[amsat-bb] Portable, Full-Duplex Transceiver

[Devin L. Ganger]

Hello,

There is no portable radio that I am aware of that can do it all. You will need some combo of radios to get full duplex, HF, and portability:
-- The Kenwood TH-D72A will do full duplex 2m/70cm for FM sat work and APRS, but has no HF. It's also just a darn nice HT. I have one and it is my everyday radio.
-- The Yaesu FT-817/FT-818 will do half duplex HF/VHF/UHF FM + SSB, low power and portable.The 817/818 will give one advantage that you won't get with the D72A, if you're also lugging a computer around -- they can be computer controlled and the D72A cannot. I don't have these yet, but I do eventually to get at least one for sat TX (I haven't decided if I will use another one or SDR for sate RX) and portable HF.

The Arrow is a great antenna for the VHF/UHF side. I have an Elk dual-band which is comparable but both are good!

For an HF antenna, I would suggest looking at the Spiderbeam GoPAK for a decent multi-band, portable HF antenna good for up to 100W. I purchased one back when they were still the National Park Activation Kit and used it as my primary antenna on my Yaesu 857D for most of a year, and was making decent DX contacts with it (Cuba, Argentina, Japan). Lightweight, easy to set up and tear down:
http://www.spiderbeam.us/product_info.php?info=p258_GoPAK%20%20(Go%20Portable%20Antenna%20Kit).html


--
Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG)
email: devin at thecabal.org
web: Devin on Earth
cell: +1 425.239.2575

> -----Original Message-----
> From: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org> On Behalf Of Mike Diehl
> Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 12:00 PM
> To: ronald mosher <rfmosher at cox.net>
> Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Portable, Full-Duplex Transceiver
> 
> I’m unaware of a QRP HF rig that can do full duplex satellite as well. However,
> since yaesu doesn’t make an official FT-1634 you can make one with 2 FT-
> 817’s, one for the uplink and the other for down. If you’re buying new it
> would be two FT-818’s so I guess that would make it an FT-1636.
> 
> There are some rigs that do HF and satellite like the TS-2000 and IC-9100 but
> they’re not QRP rigs.
> 
> 73,
> Mike Diehl
> W8LID/VE6LID
> 
> > On Oct 24, 2018, at 12:59, ronald mosher <rfmosher at cox.net> wrote:
> >
> > I am new to satellite communication and this is my first post.  My
> > setup so far includes an Arrow antenna on a camera tripod, an SDR
> > (RSP) and SatPC32 software on a Surface Pro.  I would like to buy a
> > portable, HF/VHF/UHF, Full-Duplex transceiver that I can use for both
> > portable HF QRP and for satellite work.  So far, I have not been able
> > to find such a radio.  Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
> >
> >
> >
> > Also, I would like to buy or build an AZ-EL rotator that is suitable
> > for a portable setup.  I am leaning toward building as a less
> > expensive alternative.  I have been studying the WRAPS version by
> > WA8SME and the Mini
> > Mk-2 by VK3FOWL and VK3YSP.  Both look to be of about equal
> > construction complexity.  Any thoughts on either if these rotators, or
> > any other inexpensive rotator would also be very much appreciated.
> >
> >
> >
> > It is exciting to be learning a new phase of ham radio and to be a
> > part of this group.  Thank you for any suggestions.
> >
> > 73,
> >
> > Ron  K0PGE
> >
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