Personally I'd like something more portable than a K3/10 with a pile of transverters though. More like a KX3 but strictly an all-mode VHF/UHF rig, no HF. 6m, 2m, 70cm, 1.2 GHz, and perhaps 2.4 GHz in the box, perhaps with 4m, 1.25cm, and 900 MHz as options. I'd be on the fence about general coverage reception (my R20 already covers that sort of). 1-2 BNC connections on the side along with an SMA, so you can run at least two antennas (e.g. rubber ducky + a hand-held yagi, or backpack mounted vertical + a UHF bullet). Perhaps being able to optionally bypass the internal DSP for processing and use laptop to do all your processing (somewhat like a USRP, but more portable, granted this would start putting the radio in to Flex territory), or plug in a USB cam and do some simple ATV broadcasts (although the radio would need a fair amount of memory and processing power for this).
Once you get smaller than the IC-703/7000 form-factor you're pretty much stuck in the realm of FM only, and that kind of blows. Granted it seems like a pretty small niche, but I kind of wonder if there's a chunk of potential users out there who are apartment dwellers and are turned off by the logistics of running a home HF base station. Plus to me, Elecraft at it's heart is more about small, portable radios... ./ben W6MCM On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV <li...@subich.com> wrote: > > I bought a K3 kit. I love it for HF work, but I'd also like to see an >> integrated desktop replacement for the FT-736R to cover 6m (or 2m) >> through 23cm (or perhaps 13cm?). >> > > Does not the K3 with XV-144, XV-220 and VX-432 already answer that > need through 70 cm? If so, would not the answer seem to be in added > transverters for 900 MHZ, 1.2 GHz and 2.3 GHz? It seems that the K3 > can already address up to 9 transverters/transverter bands ... even > if it were necessary to use more than one "band" to cover the needed > spectrum, I would think a K3/10 with six transverters would more than > sufficient as a 1.8 MHz to 2.4 GHz platform. > > 73, > > ... Joe, W4TV > > > > On 8/23/2013 1:30 PM, Bayard Coolidge, N1HO wrote: > >> Lew Phelps, N6LEW, mentioned the FT-736R. >> >> I have one, and used it for many years when I was living on top of a >> decent hill in New Hampshire. >> >> I briefly flirted with the idea of buying an IC-9100 to replace my >> IC-746Pro AND the FT-736R, but after reading many review articles, as >> well as the discussions on this list, I bought a K3 kit. I love it >> for HF work, but I'd also like to see an integrated desktop >> replacement for the FT-736R to cover 6m (or 2m) through 23cm (or >> perhaps 13cm?). The FT-736R was touted as a satellite radio, but I'm >> not personally interested in the more esoteric satellite features >> (such as reverse VFO tracking), as I preferred to do weak-signal >> work, with some cross-mode and FM operating. I still have the "brick" >> amplifiers for 2, 222 and 432 MHz that I used with the FT-736R, and >> they're still currently available, so I'm thinking that the >> envisioned Elecraft product only needs to put out 5-10W, but should >> have separate per-band relay keying lines. >> >> Just my 20 millidollars' worth of daydreaming... >> >> Brandy, N1HO >> ______________________________**______________________________**__ >> Elecraft mailing list Home: >> http://mailman.qth.net/**mailman/listinfo/elecraft<http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft>Help: >> http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.**htm <http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm>Post: >> mailto:elecr...@mailman.qth.**net <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<http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.**htm<http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm> > Post: mailto:elecr...@mailman.qth.**net <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
