[amsat-bb] New Observations on UO-14 (17:00UTC Pass)

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

I discovered something interesting today when I whipped out the handheld 
and the arrow this afternoon..  This was the first time I've ever actually 
used it, had my pass prediction correct, and had all the stars align at the 
same time.

My interesting observation is this...  My normal sattelite contacts are 
made with a pair of egg beaters, a 471 All mode, a Icom 290H All mode, a 
mast mounted preamp, and a 160 Watt brick (As needed).

What I did today, just for grins, is I hooked up my Arrow to my HT (Which 
you'd think would be lesser of a receiver) and used the 290H (On low power) 
hooked to the egg beater as a receiver.  I reached the following conclusions.

The Egg beater, while being incredibly easy to use (Put on roof, add 
preamp, forget about it), does almost NOTHING for me on the lower 
elevations.  I know that Jerry (K5OE) has made mods to that design, and 
I've built them, but have not tested.

With my arrow and my HT, (A Kenwood TH-79A(D)) I was able to copy the 
sattelite almost full quieting from Horizon to Horizon from inside the 
house.  Furthermore, I was surprised at how little I really had to move the 
thing during the (ALMOST) overhead pass.  I think I moved it 3 times total, 
from like 20Degrees to 70degrees to 20Degrees the other direction.  I did 
have to tilt it a few times to pull the thing in.

Here is my point.  Though the omni's are quite convient, I'm now officially 
sold on getting my yagis up.  It makes the difference between night and day.

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