[amsat-bb] Getting more gain without a solid dish....

[Al Lawler <alawler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  After my first night on ao-40,  I can see that
despite not being the "poorest kid on the block"
recieve-wise, I could definately do with some 
more antenna gain.

  My current setup is a 24dbi(linear) gain bbq
dish with a DEM preamp and drake converter with
the easy mods.

  Using the Ao-40 spreadsheet, I see that the
only thing I can really benifit from improving
is the antenna itself.  (And possibly a few db 
more preamp gain, but not much.)

  Going to a solid dish with a helix feed isn't
an option, due to wind/snow  resistance and weight
considerations.

  What I'm thinking of doing is to simply add
a second BBQ dish, cross polarized with respect
to the first one), with its own preamp/converter 
(another dem/drake), then connecting the (144mhz)
outputs of both drakes to the feedline via  a 2-meter
"circular" phasing harness.  (I.e. the same
harness used to get circular polarization out of
2 yagi's.)  The idea is to be able to generate
a circularly polarized antenna (with more capture
area), without having to manufacture a precision
phasing harness for 13cm.

  Does anybody have any comments on how well this
is likely to work?

  -al
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