[amsat-bb] AO-92: L/v ERP need

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Kuby,

I'm working AO-92 L/V mode with a 1W (on 1.2 GHz) Alinco
DJ-G7T and an old 5-element Comet CY-1205 Yagi on the HT's
antenna connector (with BNC-to-SMA adapter). The antenna
is rated at 11.0 dBi gain, and my ERP is around 7 to 8
watts. I have to be diligent with the orientation of the
antenna and the uplink tuning (5 kHz steps on the DJ-G7T),
but I have been making contacts on most L/V passes.

If I didn't already have the CY-1205 Yagi (it was also
sold in versions with a TNC connector - some of the 1.2
GHz radios in the late 80s and early 90s came with a TNC
connector), I'd probably look at building a 6- or 10-
element WA5VJB "Cheap Yagi" for 1.2 GHz. Kent Britain
wrote about these Yagis in CQ VHF about 10 years ago:

http://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/D-STAR%20Antennas.pdf

Kent also had measurements for a 4-element Yagi in that
article. The article claims 8 dBi gain for the 4-element
Yagi, about 10 dBi gain for the 6-element Yagi, and 13
dBi gain for the 10-element Yagi. WA5VJB's web site has
a document for 17-element 1.2 GHz Yagis, but these smaller
versions may be sufficient for working AO-92.

73!




Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK




On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 8:42 PM, Dale Kubichek via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> What is the minimum directive ERP needed to obtain a solid FM input to
> AO-92?
>
> Best regards,
> Dale Kubichek, MS-EET, N6JSX
>