FLEX-6700 on 2m?

Roger Thompson AD5T

How are the 2m (and 4m) band selections supposed to function on the FLEX-6700 when the software is more mature? What added equipment is required to operate the transceiver on 2m? Will these bands only appear on the XVTR connector? Roger AD5T

philip.theis

I had only planned on using the 144 region for use as an IF to higher microwave bands, but while at Central States VHF Conference I saw that there are other manufacturers plans to take the 0 dbm level out of the 6000 and deliver 30 and 60 watt outputs, your choice.

Mike W8MM

I'm looking at a "2-pallet" LDMOS amplifier (Beko HLV-2000) that needs around 8W drive. Commercially available 8-10W P1dB amps are ~$500-700, but they're Class A and should have pretty good IMD. They're plug-and-play without a large engineering exercise. I'd love to know who are the Flex-6700 booster-amp players? Care to name names? The DownEast 2M30PA might be a good starting point, but I'd have to buy one to test for gain stability, IMD, etc at 0 to +5 dBm input. I've also thought about buying a 2M30PA and replacing the S-AV33 with a Mitsubishi RA13H1317M RF module that looks OK for my application (right INPUT P1dB, etc.) and wouldn't be able to fry the input of my LDMOS amp.

Tim K8XS

I initially thought the 2 meter capability would be similar to the 2 meter capability of the Flex 1000. That is, it could be used as a transverter IF but it would not have enough gain to function as a 2 meter receiver. Boy was I wrong. I tried out the 2 meter capability of my 6700 and I find it as sensitive as any other 2 meter receiver. According to the specs, the noise figure of the VHF preamp is 2.5dB which is more than suitable for most 2 meter work. For weak signal work, a mast-mounted preamp will set the system noise figure. I love it.

Steve-N5AC

The FLEX-6x00 radios do not have integrated amplifiers capable of providing "real power" on either 2m or 4m. Both of these bands, therefore, are only output from the exciter which is only available on the XVTR port (just select this as the transmit port). The output for both bands is a nominal +5dBm. As a practical matter, most radios will produce something like +7dBm on 2m before compression and on 4m I would bet it is around +13dBm, but I've not measured it. The output power is calibrated in dBm. Steve