Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Helix antennas, ( now preamps)

[Paul Williamson <kb5mu@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 4:10 PM -0400 5/15/06, Michael Tondee wrote:
>ARR also carries weather-proof units as well. They cost more than 
>the non-weatherproof  units, of course. My ARR 70cm preamp will pass 
>160 watts of transmit power and is weather-proof. The cost was about 
>in line with the SSB electronics units, maybe a little less.  I'm 
>quite happy with my ARR unit.

My experience with the 2m ARR weatherproof preamp was not so great. 
It's weatherproof enough, but it's not "crunch-proof". That is to 
say, if you operate it in an environment with strong out-of-band 
signals (pager transmitters, etc.) it's worse than no preamp at all. 
Just about any city environment will have strong signals. I would 
only recommend this unit for use out in the country.

I sold mine to another ham (who lives out in the country) and 
replaced it with a Landwehr preamp of essentially the same specs and 
form factor. The Landwehr worked much better at my QTH in San Diego.

The ARR 70cm unit seems fine, though I haven't compared it to any other preamp.

This was a while ago (1988-ish) so things may have changed.

73  -Paul
kb5mu@amsat.org
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