I had an opportunity to use the Astro 102BX a long time ago and was very impressed with it’s operation. Here are some of the features I really like about this transceiver:

• Separate RF, IF, & AF gain controls
• Passband Tuner
• Notch filter
• “Hang” AGC system with continuously variable delay time
• Full QSK operation
• Highly effective noise blanker
• Speech processor
• Dual PTOs
• Complete output metering: Forward or Reflected power, and ALC.
• Control of CW keying characteristics: Hard or Soft.

• 160M     1.8 - 2.0 MHz
• 80M       3.5 - 4.0 MHz
• 40M       7.0 - 7.5 MHz
• 20M   14.0 - 14.5 MHz
• 15M   21.0 - 21.5 MHz
• 10M   28.0 - 30.0 MHz

PTO Modes of Operation:

• A only
• Receive A, Transmit B
• B only
• Receive B, Transmit A
• External

Power Input:  12-14 VDC negative ground only.  No damage will occur over the range of 10 to 15 VDC.  20 Amperes peak current required.

Electromagnetic Interference Reduction:

• Transmit:  Five element low pass filter on each band.
• Receive:  Three pole bandpass filter on each band.

• Height - 6.375"  (16.2 cm)
• Width - 14.25"  (36.2 cm)
• Depth - 13.25"  (33.7 cm)
• Weight - 23.5 lb.  (10.6 kg)

• Pin 1   13.6 VDC
• Pin 2   Ground
• Pin 3  Ground (used for tuner meter lamps)
• Pin 4  13.6 VDC
• Pin 5  Ground
• Pin 6  13.6 VDC (for tuner meter lamps, fused 3A)

External Speaker/Phones:  ¼" Phone jack; 4-8 ohms.

External Relay:  RCA jack, grounded when keyed.

Key:  RCA phono jack.

EXT Modulation:  RCA phono jack.

Fuse:  3 Ampere fast blow

External LO:  RCA phono jack

Circuit:  Single conversion to 9.00165 MHz IF using  double balanced mixer.  Exceptional immunity to overload and cross modulation.

Sensitivity:  0.35µV for 10dB S+N/N ratio.

Image Rejection:  Better than 60dB

Receiver Selectivity:  SSB and CW - 2.4 KHz, two 8 pole crystal filter with shape factor of of 1.4:1, 6dB to 100dB (16 pole equivalent)

Passband Tuning:  SSB and CW - 8 pole continuously variable highpass or lowpass.  LED readout shows approximate audio bandpass.

Dynamic Range:  AGC greater than 100dB; third order intercept +5dBm.  (IMD products down 90dB at –40dBm input)

Audio Output Power:  Greater than 3 watts into 4 ohms.

Meter:  “S” units from 1-9; 20, 40, 60 dB over S-9.

Circuit Design:  Conversion from 9.00165 MHz IF.  ALC limits SSB peak output power and CW power to 100 watts.

Power Input:  235 watts PEP at 13.8 VDC supply.

Power Output:  100 watts PEP into 50 ohm non-reactive load at 13.8 VDC supply voltage.  ALC limits peak power to 100 watts PEP.

Unwanted Sideband Rejection:  60dB down at 1000 Hz audio frequency.

Harmonic Output:  45dB below peak power level

Carrier Suppression:  50dB below peak power level

Transmit Control:

• SSB - PTT or VOX standard
• CW - Full or Semi break-in with sidetone standard.  Automatic 800 Hz offset on transmit frequency.

Audio Response:  300 - 3000 Hz, ±6dB

Meter:  Reads peak power on transmit selected by meter switch; forward power 100 watts full scale, reflected power 10 watts full scale, or ALC (Automatic Level Control).

Cooling:  Large capacity heat sink fins supplied.  For SSTV, RTTY, and semi continuous transmitting, forced air cooling supplied by a “muffin” type fan on heat sink fins is required.

VSWR Shutdown:

• Full power up to VSWR of 1.7:1
• 80% at 2:1 VSWR
• 60% at 3:1 VSWR
• 25% into open or short.

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