[amsat-bb] TH-F6A

[Greg D]

Hi Lee,

As others have said, the F6A can definitely be used as the receive side 
of your satellite station.  I have one, and find it's an interesting 
radio, with many uses.  But I also find that there are a lot of 
compromises in its design.  The "B" side of the radio, especially, has 
relatively poor filtering in support of its "DC-to-Daylight" capability, 
and it's a little bit deaf.  You will definitely need an external 
antenna to receive FO-29; nothing massive, but a small beam of the Elk / 
Arrow variety should be ok.

With FO-29 being Mode-J, the 3rd harmonic from your transmitter may work 
in a negative way with that lack of filtering, causing some desense.  I 
have't tried it, but that's definitely a risk.  I've also noticed that 
the space below the receive upper sideband does bleed through a little, 
so a strong station right below where you are receiving will be heard 
(distortedly) as well.  It's not horrible, but might make a difference 
in an otherwise very marginal situation.

If you' re interested in receiving HF on the rig, be aware that an 
external antenna is required there too.  Even local AM radio is kind of 
marginal, unless they're really strong.

I also have a TH-D7, and find I use that most of the time when I need to 
be hand-held mobile.  But it doesn't do SSB, where the F6 is uniquely 
capable.  If you don't need the super (handy!) small form factor of the 
F6, you might want to go with the 817 variety of radio instead.

Good luck,

Greg  KO6TH


Lee Ernstrom wrote:
> GA satellite goo-roos.  Today I was scanning the HRO catalogue looking for an inexpensive solution to full duplex contacts for the linear birds and I ran across the Kenwood TH-F6A hand held 144, 222, and 450 MHZ FM with SSB option on receive only.  That sounds to me like a great fairly inexpensive solution.
>
> Has anyone tried one of these yet for satellite work?
>
> And I'm wondering if there would be a de-sense problem if used on receive with a 20 watt transmitter on a different band close to it?
>
> WA7HQD
> Lee (Doc) Ernstrom
> Syracuse, Ut DN-31xb
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb