Re: [amsat-bb] 1st rigs and antenna building.

["David M. Tipton, PhD" <tiptond@xxxxxxx>]

Having just gone through all this, let me say:  "Good Luck"..  It's not 
that bad though..

I didn't set out to build a monster statioin, however, I did buy a few 
pieces of gear.

A Icom IC-290H is the transmitter I use.  I picked it up on Ebay for a 
couple hundred bucks.  I built a pair of Egg Beater antennas.  You can find 
the plans for them at http://members.aol.com/k5oe/ and I know you'll like 
them.  Just make sure you read the directions carefully, and if you need 
some RG-62, let me know, I have tons of it now.  (Thanks to many many 
donations and a 500 foot spool of it I won on EBay for a buck.)

One issue I've run into is that of receiver sensitivity.  No matter how 
hard I've tried, I still have trouble hearing the downlinks.  I highly 
recommend a good preamp.  That alone can set you back a few bills, but if 
you're going to hook it to a scanner, go to www.hamtronics.com.  They offer 
a $29 unit that would probably meet your needs.

I'm new to this as well, so just remember, I may not be the most 
authoritative source, but if I can help, let me know.

73,
Dave, N8KXA
Bedford, TX
At 11:35 8/2/00 -0500, BOWEN, SCOTT M. (JSC-CC) wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I would like to say Thank You for all the great getting started info and
>emails. The number responses really caught me off guard.
>
>I am looking at getting my first radio and my budget will allow $200. I was
>looking at the Yeasu FT-1500M 2 meter.
>I figure that with that and my ICOM scanner, I might have a shot at getting
>one of the FM satellites.
>
>Can you all suggest something else in that price range for a starter? I
>figure anything that will get me to a satellite will have no trouble on the
>Houston repeaters.
>
>I was also looking for plans for a 70 cm receive antenna to use on my ICOM
>scanner. Any thoughts? Homebrew is what I would like to do as I tend to
>learn more with "Hands On".
>
>Thanks,
>
>Scott Bowen
>KD5KZN
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