[amsat-bb] Polarization

[Ken Alexander]

I clipped this from another message because I didn't want to drag the 
discussion off course.  It's a question I've been wondering about since 
getting into this a few short weeks ago.

I've also read (but haven't tried yet) about the trick of rotating
the antenna 90 degrees on transmit, once you've established the best
receive orientation.

73 de Bill, KG5FQX

So far, with SO-20 I have rotated my Arrow antenna for best reception of 
the downlink and don't think I've had too much trouble being heard. At 
the same time I have wondered whether I should twist the antenna when 
transmitting to orient the 2m elements to give the same polarization as 
in receive. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, and frankly I 
have enough trouble remembering calls and grids, tracking the satellite, 
adjusting frequency and switching back to the correct VFO to worry about 
one more thing.

I've seen that some commercial OSCAR antennas use circular polarization. 
The antennas I see in the photos of satellites we work are whips. Is the 
polarization becoming "circularized" as it re-enters earth's atmosphere 
or something?

Comments and observations would be most welcome!

73,

Ken Alexander
VE3HLS, FN03