I have been playing with a new Triquint ULNA device (TQP3M9036). It
Shows a lot of promise. It is like a MAR or MSA device in that it is
50ohm in and out. and has a claimed NF about .4db nf ( their numbers).
I have built several pramps to test them and have gotten even better
than they claim and they cover 50-1296 with ease and NF is .4ish or
below. The S11 and S22 are both great and the OIP3 is +35db also
...very nice device. It has great promise as a good terrestrial LNA.
Preamps are foolproof to build and would cost under $50 if all the best
quality parts are used.
Just for information only ...
Pete WA2ODO
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Hello moonbouncers,
There was very nice CW activity during ARRL contest this year (on all bands except 2m from US) and it is unfortunate I did not have a lot of free time for it.
I also “worked” JT65 logger eme (I thought: who is going to find out anyway??) and apart from constant chatter I also found JAMMING.... a lot of Jamming, even from its own creator!!?
Check a small part of it from N0UK logger:
11/19 17:04 VE3KH you being jammed by K1JT and W6YX (W7IUV Larry WA DN07dg 216.215.40.193)
11/19 17:05 Why Larry .... they on 142 also? (VE3KH Kevin ON FN03aj 24.141.203.45)
11/19 17:06 They are calling me to get a contest poitn and it ain't gonna happen!! (W7IUV Larry WA DN07dg 216.215.40.193)
11/19 17:08 Thansk Larry 73 ... Yes, I have been jumped by a quite a few stations (VE3KH Kevin ON FN03aj 24.141.203.45)
11/20 17:47 Also hr k1jt calling me -22 but not ans him (KN4SM/5WL/KW Jerry VA FM16qt 24.241.251.86)
11/20 18:02 Contest = reduced courtesy! (K5DOG/2M Stevedog NM DM52xw 65.127.140.122)
11/20 18:04 Yes, K1JT and W3SZ can hear on gold tooth. (K5DOG/2M Stevedog NM DM52xw 65.127.140.122)
One thing I wouldn’t regret missing on EME is JAMMING!!!
GL 73, Petros SV3AAF
Hi All
Thanks for the input on these two radios
Just to let all know I have always run a mast mounted lna designed by VE7BQH .25nf/19db which has worked very well for me on EME
I think for a comparison i will get the TS-2000 receive modified as per Russ K2TXB just to try to see if there is any difference between the 736r and my TS-200
Hope to some comparisons to report over the next month or so
Thanks Ian VA7SW//VE7IRA
BTW when working EME I have on WSJT the RX DB set to 0 when I turn per amp off there DB on WSJT goes to –15 so the pre amp is definitely working
Gentlemen-
I know the topic of NF has been a very debated one of late. But being a Sr.
RF Engineer
for 30+yrs in my day job and ham even longer....I am looking for factual and
measured
data on a very specific topic that can impact NF measurements and ultimate
RX performance.
The motive for my investigation is a result of my continuous battle with
poor EME RX performance
on my small dish (3.2m) EME system. I have much more TX power than most for
a small dish
operation and noticed that my RX was acting worse over time despite my
improvements to my
dish feed and what I hoped would result in a better G/T value.
The short answer is that after only one CW QSO this weekend with HB9BBD
(Thanks for a new QSO!)
I stopped operating since it was clear that my RX was worse now than ever.
The root cause was an
SMA LNA protection relay that now has much more insertion loss than it ever
did. (was 0.1dB measured
when I built the system and is now 0.3dB)
All that is background info. My question now is:
Other than RW3BP's excellent report on optimizing the G4DDK LNA23 for an
even better NF, who
in the EME community has tried to quantify the effects of the often-used
relays AND more importantly
the connectors and adapters that we often find in our LNA systems?
My focus is on the fact that most of the SMA connectors that are made today
have only a very thin
layer of gold plating on top of a nickel plate which is on the base metal
which is brass.
In my day job while using my shack as my lab, I have been able to build a
VHF PIM measuring
system that can measure a 3 to 5dB difference in PIM between a single
silver-plated body
type-N connector has a gold plated (with nickel under plate) center pin vs.
a pure silver plated
center pin. (This is in the region of -140 to -150dBc.)
I know there are many opinions, but does anyone have any measured data they
can share?
Even a single data point can help guide me. I know I am entering into the
area of true metrology
where I want to determine if a 3.5mm connector with a stainless steel body
is as good as
an SMA that is either silver plated or has gold-direct-on brass plating.
I have yet to find a source of silver-on-brass plated SMA connectors like
RW3BP used, but if
anybody knows of a source please let me know.
My apologies for the long e-mail, but I wanted to communicate the details.
73,
-Brian, WA1ZMS/4
Hi All,
In the past, I seem to remember that I found that the accuracy of measuring
the " noise drop" was very much different when I used WSJT as compared to
using Linrad, with a difference if several db with the same preamp. Can
anyone confirm? It could be the fact I was using different audio cards.
Les
Hi All
>
>
>
>
>
>Thanks for the input on these two radios
>
>
>
>Just to let all know I have always run a mast
>mounted lna designed by
>VE7BQH .25nf/19db which has worked very well for me on EME
>
>
>
>I think for a comparison i will get the TS-2000
>receive modified as per Russ K2TXB just to try
>to see if there is any difference between the 736r and my TS-200
>
>
>
>Hope to some comparisons to report over the next month or so
>
>
>
>Thanks Ian VA7SW//VE7IRA
>
>
>
>BTW when working EME I have on WSJT the RX DB
>set to 0 when I turn per amp off there DB on
>WSJT goes to ?15 so the pre amp is definitely working
Hi Alex and Gedas,
I think that your measurements are too optimistic. Bandwidth was not specified?
Even with narrow filters the numbers doesn't look right?
The problem is signal generator leakage, what is difficult to achieve above 100dB
of attenuation. Even much better and more expensive SG suffer from that,
and during MDS measurements this must be taken in consideration.
I did same measurements and most of 2M radios are in the range of 135dBm
For 2.4kHz BW, of approximately 5 dB of NF.
Take a look Laif web site and his measurements.
ad6iw
Hi Ian. I currently own a TS-2000 (S/N-30800075), a Flex-5000A with V/U module, and a FT-1000MP MK5. I have also owned three FT-736R, several FT-726, and a FT-990 over the years.
One of the things I have done with all my rigs, just for fun, is to connect a calibrated HP-8656B signal generator and calibrated step attenuator to each rig and measure things like the S-meter sensitivity/response, and the MDS at different frequencies.
Looking back, I should have obtained a real MDS measurement since I own a true RMS voltmeter (HP-3400). But, I didn't. What I did was to obtain the MDS by using my ear as the detector. I just dialed in the weakest signal where I could still hear the unmodulated carrier signal (tone) by ear. I set the following radios to 144.200 MHz, AGC to Fast, and used USB as the mode. Stock SSB filters in all my radios.
TS-2000 = -151 dBm
FT-736R (1) = -150 dBm
FT-736R (2) = -155 dBm
FT-726 = -150 dBm
Just for fun here are some numbers for the HF rigs:
FT-990 (on 40m) = -143 dBm
FT-1000MP MK5 (on 40m) = -144 dBm
And finally the Flex 5000A. Here I set the Flex to use a sample rate of 48 kHz using a buffer size of 2048 for the greatest sensitivity. The pan display shows the carrier down to about -165 dBm (some averaging is used in the display) and I was able to detect the carrier by ear at around the -162 to -163 dBm level.
So, to answer your question, no, I do not find the TS-2000 to be "deaf" at all. It's actually pretty typical IMO. I hope this helps you.
73 Gedas, W8BYA
Gallery at http://gedas.cc
Light travels faster than sound..
This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ian McCloy
To: moon-net(a)nlsa.com
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:40 AM
Subject: [Moon-Net] FT-736r //TS-2000
Looking for real world responses for radio comparison
I currently use a Yaesu FT-736R for VHF EME and would like to get real honest opinions on using this radio versus a TS-2000
Just wondering if the TS-2000 is as deaf as i Have been hearing
I would use a separate receive feedline on the TS-2000 by splitting the RX
Thanks Ian VA7SW//VE7IRA
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