New to me transverters, questions

[Casey Balza]

I just received these transverters. Is there a way I can test that these work properly on my own easily? What equipment would I need? I could send them to Down East Microwave and be tested for $35 each.

The 3456 transverter I got quoted $175 to be tuned to 3400MHz, is there a lot of activity in the PNW for this band?

The only 2m all mode rig I have is an FT-736r, would that radio work with these? 

I am a microwave noob and I am trying to decide if I want to get more involved, I have no extra funds for anything major equipment wise if I am missing anything expensive.

[Ray Cannon - W7GLF]

I am not sure there is any activity on 3456 (now 3400) in CN85.  There is very little up here in CN87.  There are a couple of stations that get on for VHF contests up here - that's about it.

As far as testing before conversion you may be able to use a 432 radio and transmit a carrier on 432 MHz and see if you hear a signal with the transverter at 3456 (the 8th harmonic).  As far as testing the transmitter perhaps you can find someone with a power meter near where you live.  Perhaps there is someone near you that has the SG-LABs 3400 transverter.  The SG-Labs ransverter can easily be changed with jumpers to work on either 3456 or 3400.  I believe some of the SOTA people have the 3400 SG-Labs transverter.

As far as the conversion from 3456 to 3400 is concerned I suspect what DowneastMicrowave wants to do is install a DigiLo ($129).  They also may need to adjust the tuned circuits to get full power out (see design note DN038).  You probably could buy the DigiLo from Q5Signals or DowneastMicrowave and do the install yourself but then unless you had a spectrum analyzer you would unable to see if the tuned circuits might have to be "tweaked".   Considering this $175 is not an unreasonable.

The FT-736r would need to have a way to lower its output power to 5 watts or less.  You have to be careful that the FT-736r does not send a power spike which can quickly zap a transverter.  I use an FT-817 transceiver as an IF radio because its output power is limited to 5 watts.

I would recommend you get in touch with the CN85 active SOTA folks and see what they say.