and 70MHz Update. See last section on this page
This is the transverter I use for my normal 6m operation from home. Used in conjunction with my 3 element MET yagi, I have worked some very nice dx on the 6m band (between bouts of microwave operation, of course!).
Although the original DX'er 50 was described in a series of articles in the now-defunct VHF - UHF DXer Newsletter, it has recently been revisited with a view to updating the design, putting it on to a PCB (the original used 'ugly', groundplane point to point wiring) and making kits available for intending builders. The update has been produced by Hands Electronics. Sheldon Hands has produced an excellent PCB for the DX50 and the design is now made available with the full permission of the author.
The kit uses a discrete device PA in preference to the original Mitsubishi module, which can still be used if required. A low cost mixer has been used instead of the original device, but at no cost in dynamic range. The DX50 retains all of the original dynamic range, clean spectrum, aided by extensive filtering and easy interfacing to your 10m IF.
The original DX'er 50 articles have been translated to HTML and are available in three parts on this server for you to read and decide for yourself if this is THE 6m transverter you have been looking for. The DX'er 50 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
A 70MHz transverter based on the DX50 PCB has now been designed and built. This new transverter features high dynamic range like the DX50 but has a lower noise figure (~2dB) to take account of the lower external noise on this fine band. Extensive signal filtering in all stages of the circuit ensures not only that the transverter can stand up to all the strong signals on the band during contests, but also makes the transverter very stable by ensuring that the otherwise broadband amplifiers used are well decoupled from each other outside the frequency bands of interest.
Last updated 03/04/99
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