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Member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2014
- Messages
- 75
For those who might be interested in CW and SSB on 2 meters and up...why not?
Take just CW for example. How difficult would it be for a manufacturer to provide a keying circuit to turn the carrier on and off in their FM transceivers? Now that every imaginable function can be programmed into a tiny chip, it seems like no effort or extra circuitry would be needed.
On the receive end, the FM gear would have to have a BFO/Product detector - not difficult at all. For SSB transmit, granted a few parts like a balanced modulator IC and a filter would be required.
For dedicated repeater guys, I hear you asking "what's the point"? What's the point of putting up a 300 foot tower and trying to work a guy 100 miles away on 160 meters? What's the point of WAS with 5 watts or less? I get that your average 2 meter ham isn't interested in CW or SSB. But manufacturers have decided for everyone else that CW and SSB will never again be used on VHF or UHF. I don't buy the story that it is an economics decision. They could just leave the holes in the pc board and I'd buy the parts myself, if it came to that.
I have nothing against FM or repeaters. But why dedicate a whole spectrum to channelized FM voice modes?
FF
Take just CW for example. How difficult would it be for a manufacturer to provide a keying circuit to turn the carrier on and off in their FM transceivers? Now that every imaginable function can be programmed into a tiny chip, it seems like no effort or extra circuitry would be needed.
On the receive end, the FM gear would have to have a BFO/Product detector - not difficult at all. For SSB transmit, granted a few parts like a balanced modulator IC and a filter would be required.
For dedicated repeater guys, I hear you asking "what's the point"? What's the point of putting up a 300 foot tower and trying to work a guy 100 miles away on 160 meters? What's the point of WAS with 5 watts or less? I get that your average 2 meter ham isn't interested in CW or SSB. But manufacturers have decided for everyone else that CW and SSB will never again be used on VHF or UHF. I don't buy the story that it is an economics decision. They could just leave the holes in the pc board and I'd buy the parts myself, if it came to that.
I have nothing against FM or repeaters. But why dedicate a whole spectrum to channelized FM voice modes?
FF