I use a K3 10W  barefoot and with the SPE iK-FA amplifier and feel the QSK is as good as I have used- that includes a TenTec Omni VI+.

I see the specs on the DZKits Sienna look excellent- but I have no personal experience.

Dale W4OP

Here in the U.S. (from memory) the repeater bandplan has a pair assigned that would require the user to TX as low as 144.520MHz. That's 130KHz above the APRS frequency-  well under the 600KHz spacing that duplexers are designed for. In addition, the passband of a duplexer is optimized for a small spectrum- not 145-148 MHz.
My company designs some pretty sharp notch filters in small packages- but I don't think you'll see anything with a significant  notchat 144.390MHz and yet still  have acceptable insertion loss for the repeater band, decent return loss and also capable of handling 50W unless it employs a COR bypass.

Dale W4OP

Good grief, all I said was that it had a calibrated S meter.
Dale W4OP

Unfortunately, the size of a filter for that  that narrow a spacing (if it can even be realized) is well beyond anything  you would want to put in your car.

Dale W4OP

The Elecraft K3 and its companion P3 can be accurately calibrated to read dBmV. I regularly depend on the P3 for spectrum analyzer measurements.
The only other  rig I know of (non SDR) that has a calibrated S meter is the ADT 200A out of Europe.
I am quite sure the HPSDR unit from TAPR also has the capability of absolute calibration.

Unfortunately, the rest of  the rigs are a guess and even worse, the preamp effects the S meter reading.

Dale W4OP

All of that is quite correct Greg except last I knew  son John was in the Chicago area while son Joel still lived in Palm Beach.
Herb was the designer of the Astroplane.

Dale W4OP

I don't know of  a source for the original feet, but The RF Connection carries a variety of really nice Budwig rubber feet with internal metal inserts. Likely you can find the appropriate sizes to give your piece the proper height and slope.

Dale W4OP

There is one amateur rig that has a remarkably clean TX signal- but the waiting list is always a long one:
http://www.adat.ch/index_e.html

Still, it's nice to see so much creativity in one rig.

Dale W4OP

And if it doesn't radiate most of its energy straight up (on its fundamental 1 lambda frequency) then it calls into question all those antennas using quad driven elements.

Dale W4OP

Virtually no effect except a very, very slight bit of end loading as a result of the proximity in terms of wavelength.

Dale W4OP

Jean was brilliant. I'll give this one a listen. Here's a link to most of his shows:
http://jeanshepherdpodcast.blogspot.com/

The RAIN Report played one involving his experimentation with Heising Modulation as a kid- and how it got in the way of his dating. I sure resembled that one.

Tnx,

Dale W4OP

The Ten Tec 1320 is not a direct conversion receiver- it is a single conversion superhet according to Ten Tec.
Again, I would ask you if the power supplies you are using are switchers- most wall warts today are. Find  a simple full wave rectifier and filter wall wart and give it a try. The cheap switchers radiate broad band RF noise. There is no way to stop it as even with toroids in and out, the noise radiates through the plastic case.

Dale W4OP

There is no nicer metal to machine than diecast aluminum. It is very brittle and mill or lathe and drills cut beautifully.

Dale W4OP

Spot on Fred,
Our own Tiger has lived that "distraction movie" all too recently and still has not found his old game.

Are you certain the problem is ripple? Many if not all of today's regulated wall warts are switchers- and they generate enormous amounts of broadband noise. I found this out when looking for a small supply for my Lowe HF-150. I put a loop of wire near the supply and connected up to my spectrum analyzer. The resultant broadband spectrum noise was unbelievable.

Dale W4OP