[amsat-bb] FM sat chaos

[John Brier]

On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 10:20 AM Zach Metzinger via AMSAT-BB
<amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>
> On 2019-07-04 12:04, H. Stephen Nipper via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> > Don't give up you will make some contacts. The other option for you is to
> > spend more money and get on the linear birds.
>
> You could easily get on the linear birds with an existing HF rig and an
> inexpensive transverter[1a][1b] for the uplink.

Eh, what you describe might be inexpensive, but I wouldn't call that
easy. I already find it a pain to throw my 910H on top of my car and
connect everything to it and be anchored to my car. I much prefer my
FM setup which hangs on my shoulders and requires minimal connections.

What you describe has a LOT of components: HF radio, transverter, SDR,
computer, and all the cables required to connect all that together.
All to be assembled every time you want to operate, and disassembled
afterwards. Unless you're assuming some sort of base station, but then
what inexpensive/simple antennas will he use?

If he already has an Icom IC-706MKIIG, Yaesu FT-857D, FT-817, or
something similar, he could at least do half duplex linear, and if he
also has a Kenwood TH-D74, TH-F6A, or some other HT with VHF/UHF SSB
RX, he could do full duplex, with a lot less components. Even a 706
MKIIG + an SDR would be less complicated than the HF+transverter+SDR
setup you suggest.

73, John Brier KG4AKV