[amsat-bb] Icom 9700 1.2gig (23cm) Mode

[John Kludt]

Sloan,

The other thing I would suggest is using either LMR600 or even better
hardline.  The calculated loss of 50 feet of LMR 400 at 1.2G is 2.3 dB by
one online calculator.  Assuming you get your SWR down into the 1.2 range,
you will get about 4.5 watts to the antenna.  May be okay depending on what
you are doing.  I always worry when I spend half my money on heating up the
coax.

I used my 9700 in the January VHF contest on 1296 with no problem.  The
antennas where a pair of Directive Systems 45 element loopers fed with 7/8"
hardline.  Way overkill for satellites if that is what you are going to use
your station for and the direct answer to your question is the 9700 worked
fine.

Agree on the need the get an antenna analyzer on the system if you can.
The other thing while you are at it is to TDR your cables. We have traced
more problems to bad connectors than I care to admit.  Anymore when things
are strange that is where we start.  A quick check might be to put your
dummy load on the end of the coax instead of the antenna and see what the
SWR is.

Hope that helps

John

On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 7:48 PM Sloan Davis via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
wrote:

> Has anyone experienced any malfunction in transmitting on their Icom 9700
> on the 1.2 gig (L-Band Mode)? My SWR’s are registering 3+ and I’ve changed
> antennas twice with direct connection/ connectors using N adapters. I’m
> using LMR 400 coaxial (50 foot) run. The power coming out of the radio is 8
> watts via dummy load/meter. The antenna is from M2 and requires no tuning.
>
> Not sure what else I can do?
>
> Sloan (KN4GQB
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