[amsat-bb] Re: beginner question re: uplink power

[Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ]

Edward Cole wrote:

> But seeing that so many folks run HT's that typically are 5w, I think 
> you might chose the lowest range as long as your equipment output 
> matches.  You have to consider that you will have no antenna gain 
> using omni-directional antennas so uplink RF power needs are 
> affected, accordingly.  NOW if some experienced sat op will add their 
> input on this subject you should have the info you need.

I have a small amount of experience in this ;-)

I've successfully worked about half a dozen contacts (not trying very 
hard) with a Trio TH-F7 HT and a homebrew Arrow-type antenna, and a 
fairly "approximate" diplexer.  The antenna is a 3-element Yagi for 2m 
and a 5-element Yagi for 70cm.  The HT puts out only 5W on high power, 
but it can wake up AO-51, SO-50 and AO-27.

Unfortunately AO-51 seems to be plagued by the same cretins that jam 
repeaters with silly noises and bursts of music at certain times.  Even 
when they're not doing that there's always someone trying to run 2.5kW 
into a massive stacked antenna.  I've noticed that these are also the 
ones that sit there calling "CEEEE KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  CEEEEEEEEEEE 
KYOOOOOOO CEEEEEEEEEEEE KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO <whistle whistle whistle> 
CEEEEEEEEEE KYOOOOOOOOOO CEEEEEEEEEEE KYOOOOOOOOOOOOO CEEEEEEEEEEEEE 
KYUUUUUUU" for nearly the whole damn pass without pausing for breath.

Gordon