Well, my battery is dead. Is the replacement just a CR-2032 3V Lithium battery? I know there are tabs, but Batteries Plus will spot weld them wherever they are needed for $1. Also, is the plus on top or on the bottom. Mine is dead after 19 years...imagine that!

TIA,
Dave

Yup...I got my first 2 on AO-51 with my TM-731a and a J for the uplink!

OK...I can say for SURE now that my only problem was trying to use the W2A. I did the MOD for my TM-731a and AO-27 just now came in Full Quieting!

I completed the MOD on my TM-731a. WOW...AO27 was full Quieting! I may try AO-51 in 3 hours and see if my J will work on the 2M uplink. I only have the 6 el built on the beam and will add the two 2m elements ASAP!

How can the W2A be so bad that it hears nothing on 435 or 436? It is, however a great 2/440 rig.

Well, everyone, I did the mod and AO-27 was 15 minutes away.

WOW is this TM-731a great. I tell you it has one heck of a receiver! A
AO-27 was FULL Quieting!

I do not have my 2 elements added yet for 2M so I may use a 2M J I had built and see if I can get in in 3 hours.

...and I am just now putting the mod in my TM-731a for wide band operation. I will be trying AO-51 as soon as I get the rig back together. If it works, then, for me anyway, the W2A did not receive well enough at 435mhz to even know a LEO was there.

I have the 6 el 440 portion of my beam built, but before I add my 2m portion I will try a 2m "J" that I have. Maybe 50 watts to it will work.

Yes, and the 731a is full duplex as well. A little tough to bring on the deck, but at least I would be able to see if that works.

My only issue is with the mod. It seems there are two versions. One says I only need to move R121 (which enables cross Band repeat) to the empty R125. Then lift the Ground leg of R25. It seems that R121 is just a Jumper...being a 0 Ohm resistor.

The other one says to remove R121, R123, and R25 but R125 and R124 must be present.

Anyway, none show the Parts location and the board is not showing it. There is a simple description, however, of the locations. I think I am just going to try the first method and see what happens. People still say this rig is one of the best Full Duplex dual band rigs around...but it is not an HT.  :-)

I will look at that program as well.

Yes, so far I am using the online tracker(s) on AMSAT and Heavens Above. They both agree and I am sure I have it right as I can hear a local or two on the Input. I just don't hear the LEO!

Just an update...

AO-27 is no better and I know my tracking data is OK as I can hear a local or 2 on the 2M input.

I guess my next move is to try and bring up my TM-731a and make the mod, as it is supposed to be good well below 438 with the mod for MARS/CAP.

Thank you. I have since used AMSAT and Heavens Above and they do track each other. I think my issue is that the W2A is just bad below 440mhz! I am also now using a 6el beam I built!

I will take a look at Orbitron as well.

Thank you again,

Dave

Well, I do keep my squelch open. I have built the 6 el antenna and still nothing. I called ICOM and they said that even though I enabled wide band receive on my W2A, they do not expect the receiver to work well below 440mhz.

I will try AO-27 as that is higher at 436.8...closer than AO-51 at 435.3.

Well, ICOM says that they do not claim good results when expanding the receive range below 440mhz. I can try the two sats you gave and I have built the 435 section of the 6 el beam...with the 1" on the DE J. Even if it is supposed to be 0.5 inch I can still tell that it works way better than the Rubber Duck and I should be able to hear something.

I am now going to call Kenwood to see what happens. I have seen two ways to expand the receive there, although it goes down to 438 stock.

Thank you for the reply.

This link shows the spacing at 1" for both DE's...

www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap Antennas-LEOs.pdf

Anyway, I do keep my squelch open and do find the same as the guy on the link you gave me in that my W2A is great on 2 and 440, but deaf on 435! I am going to call ICOM tomorrow to see what they say.

I have a Kenwood TM-731a and it only goes to 438mhz. There is a small mod to extend it but I have seen two different sets of instructions and the Resistors are NOT labeled! I guess I could call Kenwood as well. I just want to at least hear AO-51 before I do any more on the 2m portion of the antenna. If my Kenwood hears it, I know the W2A has an issue at 435.

Thank you. I did build the 440 part of the antenna and the "J" spacing is 1" as he showed in the LEO link I show above. It shows 1" on both 2 and 440. I can make mine 0.5 inches to see if it matters. I still can not hear AO-51 on my W2A. Someone said the W2A drops off badly <440 and he has never been able to hear the Satellites with it! I am going to call ICOM tomorrow to see what they say! I am sure my 1" spacing did not hurt as I can see a big difference from the Rubber Duck to the beam I just built with repeaters.

P.S. I always wondered if an HT needs the Diplexer as the rig must have one built in. How else can a single connection to the rubber duck cover both bands? I wonder if we could just connect the 2/440 DE's in parallel and then to the single connector on the HT. I would think 2 and 435 are enough away to not interfere with one another like a fan dipole on HF.

Just a thought.