[ardf] For 2m: Use HTs or Build a Transmitter?

[Matthew Robbins]

For 80m, I'm getting ready to build some ON7YD ATX-80s: 
http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/atx80.htm, which seems to be a "standard".

But for 2m, it seems most people use HTs.  I noticed at his website 
(http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/ardfbrew.htm) that ON7YD also has a 2m design 
(http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/atx2.htm).  (That's the only 2m transmitter 
suitable for ARDF that I've found---Are there any others?)

Has anyone had experience with this design?  It appears there is no board 
for it, but I'm up for that.  Most of my projects have been HF frequencies, 
except for the very first radio I ever built, which was one of those Ramsey 
FM transmitters, and really doesn't count.  (It was a miracle that thing 
worked.  I was in seventh grade and I had the iron on some of those leads 
for at least a minute.)

The text says he's aiming for 300mW to 1W, but the instructions for tuning 
and calibration seem to say the min power is 400mW, but doesn't list a 
nominal or max power.

About how much is it to build say five of these?  Do you recognize any 
hard-to-find components?

The ARDF R1 rules say 1-to-5W Output Power for 80m and 0.25-to-1W ERP for 
2m.  Is it pretty standard to just use whatever power the HT puts out?  
Several people mentioned doing mods to allow adjusting the finals.  What 
power do you run?

The R1 rules also specify 144.5 to 144.8 MHz.  The text for the ATX-2 
tranmitter only mentions 144.06 to 144.09.  I'm assuming that's an 
intermediate step, but he doesn't say anything else.

Matthew Robbins
AA9YH
Cincinnati, Ohio

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