Transverter spefication

tblunt

Hey.
I’ve just got my flex 6500 and I want to start to build up the station to be able to do satellite. This is my first post after doing a lot of reading.
I’ve been reading around and have got it pretty much planned out but am a little confused about transverter options.
At the moment it seams like the only affordable transverters in my price range are from Q5.

For the IF connector it’s best to have Split connectors right? And then a rf drive level of -20dBm to 0dBm or 0dBm to +20dBm or 1-10W? I was thinking 0-20dBm but im not sure how the 6500 would handle the low power
I will get 1 for 2m and 1 for 70cm.
Do I then need a rf relay to switch the frequencies around eg tx on 2m rx 70cm to tx 70cm rx 2m or am I able to patch them up somehow so as not to need a relay box to switch them remotely.

Thanks
Tom

KD0RC

Hi Tom, the Down East Minivert transverters only have around 50 mW output, so are not really useful without an amplifier. I think that they are really designed as a second IF for the really high stuff like 10 GHz. Any savings would get eaten up pretty quickly due to the amplifier.

Unfortunately, Serge, UT5JCW is no longer producing his very affordable transverters due to the Russian occupation of Ukraine.

Q5 makes really great transverters. They are a bit pricey, but probably some of the best that you can get.

The Flex 6000 series radios put out between -10 dBm and +10 dBm, so 0 dBM is the ideal drive level for your transverter. -20 dBm transverters would need a 3 or 6 dB attenuator to bring the Flex down to a safe power level. 1 - 10 W transverters would need a 10 dB LNA to boost the Flex to a usable value. Either of these cause a lot of complication that can be avoided by getting a transverter with an input matched to the Flex.

Split vs common IF is very dependent on what you are doing. For me, the common IF is best as I just use mine for a weekly repeater net and some SSB and CW operating. No satellites, no separate IF preamps or attenuators and that kind of thing. The Q5 transverters let you change between split and common, but there is some soldering involved.

If you do want to run the satellites in full duplex mode, you will need a 6600 or 6700. The 6600 has two transverter ports (one on each SCU) so that you can transmit on one transverter while simultaneously listening on another. The 6700 has a built-in low-level 2 meter transverter which needs an amplifier.

I have not thought through what it would take to operate two transverters with one transverter port so that you can operate the satellites in half-duplex, but I am sure that people are doing just that.

Mike-VA3MW

With the 6500, you could have a VHF and a UHF transverter, one with a 28Mhz IF and the other with a 50Mhz IF and then be able to do full duplex to the satellite which is something you need to do.

It is discussed in this thread.

https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/8026248/2-transverters-1-transverter-port

73