W1GHZ rover transverter for 1296 MHz

http://www.w1ghz.org/MBT/multiband.htm 

The idea of building this project was how cheap and simple you can build the 23cm transverter that actually works, not just on the bench but also having you on the microwave bands making some contacts. So this project was one of the simplest to build not requiring much understanding and fancy lab equipment to tune. In this case simple means no tune, just solder assemble and run. There is really nothing to tune in this project if you follow the "For dummies" style instructions written by the author W1GHZ . AD6IW likes to say for this kind of project "Plug and pray" :-)  So this was simple.

What about cheap? How cheap you can go for the project like 23cm transverter? The most critical parts you can buy from the author, the rest you can buy on the e-bay or on the flea market, or even use some old microwave stock equipment. Wise guys will find almost all parts from the old SAT TV LNB converters. Let's check our shopping basket:

Local oscillator board + one Transverter board (1296 MHz)  $20

Relay board for SMD relay  $3

Mixer ADE-5 for 1296MHz $5

Relay G6Z-1F-A-DC12  $5

MMIC (8pcs)  $30

SMA female (5pcs) 5$

SMA male (5pcs)  5$

Rest of the parts (SMD components, Oscillator 80MHz) $7

At the end the total price will be around $80. Is this cheap or what? Just to compare, the good quality crystal for the microwave local oscillator will cost you in the Europe between EUR 20-25 ($30) !! Building complete transverter for $80 is really fair price, best buy price. So this was cheap.

Ordering the PCBs and mixers from the gentleman like Paul was an easy task, custom officers (Croatian) was another story. The rest of the parts I found in my "microwave scrap stock". Let's start.

This type of transverter is the earliest one using the Local Oscillator frequency of 720MHz. The latest model (Right side up) is using Local Oscillator working on the frequency of 576MHz. Assembling and soldering the Local oscillator PCB and the SMD components should not be difficult. Just follow the instructions and pay the attention to the MMIC bias resistor. Depending on the type of MMIC you are planing to use, calculate the value of the bias resistor. If you are not familiar with schematic and where to install the components check the following page http://4smicrowave.ae5k.us/w1ghz/place.html where all details are clearly seen and well documented.

Canned oscillator is mounted on the ground side of the PCB together with the output connector and few other components. 80Mhz canned oscillator should not be expensive, most probably the shipping will be much  higher then the value of oscillator. I found my on the old DX-80 PC motherboard, used as a clock. The 64Mhz canned oscillator can be found in some ADSL wireless routers. I prefer to use good quality SMA connectors instead of cheap F connectors.

First test was successful and 4 mW of output power was easily measured. No additional MMIC in the amplifier chain was required in my case. First downside of this project is the Local oscillator frequency. We can not expect high frequency accuracy from the cheap canned oscillator. After the multiplier chain I get the 10 kHz offset on the 720 MHz. After the final multiplying to 1440 MHz the offset is doubled. 20 Khz is the final offset from the required frequency. I can live with that, considering the price of  the complete oscillator. It is important just to know the offset, later you can calculate your band start and band stop IF frequency. Changing and looking for the other canned oscillator can help sometimes, but I was not so lucky. It is not worth spending time on this problem until you know what is your working frequency.

With a good working oscillator the next step was assembling the transverter board. I used all the parts that are listed in the author's article. The only change I made was the MMIC bias resistor to meet the maximum allowed current and the best MMIC performances. Find the MMIC datas heet and check for the Vd and Ibias where using the simple formula:

              Vcc - Vd
Rbias =  -----------
                 Ibias

bias resistor should be calculated. Use the next higher value then the one you get from the mentioned formula. Assembling was straightforward and the only thing to take care was soldering the components to the PCB ground where more heat should be applied to ensure good connection. The good practice is checking all the mounted parts before applying the power to the transverter. Once you have the white smoke out from the component it is not easy to bring the smoke back :-) , so be careful. The worst thing that can happen is loosing some MMICs. Apply the RX power to the terminal and measure the current where the value should not exceed the MMIC INA10386 bias current. After that connect the power to the 1440 MHz multiplier chain on the same PCB and measure the current using the same method. The total current consumption should be calculated according to all three MMIC bias current.

Now it is time to connect the local oscillator, 23cm antenna and the IF rig. Power up your IF radio first and then after applying the power to the transverter RX part you should notice the slightly higher noise on your IF radio which leads to conclusion that your RX part might work properly. Remember to use LSB on your 144 MHz radio where 143.900 MHz correspond to the 1296.100 MHz. If you have some local beacon in your area check for the signal, or just ask some local HAM to help you with some transmission test. There is nothing to tune except to check and measure the MMIC bias current.

The TX side of the transverter should be checked the same way. The maximum output power was 8 mW in my case. Changing the MMICs did not result with higher power despite the author article where he stated that 15 mw should be the achieved without any problem. I heard from some hams that they manage to get 15 + mW but with the Right side up version. I did not measure the filter pass band, but I suspect on the filter  loos. FR4 laminate have high loos on the microwave frequencies and the Er may vary between the various types of used laminates. Any how this is enough power to make some local qso or to drive some small amplifier. Do not forget to use the attenuator on the IF TX side. 1mW of the drive IF power is enough for this type of mixer. I prefer to use home-brew "sequencer" where attenuator and RX-TX voltage switching is controlled by "RF-cox" or PTT external signal.

Instead of the author PC board with relay i prefer to use a coaxial relay with SMA connectors. The one I use in this project was found on the flea market for a really good price. The truth is that the maximum usable frequency according to the data sheet is 2 GHz what is good enough for our needs. Moreover the coil power was 12V, so just a coil protection diode was required.

As this is intended to be a cheap project, the housing should be the same style. Old CD-ROM player was cannibalized for this purpose. A sheet of the FR-4 laminate was cut to fit inside the CD-ROM. All RF transverter PC boards are mounted on the top side while on the bottom side there is place for the sequencer board with the attenuator. For the moment no LNA or power amplifier is attached, but there is enough room  left on the bottom side to accommodate this as well. Front side was modified from the PC cover leftover. Two LEDs and a switch gives a finish touch to the project.

At the end you should have a nice rover transverter that can give you some extra points in the local microwave contest or you can give a chance to somebody to work some new squares. Both way you should have a lot of fun using this simple transverter. If you are lucky enough to live in the area where the hams are active in the microwave bands you will be able to make a lot of qsos. And remember: rover does not mean EME. This is a simple transverter and this kind of the design suffer from the facts that you should be aware of.

I already mention the canned oscillator frequency accuracy.
Sometimes tuning reverse side (LSB) can be confusing but sometimes this can help you, avoiding the big gun signals on the 144 MHz IF frequency working in the contest. Some of the older 2m radios can not tune below the band, some new radios can do that with some modifications but still they suffer from the lower sensitivity on this part of the band.
Roughly calculating, the conversion gain is low or none. Loos in the splitter 6dB, filter 7dB, mixer 6db, connectors 1 dB, coaxial switch 1 dB give us a total of 21dB. The only active amplifier on the receiving side is INA10386 delivering same or maybe a few dB higher gain on this frequency.

Knowing all this, I decide to build this rover transverter just to see how easy is to start with the microwaves not spending the big bucks.