allocated for a second receiver (although a second receiver would be > quite valuable for contesting purposes).I don't know how much > re-engineering it would take to reduce the current line of > transverters to a form factor that would fit inside the "K4". You > could also pick up space by making the "motherboard" a single-band 28 > mHz IF strip, plus capability for 6 meters and maybe 2 meters, > depending on available space. > > The circuit board for the current Elecraft transverters has about 65 > square inches. One could fit a "daughter board" into the K3 that > would have about 25 or 30 square inches, so I think the existing > transverter circuit design could be laid out on two "back to back" > circuit boards that would comprise a one-band module that would be > about 2 inches thick; you could install at least four of such modules > in the K3 form factor. > > That's my 2 cents worth on the "next big idea" coming out of > Watsonville. > > 73 > > Lew K6LMP > > > > > > > > > > > > On May 25, 2011, at 9:29 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote: > > > We're leaving "hooks" in place for either a 2 m or 4 m transverter (or > > possibly both) in the KX3. It would be in the ~5W range, and would > > substitute for the optional ATU. If you needed both the transverter > > and an ATU, you'd need to use an external ATU such as the Elecraft T1, > > which can be band-switched and remotely tuned directly from the KX3. > > > > 73, > > Wayne > > N6KR > > > > On May 25, 2011, at 8:36 AM, Jens Petersen wrote: > > > >> On Tue, 24 May 2011 14:24:00 -0700 (PDT), you wrote: > >> > >> > >>> The other thing that would be a huge selling point in Europe if it > >>> could be > >>> designed in is support for the 4m band. There is no radio that > >>> covers 4m > >>> apart from a couple of cheap Chinese FM handies. > >> > >> Oh yes - Hilberling does: > >> http://www.hilberling.de/bo/bo_pdf/pt-8k-2010_folder_a4a3.pdf > >> > >> -- > >> OV1A Jens > >> > >> Sent from my desktop PC with a nice big screen and a real keyboard. > >> ______________________________________________________________ > >> Elecraft mailing list > >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > >> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > >> > >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
