[amsat-bb] RE:My 'First AO40 FD ' question

["Bill Acito W1PA" <w1pa@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Last year was my first FD on AO-40 (in fact, it was my first time
hearing my own downlink, first QSO, first DX QSO...  all in one
sleepless night).

I ran a DEM downconverter and pre-amp on a surplus Primestar dish with a
helix feed, and ran a FT-847 barefoot (short coax) through a phasing
harness to two "standard" Cushcraft 11-ele yagis offset along the booms
to create "elliptical" phasing:

http://webpages.charter.net/acito/

I even triggered LEILA a few times on the high end of the RF dial (and
of course, turned back my RF). No computer tracking , no rotor, just
G6LVB's paper calculator to help me find myself.

Since then, there has been a whole year for folks to move over to the L
uplink where LEILA is not turned on.

I sincerely hope this year AO-40 does not start to sound like the FM
birds (where the biggest and loudest uplinks rule, at the expense of
everyone else).

Bill
W1PA

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