GB3VHF - Loud and Proud

Well,

I've been fiddling a little this morning with my 2M VHF setup; I have been using my TS-990 with a G4DDK transverter along with a DG8 masthead preamp.

It works extremely well; I use this set of "macros" to put the TS-990 into transverter mode and set things the way I like them:

$COMMAND OM0D;$ Mode USB-D
$COMMAND FA00028370000;$ 28MHz VFO Frequency
$COMMAND FB00028375000;$ 28MHz VFO Frequency
$COMMAND XO000116000000;$ offset 116MHz +ve
$COMMAND XV1;$ transvert on
$COMMAND AN00911;$ DRV on and RX ANT On
$COMMAND PA00;$ main preamp off
$COMMAND PA10;$ sub preamp off
$COMMAND EQT00;$ TX Equaliser off
$COMMAND EQR000;$ RX Equaliser off
$COMMAND BS01;$ Scope on
$COMMAND PC200;$ Power control to 10 (70W in non transvert mode)
$COMMAND BSC020;$ Scope Ref -10dB

And just for completeness:

Good egh?

DG8 Pre-Amp - More gain, really?

Well,

I ordered a DG8 pre-amp for 2M from here last week and it duly arrived. I only ordered the "short" kit as I thought I would probably have a lot of the more common bits needed anyhow.

Here's the completed project:

Here's a close up of some of the surface mount gubbins on the other side of the PCB:

And here's my bench after I had built it - a complete disaster area:

I aligned the pre-amp in accordance with the instructions using a SSB RX but thought the results were quite noisy; I then used the tracking generator and the Spectrum Analyser to align, here's the unit in bypass:

The markers are at 144, 145 and 146 Mhz, here's the aligned version:

I backed the gain off as per the instructions and used my ears to adjust L1, still seems noisy to me.

May have to fiddle some more.the IC-9100 used for my new satellite station can power the pre-amp straight down the coax.

I'm planning to run the amp under the radio bench initially; there's not a very long run of coax to the antenna so I am not sure there is that much to be gained by mast mounting it. Let's see.

Here's Miss Luna Cat, I'm rather hoping she doesn't decide to play "shelf swat" with my Nixie Clock!

Local conditions.