If you are doing this for an SO2R or multi-transmitter installation and no two radios never ever need to be on the same band, perhaps you can configure the switching to use one set of separately enclosed W3NQN filters rather than a pair of products that has a switch and six filters each.
There's a fair amount of connector cost and jumper jungle associated with a solution like this, which needs to be compared with the cost of the W3NQN bandpass filters themselves. A set of six distinct W3NQN filters and a pair of 2 x n switches is a bit more flexible (and might provide a bit better isolation) than a box containing a switch and six filters. But it's messy and takes up a lot of space. I considered this option, and chose two boxes containing switches and 6 filters instead. I didn't like the jumper jungle. There is a (perhaps small) market for a 2 x 6 SO2R bandpass filter box with four coax connectors, radio 1 in and out, radio 2 in and out. There used to be a note on the Array Solutions site that described this configuration, associated with their FM-6. The product offering was two FM-6's, a set of six W3NQN filters and a lot of jumpers. I can't find it now. Perhaps it has been superseded by the much "neater" configuration with a separate set of filters for each radio. One multi-op I visit uses just one set of six separately enclosed W3NQN filters, connected to the input side of each of six single-band amplifiers. Amp/bandpass filter selection is performed by routing a radio to one of the amplifiers. Antenna switching consists of selecting one of the available antennas for that band only. Still another multi-radio single operator configuration I saw some years ago used separate radios and amps (that shared a common HV supply) and antenna tuners for each band. The single operator changed bands by rolling his chair to a new position. Dick, K6KR ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
