A Versatile T/R solution for SDRs and vintage radios
Inexpensive Software Defined Radios offer excellent performance and value for hams and SWLs, but they lack key features that are needed for actual use on the air:
Provision for automatically muting the speakers when transmitting, to eliminate overloading and audio feedback.
A sidetone to monitor CW keying. SDRs do not provide a CW sidetone, and even worse, the time delay resulting from digital signal processing (“latency”) makes it impossible to monitor one’s own signal as can be done with a conventional receiver.
A convenient means of switching the antenna between the transmitter and the SDR receiver and protecting the receiver input during transmit.
The VERSA-TR was designed to address these shortcomings of SDRs, but also makes it easy to put low-power vintage and conventional radios together to create an integration station with automatic T/R switching, muting, and CW sidetone. Only the antenna connections need be made since RF sensing eliminates the need to wire up relay contacts and muting circuits. Regular or amplified PC speaker muting is plug-and-play.
The VERSA-TR can be used in a variety of ways with transmitters range from < 1 watt to 100 watts output, for CW, AM, SSB or other modes. Watch this site for application notes showing various configurations and applications.
The VERSA-TR is available as an easy-to-build kit using all through-hole components from our friends at Hayseed Hamfest:
https://hayseedhamfest.com/products/ran-technology-versa-tr-switch
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If, like me, you enjoy flipping through old issues of 73 magazine from the 60s, you're bound to have at least seen the ads for the Transcom SBT-3 three-band SSB tranceiver. Being made in Escondido CA in the mid-60s, my guess has always been that engineers from other San Diego SSB compnanies such as Don Stoner, Les Earnshaw from Southcom, Herb Johnson, founder of Swan or Faust Gonsett may... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/16/2021
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This short article about the AWA Forestphone was the last one put on the Midwest Classic Radio Net website by for former webmaster George K9GDT before he unfortunately became a Silent Key. MCRN articleNow that a longer version has been published in Electric Radio magazine I thought I'd include it here as well.Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's leading electr... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/13/2021
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Alexander M. Lewyt died in 1988 at the age of 79, a holder of patents on scores of inventions. His penchant for invention, he once said, was so strong that he had chronic insomnia from lying awake at night envisioning new products. When he learned of undertakers’ difficulty in fastening neckties on corpses, the teen-age Lewyt devised a new kind of bow tie that clipped on. He sold 50,000 of t... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/08/2021
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The Korean-war vintage AN/GRC-9 is one of the most useful and fun military field radios for ham use, as with AM and CW modes and 2-12 MHz coverage and a VFO it's all ready to go on several ham bands. The battery tube superhet receiver is also power-friendly and sensitive and stable enough to copy CW and SSB but has one annoying flaw - the 4 volt bias battery used by the audio... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/03/2021
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Halogen type MR-16 lamps are commonly used in track lights and other spot lighting applications so what would be cooler than to drop in LED replacements! A lot, as it turns out. The LED replacements are HORRIBLE RFI emitters that totally trashed several ham bands when I unknowingly installed them.Halogen spot lights are 12 volt devices so it's long been common prac... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/02/2021
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Ham radio operators honor legacy of Mars Hill companyHammarlund was an industry leader for generationsCategory: Historic
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/12/2020
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Ham radio operators honor legacy of Mars Hill companyHammarlund was an industry leader for generationsCategory: Historic
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/12/2020
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The Japan Radio Company JSB-20 SSB Radiotelephone10 watt portable SSB lunchboxCategory: Vintage Ham Radio
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/12/2020
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Like most people who received a catalog from International Crystal in the 60s, I was always intrigued by their assortment of PC board kits. There were boards for every stage in a radio transmitter or receiver and they could be combined to make almost anything - from converters to complete radios. But little did I know that International actually did just that when they went... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/01/2020
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Incredible trove of Radio and Electronics BooksFree for downloading - pdf filesCategory: Vintage Radio
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 11/02/2020
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