[amsat-bb] Re: Crossbooms ... my pennyworth.

[Bruce Robertson]

Quoting Howard Long <howard at howardlong.com>:

[snip]
> could ever get a great match, particularly on 70cm. So I resorted to
> making
> circular polarisation work with the 2m and 70cm planes separated, and
> remote
> preamps and remote polarisation switches.
> 
> This worked _very_ well, and the gain you achieve by being able to
> manually
> switch polarisation during a null when working LEO's cannot be over
> emphasised IMHO.
> 
> One final point, radio amateurs have been doing antenna diversity for a
> very
> long time.
> 
> 73, Howard G6LVB
> 

A contribution to the original discussion, plus a question:

I believe it was on this list that I read of an alternative to fiberglass
booms (of which there are none in my local sales area). My new 10' boom
comprises sched. 40 conduit with an snug-fitting 8' length of doweling 
placed inside. Others have removed any 'play' between the doweling and the
conduit by spraying expanding foam inside the ends of the conduit. I
suppose one should cap the ends, too. The total cost of this for me was CAN
$20. The antennas, rotors and mast are on sawhorses now, but as far as I
can see the conduit-dowel boom has an appropriate stiffness.


Now my question:
Howard mentioned the much-documented advantages of polarization switching
for LEO satellite work. In this same context, is it worth the additional
work to include the remote logic required for V and H polarizations along
with RHCP and LHCP? 

73, Bruce VE9QRP