Re: [amsat-bb] Eggbeaters ?

[Jason Hitesman <jason@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave Hartzell wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm curious about anyone's experience with eggbeater antennas for  
> working the sats.  I have a limited-space situation (apartment) which  
> makes a steerable yagi difficult.
> 
> M^2 Inc. has 2m and a 70cm models, but go for over $200 each.
> 
> Since I'm new to the sats, I'd probably be working with two  handhelds, 
> which have been (at best) OK in conjunction with my Arrow....

And friend and I both built eggbeater style antennas from K5OE's plans:
http://members.aol.com/k5oe/eggbeater.htm

He runs a pre-amp on his and has had fairly good success with it for 
recieving LEO FM sats.

I don't have a pre-amp and have not had as much luck with mine.  I have 
managed to hear bits and pieces of AO-51 high power passes and high 
angle AO-27 passes.  But nothing that was clear enough I could work the 
passes.  Not sure how well my version compares to the commercial antenna 
but without a pre-amp I've found to not be very suitable for sat work.

I've started building one of G0MRF's 440 pre-amps:
http://www.g0mrf.freeserve.co.uk/432LNA.htm

Unfortunatly all of my drill bit sets are missing their 7/64's bits so I 
haven't been able to wind the inductors yet :(  One of these days I'll 
remember to pickup a new drill bit set and finish this thing and see how 
the egg does with a little bit of pre-amplification.

I've had much better luck with my homebuilt Yagi's first one from K5OE's 
plans and then another from VE6AB's plans:
http://stormchaser.cjb.net/

I also built a copper cubic loop antenna from a QST article a year or 
two back which the author claimed to have used for AO-27 fairly 
well...but I can't get mine to tune up very well at all.  I suspect the 
problem is with the dielectric I'm using in the match - I need to find 
some of the right teflon to finish it up.

I'm also considering building one of the corner reflectors described in 
the latest AMSAT journal since I'm getting tired of the looks my 
neighbors give me when I stand outside waving my yagis around.  I'm 
ready to start doing sat contacts from inside instead :D  I may do 
another VE6AB style Yagi on a TV rotator...but I enjoy building antennas 
  so the corner reflector sounds like a fun experiment!

Photos of my various antenna attempts are up here:
http://jhitesma.smugmug.com/Electronics

----
Jason Hitesman
N8INJ
----
Sent via amsat-bb@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to Majordomo@amsat.org