Greg,
I would keep the one that works the best.
I have been disappointed in the performance of long boom Yagi's for UHF.
Resistance loss in the elements often reduces the gain by several dB over
calculated gain. Also they are very narrow band, the helix is good for an
octave.
Art,
KC6UQH
-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Greg D.
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 10:04 PM
To: amsat-bb@amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Antenna Opinions?
Hi folks,
So, we had a swap meet a couple of weekends ago, and I found a bargain I
couldn't refuse. Of course, now I need to decide what to do with it...
The Find was a 35 element 1296mHz antenna, well built and in excellent
condition. Linearly polarized, horizontal; supposed to be 23dBi gain.
Manufacturer, of course, is unknown. No markings, but it does not look
home-built. By the mounting hardware, it looks like it was part of some
sort of stacked array.
The problem is that I already have a 1296mHz antenna. Home-made, circularly
polarized, 18 turns Helix. Should be something like 17dBic, if the
calculations are correct.
In the shack, which is at the wrong end of 60' of 1/2" hardline and a total
of about 15' of RG-213 or something like it, I have my Yaesu 736R and its 10
watts of screaming RF power. No preamps.
Which antenna should I keep up on the rotor assembly?
Last weekend I put up the new antenna. I've made one AO-51 LU pass with the
new antenna, and I was not impressed. Several times I couldn't get into the
bird, presumably because of the crossed polarization. But when I did get
in, it was full quieting, even at low elevations. I don't recall having
this much trouble with the Helix. I think AO-51 is the only current
satellite on L-band, right?
For other uses, there's nothing terrestrial to aim at, repeaters-wise;
they're all hiding behind one or more hills, or went off the air years ago.
That leaves Weak Signal work (hence the horizontal mounting). I do have one
shot into the valley, to the North West, but probably slim pickings for
contacts. I haven't tried EME.
I'm leaning towards putting the Helix back up, and passing the new one on to
someone more able to use it. What are your thoughts?
Thanks,
Greg KO6TH
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