[amsat-bb] Flex radio for satellites

[Richard Lawn]

In answer to your questions, yes the Flex 5000A could be fully equipped
with 2 rcvrs and the V/U module, however they discontinued it with the
release of their 6000 series radio. For satellites I've used the FT736f,
Ts2000 and ft847 and none compare to the ease of operation and rx quality
of the Flex5000A, which is why I'm holding on to mine.

But you could do what I'm now doing which is to use another radio capable
of V/U transmission on all modes as your uplink radio and use a 6000 series
radio with inexpensive down converters for rx. I then built a USB
relay controlled box that drives antenna switching relays. I found this to
be much cheaper than the other alternative which is to buy DEMI
transverters or possibly Elecraft. And you also end up with another really
useful radio as a backup for HF and other purposes at less cost than the 2
DEMI transverters. I've used this arrangement before (minus the automated
relay switching ) I got my tricked out Flex5000. At that time I used the
TS2000 as uplink with a Flex 5000A for downlink wth converters and it
worked great! Stay tuned for exciting articles by Ron Parsons, W5RKN, and
Dave W0DHB in the AMSAT Journal about all this. What I'm doing is a spin
off of their ideas and working with them.

73
Rick, W2JAZ


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