[amsat-bb] Re: satellite antenna

[K5OE]

Yanko,
I appreciate you plugging the venerable (aka "old") Egg2 design, and while I still consider it a really good LEO omni antenna, it is with limitations.  With today's crop of LEO satellites, none are as strong as the ones available when I first designed and built that model--specifically UO-14 and FO-20 as prime examples of an earlier era's "easy sats."  For newbies to the birds, especially if you are starting from scratch, Bob's (WB4APR) suggestion to use a 1/4 wave vertical for 70 cm downlink is a good first antenna--simple and effective.  

That antenna will give you coverage at high elevations--above 30 degrees, but that means your pass times will be short and your range is narrow (in distance).  The Egg2 was designed for exactly the opposite, max gain at low elevations, where most people struggled to hear anything (I know I did!).  

If you want to work LEO's today (what choice do you have right now?), don't consider an omni without a good preamp (NF < 1 dB).  Else, you will become frustrated and lose interest in an exciting hobby.  For the price of a good preamp, you could consider a small beam (such as Kent's "cheap yagi" and a TV rotor.  Trust me, you'll be happier trying to work AO-27, VO-52, SO-50, ISS, etc.

73,
Jerry, K5OE


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Original message:
Hello Carlos, 

You can try to search for a eggbeater antenna like this one 

http://victrolla.homeip.net/wo5s/junkpile/432/eggbeater2.pdf 

Thanks 
Yanko, NX9G 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Carlos Poinho" <cu3ftcarlos at gmail.com> 
To: AMSAT-BB at amsat.org 
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 4:00:26 PM 
Subject: [amsat-bb] satellite antenna 

hello all 
any one have a good idea for a omni directional antenna for the birds?