Re: [amsat-bb] Finally Heard It! AO-27

[Margaret Leber <maggie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

KB8QIR@aol.com wrote:

> I know it may not seem like much to some of you but I was able to hear the
> downlink for the first time today here in Morgantown,WV (FM09) but was barely
> able to make out what was being said. Was only using a small gain 2/70 mobile
> whip on the mini-van and no pre-amp.

My early experiences with an MFJ-1717 gain whip on my Yaesu VX-5 HT were
similar. I *do* occasionaly hear the downlink kick in in my mobile (Yaesu FT-90)
while driving around during a pass; the antenna on the mobile is an ordinary
thru-the-glass deal from Radio Shack. 

A pre-amp is probably a very fine thing, but I can't say enough good things
about the effectiveness of the Arrow hand held dual beams, they work like
gangbusters. It takes a pass or two to get the hang of pointing the antenna in
*three* degrees of freedom (az/el, and a "twist of the wrist" to optimize
polarization). If you get one, spring the extra few bucks for the integrated
duplexer; one less loose piece of gear during a pass is well worth it; the first
Arrow I used was a borrowed unit, I added my own duplexer externally and it
worked well enough, but just having *one* cable flopping about while juggling
clipboard, antenna and tuning is an improvement. 

-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
-ICQ 7161096-/ __     _) Margaret Stephanie Leber <maggie@voicenet.com>/
-AOPA 925383/(, /|  /|    http://www.voicenet.com/~maggie/maggie.html /
AMSAT 32844/   / | / |  _   _   _    `  "The art of progress consists/
ARRL 39280/ ) /  |/  |_(_(_(_/_(_/__(__(/_ of preserving order amid /
EAA 600137 (_/   '        .-/ .-/    change and change amid order."/
-KB3DXS-/________________(_/ (_/__________________A.N.Whitehead___/
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