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Reviews For: G4HUP Panoramic Tap Board

Category: Ham Radio Kits

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Review Summary For : G4HUP Panoramic Tap Board
Reviews: 5MSRP: $10 Kit, $20 Assembled
Description:
An entry level SMD construction project, that allows the I.F. of a transceiver to be tapped at a high impedance, and brought out to an external SDR receiver, to provide a panoramic display.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://g4hup.com/PAT.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0055
KU0D Rating: 2018-05-01
G4HUP PAt 70 With the FT-991 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I will start out as I was a bit apprehensive of adding this to my FT-991, but with time and testing it works very well and couldn't be more pleased with the results. It started out a bit shaky as when I first installed it. (I was the first with the FT-991) I could only get about 6kHz of bandwidth out of the adapter and no matter what I tried I couldn't get the 50-60 kHz as Dave thought I should be getting. I was working with him on this at his (Dave G4HUP SK) time of passing and went almost a year before I relooked into it.
After some information from JIM AB4D and as we will call an expert in the field I was shown a new tap point for the Pat 70 board. To my surprise it worked very well with much greater width and sensitivity. It also has VHF Capabilities which was an added bonus. I have since helped a few others with the same success. I took a look at the technical supplement for the FT-991A and to my surprise they are using the same tap point as where the tap point I used for their new TFT spectrum For the A Model. And a bit redesigned main board and board for the real time spectrum. So it must of been a Homerun.
Adding the PAT 70 to my Ft991 brought new life and is by far my favorite rig. There is a company bringing the Pat70 back For G4HUP for purchase but with the old instructions which I do not recommend. I’ll give the G4HUP an A+ as what it has brought to my FT-991. Highly recommended Updated instructions on my QRZ PAGE Thank You Dave G4HUP you will be missed…KU0D
KJ7WC Rating: 2016-07-04
This board is worth your while. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Back in January 2014, I was looking for surface mount kits to practice my soldering. After stumbling upon G4HUP's high-impedance buffer for tapping into the IF stage of my FT-897, I had to give it a go. The kit arrived as a printed circuit board and build sheet. The components were taped to the top of the build sheet, next to their corresponding labels. The bottom half of the build sheet had a schematic (if I recall correctly) and the PCB was appropriately silk screened. Assembly was fairly painless. A couple of 0603 capacitors could give advantage to young builders. Just make sure to use some flux.

When I first assembled this kit, the installation notes for the FT-897 were in development and provided online. Today, I installed a preassembled circuit board into an FT-450, where a paper copy of the installation notes had been provided with the circuitry. However, the assembled version did not contain a schematic.

The owner of the FT-450 is happy with his rig's new capabilities, as I was with my personal installation. G4HUP created a proper method for tapping into a radio's signal path. There are a myriad of problems that can result from use of a capacitor alone. Use of this circuit will help you avoid transmitting harmful interference, protect both your transceiver and SDR from damage, and maintain your receiver's sensitivity. Why would you do it any other way?
KA1API Rating: 2016-03-30
Best Kept Secret - WOW! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I stumbled upon the G4HUP PAT70 board while searching to see if anyone could get an FT-450 to have a panadapter. I ordered the PAT70 board and it showed up very quickly because he has a distributor in the US.

There are detailed step-by-step instructions for most rigs and it was easy to follow and install. I went very slowly and it only took an hour.

I used it with HDSDR and a Terratec USB receiver stick. The panadapter sprung to life and I was able to click on signals and have it tune the rig.

It is worth every penny and adds new life to the rig.

There is a good video for the FT-857, which is a very similar setup, that guides you through the HDSDR configuration. The IF OUT frequency is just a little different but otherwise, the video helped me get it all set up.
VE3TMT Rating: 2016-01-20
Great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered the PAT70 board from Dave to install in my FT1000 Mark V Field. I have "tapped" many radio's previously, always using the capacitor method. I found however, with the Field, the IF chain was severely loaded down this way. Signals that were normally 10 over S9 were about an S7 at best. Removing the dongle from the radio brought the signal levels up somewhat, so I knew it was loading down the IF. The rest of the problem was from the coax running from the tap point to the jack on the rear of the radio.

After reading various articles on the net and speaking with Dave via email, I ordered one of his PAT 70 boards. I am tapping the 1st IF in the Field at 70.455 MHz before the crystal filter. Dave has a US counterpart who shipped to me so the delivery time was quite reasonable.

As I had already had the radio apart to tap with the cap, I am very familiar with the disassembly and layout of the radio. I had hoped to install the board beside T1009 and T1008, but after seeing the board, I didn't think there would be enough room to mount it there without interfering with the cooling fan. I decided to mount the board on the underside of the RF Unit. This would also keep the tap wires very short, in my case about 1/2" for each the tap point and ground connection. The board requires 12VDC and this was easily grabbed from the (+) coil pin of relay R1010.

Removing the RF Unit was not as difficult as I was lead to believe. In the case of the Field, with built in power supply, I found it easier to remove the board by removing the screws holding the back panel on. This allows you to tilt the back panel away from the radio, which makes it much easier to pull the board out.

After dressing all the wires and putting the Field back together, I fired up the radio. When putting it all back together, make sure the wires under the cooling fan are not interfering with the fins of the fan. You won't know until the fan comes on and by then it's too late. You have to remove the covers again and clear the obstruction.

After firing up the radio I could observe no loading down of the receiver and signal levels looked right where they should be. I fired up HDSDR and the display came alive with signals all over the place.

In all honesty, I was getting the same display results by the capacitor method, but the PAT70 board eliminated any and all loading of the IF chain and prevents any noise from the dongle/computer from getting into the radio. For the cost of the assembled board, it is well worth the piece of mind knowing everything is done right.

Dave answered all my emails quickly and answered any questions I had.

Thanks Dave for a great product.

If anyone is interested in instructions for the install, email me at my callsign at gmail dot com.
AB4D Rating: 2015-10-05
Great idea Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I recently discovered the G4HUP PAT board, while searching for options to implement a SDR pan-adapter for a Yaesu FTDX-9000.

I ordered an assembled version of the board and an installation kit from Dave, G4HUP through pay pal. Ordering was easy, and communication was very good. Unfortunately, my order was never received. I notified Dave of that issue, and he promptly dispatched a second order to my address. That order was received without issue.

The board is well built, compact, and will easily fit within most radio chassis. During my research, I read that some individuals will simply solder a small capacitor in the I.F. chain, to obtain a IF out signal. However, I don't agree with that method for several reasons.

Rather, the G4HUP PAT board offers several advantages over that of tapping the first I.F. using a capacitor. First, it serves as a buffer to negate loading down the receiver circuit with excessive capacitance. The G4HUP PAT board includes active circuits to buffer the first I.F. circuit from the capacitance load presented by the external coax and the RTL SDR receiver. Using a capacitor to tap the I.F., does not prevent the loading that can occur.

Second, the PAT board also includes a low pass filter that is tuned above a transceiver's first I.F. frequency. The LPF helps prevent erroneous signals from showing up in the display. The combination of the LPF and the active circuits on the PAT, also helps to prevent signals from entering back into the first I.F. in the transceiver.

Moreover, the active circuits on the PAT board also presents a consistent signal to the SDR receiver.

The G4HUP board allowed me to add a high quality IF out option to my FTDX-9000. Recently, I performed a similar modification to a friend's Yaesu FTDX-1200. We both are using G4HUP PAT boards, and a RTL SDR Dongle to implement a computer driven pan-adapter with great success. We are very happy with the end result.