[Mich VHF UHF Society] Transverters vs. native rig support

[Patrick Thomas]

I'm not sure if this is a holy war question, a newbie question, or both, but here goes.

As a TS-2000x owner, I am fortunate (I guess? :) to have the ability to just click the band-up button and get on 1.2GHz.  I've been considering upgrading to an IC-9100 with its 1.2GHz module.

But as I consider the fact that the 1.2GHz price adders for these units is already $400+, and even conventional HF/VHF/UHF rigs seem to come with higher prices and more tradeoffs, I find myself asking: "Is this really any better than a transverter?"

Or is it perhaps even worse than using a high-quality transverter, since many EME people seem to prefer high quality HF radios paired with DEMI or Kuhne transverters.  Or just "different" and they're both about the same until you start developing an interest in using a high-accuracy external frequency source, etc.

Thoughts?

 - Patrick, KB8DGC