[amsat-bb] Financial arguments about full duplex (ez-peezy)
Robert Bruninga
bruninga at usna.edu
Tue Jun 28 16:03:38 UTC 2016
You can make a UHF Satellite Receive Antenna for about a dollar.
You take a 18" by 3' rectangle of garden fence, bend it into a linear
parabola, mount a $35 UHF HT at the focal point and make a handle for it.
Done.
See the June 2004 QST cover photo of it in use by students:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.qrz.com/h/kb9sxh/cover_shot_QST_bmp.jpg
No coax, no feeds, no nothing. Just the HT, 6" from the back of the
parabola. And it is lighter than an arrow (also shown in that photo)
Bob, WB4APR
-----Original Message-----
From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Glasbrenner
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 11:03 AM
To: Jerry Conner; AMSAT-BB at amsat.org
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Financial arguments about full duplex
The financial argument is a weak one at best. A WA5VJB Cheap yagi is about
10 dollars of materials (you can skip the diplexer with two radios), and I
have recently seen and purchased older full sized 2m HTs and UHF analog
only scanners for as cheap as 5 dollars at hamfests. Add a $30 Baofeng and
you have a satellite setup for next to nothing.
Don't want to build or can't? The price difference between an Arrow
antenna with a diplexer, and one without is about $60, or the cost of TWO
cheap HTs. Use the extra $30 to buy some good cables.
I certainly don't mind if those getting started try half-duplex at first,
and it has it's place in some situations. I even wrote an article 10 years
ago about half duplex ops with the FT-817 on FO-29, which I plan to update
soon, but the linear sats are different animals, with different
challenges.
Once you try full duplex and realize the benefits of being able to hear if
you are causing or being QRM, and being able to twist the antenna during
transmit to get a better uplink signal, you won't want to go back to the
old way.
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message-----
>From: Jerry Conner via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
>Sent: Jun 28, 2016 10:42 AM
>To: AMSAT-BB at amsat.org
>Subject: [amsat-bb] FW: [FWD: RE: Southern CA Satellite Presentations]
>
>
>
>Then what I am hearing, "AS A NEWBIE" is that I am not welcome on the
Sats because I do not have the financial resources to invest in all the
equipment needed to run full duplex. It is more than two cheap Chinese
radios, it also involves an antenna, which at the very least it is almost
double the cost of the two Chinese radios.
>
>Money that some of us have a hard time pulling together.
>
>I have a hard time with all the purest, my way or the highway mentality I
am hearing.
>
>
>
>Just my 2 cents
>
>Jerry W4JWC
>
>
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Southern CA Satellite Presentations
>From: Michael <Mat_62 at charter.net <mailto:Mat_62 at charter.net> >
>Date: Mon, June 27, 2016 9:04 pm
>To: amsat-bb at amsat.org <mailto:amsat-bb at amsat.org>
>
>I could care less whether you have ever uttered it or not in one of
>your live presentations. It is printed in black and white in your
handout.
>You just quoted it yourself. The minute you typed that phrase and began
>giving out handouts or telling people to print it out you became guilty
>of spreading ignorance as far as satellite operation is concerned. You
>are leading newbie sat operators down a path they should not be on. If
>one does not have the means to hear their own signal coming back from
>the bird so as to insure they are "making it there" then they should
>not be on the satellites. End of story.
>Michael, W4HIJ
>On 6/26/2016 11:37 PM, Clint Bradford wrote:
>>>> ... you would quit telling people that full duplex is "not mandatory"
for working sats.
>> You've never attended one of my sat sessions. I have never uttered
>> the sentence to groups, "It is not mandatory to work full-duplex. -
>> PERIOD." My standard mantra for the easy FM birds is all over the
place:
>>
>> "Ideally, we should be working the satellites in full duplex mode,
>> where we can simultaneously listen to the downlink as we are
>> transmitting. Although this method is preferred, it is not mandatory:
>> Carefully monitor the downlink, and wait for a break in the
conversations to announce yourself."
>>
>> People you might be hearing stepping on others are not following those
instructions.
>>
>> And all my audiences are very graphically shown and told the reasons
>> why working full- duplex is preferable.
>>
>> I didn't work full-duplex when speaking with Commander Wiseman - who
>> was aboard the ISS at the time during Field Day 2014.
>>
>> If you haven't already given a presentation to your club on working
>> the easy birds, I am available. Just send me an email message.
>>
>> Clint Bradford K6LCS
>> (909) 999-SATS
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org <mailto:AMSAT-BB at amsat.org> . AMSAT-NA
>> makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide
>> without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of
the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
>> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org <mailto:AMSAT-BB at amsat.org> . AMSAT-NA
>makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide
>without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the
author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
>Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
>Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
>to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
>Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the
official views of AMSAT-NA.
>Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
>Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to
all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions
expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official
views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
More information about the AMSAT-BB
mailing list