Alan,
Thanks for the "real world" example. My receiver is an Icom IC-R10,
which the specifications say has a 0.25 uV sensitivity on 144 MHz and
0.32 uV on 435. I operate portable, so I'm not using the preamp for the
high gain to overcome cable loss, but to overcome the relatively high
noise figure of the receiver. The preamp works great for FO-29. When I
have a clear horizon, I can hear it down to 1 degree or so with an Arrow
antenna. My problem is the horizon (and a military spread spectrum
radiolocation system that causes "clicking" noises all over the 70cm
band here in Washington).
On 2m, the preamp also helps greatly, but the preamp also amplifies
countless out of band signals that desense the receiver. I have a PAR
electronics notch filter to notch out the pagers at 152 MHz (two
kilowatt pager transmitters are a quarter mile away from me), but that
doesn't completely eliminate the problem. I have used a 10 dB attenuator
between the preamp and receiver which eliminates the desense, but also
reduces the signal level a bit too much. A 6 dB attenuator should arrive
in my mailbox shortly and I'll try it on the next pass of AO-7 this
afternoon.
What I likely really need to add is some low loss bandpass filtering for
2 meters, but it needs to be small since I operate with everything in a
DSLR bag carried around my neck. Any suggestions?
Ultimately the only perfect solution is a second FT-817 to use as the
receiver, but that's not in the cards at the moment.
73,
Paul, N8HM
On 10/3/2013 11:22 AM, Alan wrote:
Paul,
Spence did some rough testing, but it was designed to be simple, cheap, robust,
and easily duplicated
rather than cutting edge. I did some A/B testing with an ARR preamp on SO-50
and FO-29. Both made
significant improvement, and I did not hear any practical difference. That
would not likely be the
case if we were talking about P3 bird at apogee.
73s,
Alan
WA4SCA
<-----Original Message-----
<From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org
<[mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Paul Stoetzer
<Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 5:40 AM
<To: amsat-bb@amsat.org
<Subject: [amsat-bb] AMSAT Broadband Preamp Specs
<
<I was curious - has anyone measured the noise figure and gain of the
<AMSAT Broadband Preamp?
<
<73,
<
<Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
<Washington, DC
<_______________________________________________
<Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of
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<
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