> Anyone have any good recommendations for 23cm repeaters besides D-Star? > I've read about the Icom RP-1200 and using two TM-541s. Are there other > options that are as good or better?
The RBTIP pages have a lot of info on this topic. See http://www.repeater-builder.com/tech-info/1_2gigthoughts.html and http://www.repeater-builder.com/tech-info/uk23cmrepeaters.html I would still recommend against TM541's. They're mobile transceivers, and not intended for a high duty-cycle rate (which can be as high as 100%), for extended periods. Certainly at high power. Are you comfortable running the transmitter contiously on for a whole week, 24x7, and what will the temperature be anyway (remember that repeater schrinking and expanding is a major cause of PA module failure). My PA raises to 45 degrees max; the cooling block alone is bigger than a TM541. With the TM531, upon transmit the PLL oscillator would swing to it's final frequency with the PA already energized (shooting holes in packets on receive as the oscillator passes the input frequency on it's way up). Not sure if the 541 has the same problem. But, while the link-trx has a small divisor and hence is a tight loop, which actually supresses noise, these rice-boxes are likely to be much more noisy and you'll need to filter it all away. I made pictures of my box, they're at http://sharon.esrac.ele.tue.nl/users/pe1hzg/pi6ehn.jpg http://sharon.esrac.ele.tue.nl/users/pe1hzg/pi6ehn/ These pictures aren't made for bragging, but for my own personal documentation and to show others in case of technical questions or remote repairs. Cheers, Geert Jan
