[amsat-bb] re: TS2000 and PL

["Mark L. Hammond" <mlhammond@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The issue is not whether the radio can be made to work with the PL tone or not.  The point is that the lack of the PL tone in satellite mode is an annoyance, and most likely an oversight from a design perspective.  It does impact operations negatively.

I have run automated satellite operations since AO-16 was launched (yes, even PB/PG was automated with enough .bat files ;-)  So, I've done my share of reading/wiring/experimenting to get things working smoothly and reliably.  By the time I've made a $2000 investment in a new rig, one would hope that "all bases were covered."

Where the annoyance with the TS-2000(X) comes into play is when trying to use an automated system, in automated mode.  The programs expect the radio to operate in satellite mode, and rightly so.  So, a bird using a PL tone requires several manual steps to intervene and setup the rig into the right mode to work.  Minimally, the program has to have the CAT feature disabled.  Or, the program must be stopped, which then has an impact on the antennas/rotors.  If nothing else, it interrupts the normal, fluid operations of my station, and that's annoying.

One would dream that perhaps a firmware upgrade to the rig would fix this....

The issue is that Kenwood did not implement a feature that would indeed make reasonable sense to include.

 From the other direction---why did the Yeasu (and presumably Icom) include the feature in their satellite rigs??

73,

Mark N8MH


>Regarding no PL tone in Satellite Mode:
>
>>>> "Edward R. Cole"  08/01/04 2:36 PM >>>
>>You and many TS2000 users are justifiably frustrated, 
>>but that is not the satellite builder's fault...it is Kenwood's 
>>and they ought to get on the stick with a fix or upgrade 
>>else the market will go over to Icom and Yaesu.
>
>I dont understand the fuss.   The advantage of "satellite"
>mode is for tracking of both bands while "tuning" across the
>multiple QSO's and frequencies in the downlink band of a 
>linear SSB/CW satellite and for adjusting for Doppler.
>
>None of that has anything to do with operating via ECHO
>using mode J FM:
>
>1) An FM bird has no wideband tansponder
>2) An FM bird has only one frequency
>3) ECHO has a broad enough uplink 2m channel receiver
>    so that no doppler tuning is required on the uplink
>4) ECHO FM mode was designed for people with channelized
>    FM equipment.
>5) No linear CW/SSB satellite requires PL and it would make
>    no sense to do so.
>
>So rather than condeming the radio, I'd suggest simply
>turning off linear-satellite mode and operating cross band 
>FM like the satellite was designed for.... The radio will work
>with PL just fine that way.   Bob
----
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