[amsat-bb] AO-40 Tabletop dish

[Kc2hax@xxxxxxx]

Hi folks,
Went to a hamfest on Saturday in search of "precious junk" (is this an 
oxymoron?) for my satellite station. One of the reasons is I still have not 
find my dream antenna for AO-40 fixed use, a 90 cm (3 feet) prime focus dish 
-if you have something similar for sale pse let me know-. Anyway, found a guy 
that was selling early DIRECT TV receivers and antennas.
Guess what? I came back with a small SONY DSS offset dish (paid $5.00 for 
dish and original LNB). In the evening I got back from the junk box my first 
G3RUH helix iluminator (back from the AO-13 days) an fitted to the dish, also 
put to work my first all-mode VHF rig a "vintage" Yaesu FT221R (analog 
display). The dish is a bit too small (major axis 53 cm, 21 in minor 47 cm, 
18in) but with a low now noise front-end converter is just OK for S2 
reception at apogee. It is a really small antenna that can be used tabletop 
(see photos at http://www.qsl.net/kc2hax/ant/expant.htm ) and aimed with the 
"armstrong" rotator while listening to the downlink.
Was a very nice Saturday night AO-40 listening session outside in the deck, 
heard many of you guys, with lots of activity (SSTV included). AO-40 is 
giving us a lot of fun and a is great platform for experimentation!
Best 73 de antonio, kc2hax/ea4le (counting down for Atlanta)
http://www.qsl.net/kc2hax
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