Transverter fo HL2
Harry Large
Mike Lewis
Connecting a transverter to an HL2 is fairly easy if it is a single band transverter.
The IF needs to be HF, usually 28Mhz.
PTT can come directly from the back panel phono jack
You need to match the output power to the transverter input power. You have some options here:
- Set the transverter up to use the full 5-6W output of the HL2 and use common IF - easiest
- Disable the PA in software – set the transverter for low power input (measure but I think around =14dBm as I recall) using common IF. See Wiki and forum posts on how. I do not like to rely on software only (risk of overdriving transverter).
- Bypass the PA using internal connection change- set the transverter for low power input measured at 16dBm and have split IF. My preference.
I have a 5 band transverter that uses 3 – line BCD code pattern to set the band remotely. I removed the HL2 Filter module, connected RF3 to a SMA, bypassed the PA (used RF2 I think?) and added a MCP23017 i2c pot expander with a buffer for band decoder output on the DB9 on the back panel. Can put in a 28Mhz BPF if needed, mine did not need it.
- Mike
Ed Stroh
Mike Lewis
I have 15 transverters 😊
The main one I use daily is a 5-band 144-1296 high power unit usually remote located near the VHF amps and their antennas outside. Only the 2 LMR240 28MHz IF liners, a control line (band+PTT), rotator control, and ethernet go outside of the house, plus HF and 6M coax lines. Gives me all bands 160M to 1296 with 1 or 2 radios. All the big coax is kept short that way, minimal cable clutter in the shack.
Other transverters cover 6M through 10GHz, some kit, some DIY.
- Mike K7MDL CN87
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Ed Stroh
Mike Lewis
There are several choices, far more if you include the used market and many are now out of production but still work fine. You may want to consider your antenna, coax length/type, and power output needs then finds the best match.
Q5 took over the DownEast Microwave VHF transverters, amps and preamps so you can find some there. Kuhne/DB6NT, SSB Electronics, Elecraft XV144 and XV432 models, old Microwave Modules units. The Ukrainian transverters are low cost and popular now. Or build your own low power units. W1GHZ web site has some for SDR IF use and a few members here designed their own in the past. Some of the older ones will not be very sable but good enough for voice. If you want to get into digital modes like FT8 on VHF then stability matters. Most folks start simple often with used units, see how it all works on the air and how to connect, then might add an amp, and if weak signal and digital modes are of interest, add amps and preamps and bigger antennas and more stable transverters. I have been able to modify most any of my old transverters to use a PLL with 10MHz reference or some other similar solution.
There is a dual band 144/432 transverter offered online at https://www.ebay.com/itm/132503036008. No idea how well it works. Claims to be stable and handle strong signals. 12W is good enough to drive most VHF amps. Handles 5W drive. There is a low power output version and several other versions also, very affordable.
Be warned, if you progress to VHF weak signal, it is a sickness, don’t blame me …. satellite, moon bounce, meteor scatter, tropo, microwave bands, no end to it.
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Ed Stroh
Heath Petty
radi...@mail.com
I have one of the 144/432 transverters linked above. There are two issues I ran into. The first was that the frequency wasn't quite spot on. Listening to VHF SSB, I was a few kHz off. Also, since the HL2 cannot TX above 30MHz, you don't have coverage of the entire 70cm band, just the bottom portion. That's fine for satellites and weak signal stuff. I need to pull it out again and double check the frequency accuracy. I mostly use my IC-705 for VHF/UHF all mode work.
Heath Petty
Heath Petty
Mike Lewis
I looked around at his (UR3LMZ) other products since the last time I looked has been a while.
The auction page for the dual band xvtr has the schematic. It looks pretty easy to rig up remote band select around switch S6.
For hard PTT, it is handled around VD7, a 3-terminal regulator acting at a switch using the ref input. I think you can simply add a PTT to ground wire at the bottom of K3/K2 and RF sense should stay working as before as a backup. Maybe use a diode on the PTT line wire if shared with other gear, it will have 12V on it and carry the current for the 2 relays. If RF switching time is not critical, you could tweak the values of R3,R8 and C5 as needed to lengthen the hold time for better SSB operation.
Interesting that it uses a common ADF4351 for the LO. The 0.2ppm spec is likely good enough but It may be possible to add a 10Mhz ref if the programming can be altered appropriately. Am email to ur3...@gmail.com might shed light on that. It looks like the 4351 is a module and only represented as a block on the schematic. Looking at his other products such as a 2M single band board is shows what is likely similar circuitry on the module revealing the simple hardware add for external 10Mhz input. Still need the programming change though. A module swap would be a nice option to avoid programming hacks.
Attenuator looks easy to bypass or change as well.
2M low power board ADF4351
902 (and 1296 similar) low power board also uses the ADF4351 but has 10Mhz input added, same 40Mhz VCTXO. Output filtering obviously different. Jumper Jmp2 selects 10MHz vs 40Mhz ref and changes the programming to match.
144/432 Dual band schematic from UR3LMZ product at the link below. ADF4351 is a block here representing a soldered in module.
From: herme...@googlegroups.com <herme...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of Heath Petty
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2023 9:34 AM
To: Hermes-Lite <herme...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Transverter fo HL2
I had a chance to try out my transverter again this weekend. The frequency is spot on (no drift, nor is it off). I'm not sure what frequency synth it uses. The one issue I ran into is that the PTT on the transverter is RF sense, so it turns on and off rapidly when doing SSB. I didn't see a way to hook up a PTT switch, so I might have to open it up and make some modifications. I think its also got an attenuator in it so you can feed it with 5W, rather than low power. I might see about bypassing that and feeding it w/o using the PA.
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