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1-7 of 7 messages
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Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by KB9OYD on December 12, 2004
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Hello,
My name is Jay. I'm just recently getting back into this hobby after about a 7 year abscence.
I currently own a Yaesu FT-221R 2 meter All Mode radio. I haven't had the chance to put it on the air yet, but i have read some pretty good reviews of it on this site.
I've also noticed that alot of the FT-221R owners have purchased the "Mutek Front End mod". Can someone please describe what this "mod" entails, who can do it and what the average cost is??
All info is greatly appreciated.
Also, I am currently looking at building a 2 meter SSB "station" for the sole purpose of 2 meter SSB contacts with the FT-221R. This would be setup in either my home or my garage/shop.
I am strongly looking at a 2M9SSB beam antenna which i can put about 50 feet above ground and turn with a simple TV rotor. I've noticed this antenna had some nice reviews as well. Sound good so far?
I am concerned that the output of the FT-221R wont be enough to contact the stations i can hear though. Output is about 10 watts.
I've looked at a Mirage 160 watt amp to help boost the output signal, but the price of buying this and a power supply able to power it is higher than what i was hoping to spend. What does the Mirage 10in/160out amp usually sell for on the used market?
I've also looked around the internet and seen several homebrew 2 meter tube amps that range in power from 200-1500+ watts. I figured if i was going to spend about $700 on a new amp, why not get a higher power tube amp that can run on 110V or 220V?? Also, where might i be able to find one or have someone build for me? **Note** I'm not quite ready to get my feet wet with building an amp.
I'm a pretty broke college student, and obviously this hobby doesn't fit well with us broke college kids, but slowly but surely i'd like to try my hand at 2 meter SSB contacts.
Will i be able to make some decent contacts with 10 watts and a decent beam at 50 feet until i can afford to get a good amp?
Or am i better off buying a cheap $25 ground plane antenna and solely working the local repeaters (Boring in my opinion) until i get my General ticket?
Thank you for reading my "rant". Any advice and greatly appreciated. All "flames" surely are not.
73's
KB9OYD
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RE: Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by WB2WIK on December 13, 2004
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I'd forget about the Mutek mod for the time being. It's pretty expensive, and I'm not sure it's even available any more. MuTek is a British company and sold hundreds (maybe more) of these receiver-replacement kits back in the late 1970's and early 1980's, but if the FT-221R kit is still available, I'd be surprised.
The MuTek kit essentially replaces the entire receiver of the FT-221R except for the VFO and audio stages with new "stuff" contained on a new printed circuit board that replaces the old board. It does/did provide enhanced performance (better front end and mixer, lower noise IF system), but the enhancement isn't enough to warrant the investment until you have everything else set up and operating properly.
The 2m9SSB is a good beam, and you won't beat it for its size, weight and price.
Get it up fifty feet, as you said, and feed it with low-loss coax, and get on the air!
I agree the price of a new Mirage 160 amp and a compatible power supply is a bit daunting. If the amp's $329 (I think around there) and a good 35A power supply is another $179, you've invested over $500 to increase your transmitted signal by 12 dB. A used tube-type amp might cost just a bit more, but have a built-in AC power supply and get you up into the 500W range quickly..."cost per Watt" will be lower, and a well-designed tube amplifier will produce less distortion and a cleaner signal than the Mirage.
(BTW, for a 2m solid-state amp, the TE Systems products built in Los Angeles are a better deal. Their cost per Watt is lower than Mirage, they have more models to choose from, and the amps are built with better workmanship. The "smart money" goes for the TE, based on the cumulative experience of the entire VHF community in the U.S.)
With a good tropo opening, your 10W and 9L beam at 50' will do well. My first "DX" contact on two meters was made using 3W output power to a 15L Telrex yagi, and was from my parents' home in NJ to a station in northern VT, 325 miles away, back in 1966. That hooked me for a long time...
73 & good luck!
Steve WB2WIK/6
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RE: Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by KB9OYD on December 13, 2004
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Thank you WB2WIK/Steve for the reply.
After some further consideration, I've ditched the idea of the Mutek mod. Why dump money into old equiptment?
I'm now planning to run the FT-221R as is with it's 10 watts of power into the 2m9ssb beam as high as i can get it up. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me and i can get it all setup before Christmas.
Looks like i'll be in the market for a good HF+6m+2m rig in the near future or at least a good all mode VHF/UHF rig. I'm not too concerned with any bands above 2 meter but getting 6 meters would be nice down the road.
Since i plan on getting my General ticket (And more) soon down the road, might as well jump on the bandwagon and get a "all in one" rig like most people are doing these days.
As for the amps, i think i'll be hunting for a nice used AC powered tube unit and a pre-amp.
Looks like i need to get another job. hi hi.
73's
KB9OYD / Jay
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RE: Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by WB2WIK on December 13, 2004
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Hi Jay,
I'd forget about the "preamp." And for a number of reasons...
1. Unless you put the preamp at the antenna (not at your receiver), it doesn't really help. Your noise figure will still be whatever it is now, plus your coax loss. So, if you have a 2dB NF in your FT-221R, and have 3dB coax loss, your effective NF is 5 dB. If you add the world's best preamp at your receiver, one with a "0dB" NF (which doesn't exist), your effective NF is still 3dB. However, if you place that same preamp at the antenna, your effective NF becomes 0dB, and you've made a serious improvement. Signals lost in the coax are lost forever and cannot be recovered with any kind of preamp.
2. So, the place to invest the big bucks, if you have any to invest, is in the best cable you can buy. Then, after that, if you're still convinced you're missing hearing stuff, add an antenna-mounted preamp.
3. Problem with this is that antenna-mounted preamps that actually work cost more than your FT-221R is worth, maybe considerably more. A decent masthead 2m preamp that can handle 500W of TX power and contains low loss relays to do the job properly costs around $350 "and up."
4. As you run more power (think 1/2kW to 1kW for a tube amp), this becomes an even bigger problem. Blowing out preamps when high power is used is such a common problem that anyone who hasn't blown his preamp at least once probably isn't really using his station. And of course masthead preamps are also wide-open exposed to lightning energy and all sorts of damaging stuff that can blow them out even when you're NOT operating!
5. Focus on getting the beam up as high as you can and using really good cable on it. On two meters, your antenna can never be "too high," but it can easily be "too low," and most are.
73 & good luck with the second job, hi hi
Steve WB2WIK/6
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RE: Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by KB9OYD on December 13, 2004
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Steve,
Thanks alot for your replies. I appreciate all the help.
Thanks for the Pre-amp advice. I surely dont have any money to just throw down the tubes.
As for coax, I'm considering the Times LMR 400 or maybe even the LMR 600 depending how the money situation looks. I have heard the LMR 600 is too stiff to use for a beam, since the coax needs some slack to move with the rotor.
I think i'm pretty stuck with only around 50-60 feet to put the beam up. I'm going to start searching for used towers in the community that people don't want anymore and hopefully i can find something for free or very low cost.
Too bad i cant put the beam up at the local radio station down the road. Their towers have to be around 200 feet or so. LOL
Any good recommendations for a good All Mode VHF radio? Lately i've been scouting out the Yaesu FT-736R. It can be run on 6m-1.2ghz (that i know of) depending on the modules installed. Prices look to be pretty consistant with what i'd like to spend as well.
Thanks again Steve!
73's
KB9OYD / Jay
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RE: Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by WB2WIK on December 14, 2004
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LMR400's a good choice if your end-to-end run is 100' or less. LMR600's a great choice if it's longer than that, but you're right, you'll never be able to "rotate" LMR600, it's much too stiff; so the usual method is to run LMR600 up to just below the rotator, and then splice to something more flexible for the last several feet (rotor to beam feedpoint).
Careful: LMR600 uses specialized connectors you must buy from Times.
The FT-736R's a solid rig. I've had mine since it was new in 1987, and it's been completely reliable for 17 years of constant use. It operates 144 and 432 MHz as well as another two bands of your choice: 50 MHz, 220 MHz or 1296 MHz (three modules available, it will accommodate two). It runs 25W output on 144 and 432 MHz, and 10W output on any of the other bands.
If you decide to buy one (used, of course, since they're no longer made), check it out in-person first. Seems like a lot of these rigs have problems, which are almost entirely due to previous owners doing things wrong. Mine's been "on" almost 24 hours a day for 17 years, and has been bounced all over the country on and off airplanes, and has never failed in any way; so, I know they're robust enough. Most of the "problems" I've heard of started out with guys wanting to "tinker" with them...
Good luck!
Steve WB2WIK/6
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RE: Mutek Mod? And a few other questions.
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by N7ANL on December 19, 2004
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Jay,
Few general comments for the greater group:
- Go with the longest yagi you can manage, as the 2m-9ssb is on the short side. While it certainly works and well considering it's size, a longer yagi is way better. (sorry for the 'modern' english). Even if you can't handle a 2M-5WL or longer, I would go with the longest you can, and plan to stack a second yagi with a power divider & phase-matched cables, later down the road. But a "5WL" while being 33ft long, only weighs 13 pounds, so it's not as hard as it might sound. You'll be thankful you did go this way, and this antenna is available 2nd hand on occasion.
- The solid state amp is the best choice, unless you are going to become a 'big gun' on the band. For the average guy just getting started, a good brick amp with 160 wts out & a preamp is fine. The issue of the power supply "seems" moot to me - if you have an HF rig w/ external PS, you can run the 2m amp off of that. And it will make an absolutely huge difference in the number of contacts you make, and ragchewing with others within a few hundred miles is made possible -- without an amp of this size, moderate distance ragchewing is made difficult.
- When you decide to go with extensive efforts for Meteor Scatter (MS), EME or serious grid chasing, then a 600-1kw+ amp and a mast mounted sequenced preamp is the way to go. But it is a large expense & effort until you get to that level of desire. In the meantime, you can be a decently potent station with 160+wts, a preamp and a very long yagi at 50 ft.
- Mutek's (as I remember them, but never had one) were a board option you put in place of one inside your radio, and were made for certain radios of the era, like the IC251A, IC271A, your Yaesu and perhaps another. Probably a good idea IF you run across one, but that would be a rare catch at this point. I'm guessing they were about $150 or so new at the time, not worth a lot today though.
So drop me a letter to my email below. Might have an item you may be interested in, ya never know. Drop me your direct email address - here's mine: radrick@netw.com
Rick
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