Re: [amsat-bb] Dayton, Transverters, S band antennas and a bunch of other stuff

[Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tim,

The dual IF 2.4 Ghz downconverter was from www.keps.it . The other one was a Transystem from K5GNA (k5gna@aol.com). Both are nice pieces of gear, at good prices for what you get. The antennas we were using were a G3RUH patch on the keps d/c and a dipole and corner reflector on the Transystem. 

The Texas Potato Mashers are great antennas, but I would recommend building the version designed to be pointed in Azimuth only, which is simple enough with a cheapie TV rotor. I'd recommend a mast mounted preamp as well, but it certainly doesn't have to be an expensive one. I noticed at Dayton Ramsey has a kit for 10-15$.

Hamtronics makes a simple 70cm to 10m receive converter, available as a kit or fully built. This would allow you to receive the FO-29 SSB/CW downlink on the 520. I'm not sure if the 520 has FM receive, so you might have to use one of the HTs for receive on the FM sats, or substitute one of the various used 10m all mode radios that are becoming VERY inexpensive now (HTX-10 from Radio Shack comes to mind).

I sure appreciate the compliment on the demos, as I'm sure Mark and Jeff do also. It's also nice to see a positive attitude on working the sats, and it will get you a long ways as you build your station up. Exciting times are ahead for the satellite community. Feel free to email me personally if I can be of assistance.

73 and good DX,
Drew KO4MA

-----Original Message-----
From: "Timothy A. Holmes (W8TAH)" <w8tah@zoominternet.net>
Sent: May 25, 2005 7:42 AM
To: amsat-bb@amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Dayton, Transverters, S band antennas and a bunch of other  stuff

Good Morning!!!

First off, I would like to congratulate the gang from Dayton -- you 
folks did a wonderful job with the booth, and I really enjoyed meeting 
all of you .  To the guys who ran the 10:30 demo with FO29 and AO51 -- 
NICE JOB, You showed me how easy it is do do some of that stuff, and I 
was very impressed. 

While at that demo, they showed off a little switchable transverter for 
2.4 (I think it was)  they mentioned that it came from Italy, and could 
be switched so the output was on either 440 band or 2 meters, can 
someone enlighten me about this piece of equipment,  Also -- I noticed 
that the S band antennas were much smaller than I had invisioned, I 
would appreciate comments etc,  (they were using a small corner yagi, 
and another guy there had a patch of some kind.

Right now, my shack consists of a Yaesu VX5-R, a VX 7R, an ICOM 
706MKIIG, and an old Kenwood TS520.  I would really like to start 
getting on the Sats, but like everyone, money is a problem.  My plan 
right now is to build a set of Texas Potato Mashers (i cant afford an 
EL/AZ rotor) and start trying to get on (right now all I have is a 2m / 
440 vertical.  (But I did hear hamsat on it the other night, however i 
havent yet heard AO51 --- Gotta keep workin on that one -- LOL

I heard someone mention a transverter that would go to 10m from either 
440 or 2 m the other night, and i suspect that that might work nicely 
for the Sideband birds, using my 706 for uplink and the TS520 for 
downlink -- It has great ears, but I seem to have lost the e-mail

I guess what I need is some suggestions of directions etc, as well as 
the most cost effective (read cheap) ways to get myself on the air.

Thanks for your time

Tim Holmes
Amateur Extra Operator - W8TAH
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