[amsat-bb] Worked through AO-7 this morning...

Mon May 27 16:49:40 UTC 2019

Per original post, AO 7 is amazing.  It was my first satellite contact way
back in 1974 (I had listened to AO-6).  It suffers from a lack of use, but
is a great bird for CW.  But it does flip modes if people hit it with too
much RF.

As for Doug's egg-beater question, I've been using mine at home since
1998.  Sadly my feedlines are longer (50' on 2m and 75' on 70cm) and much
higher loss Belden 9914.  At least I have mast mounted preamps; both SSB
Electronics that are powered via the coax.

Egg-beaters are not great antennas close to the horizon, as they change
from RHP to horizontal, plus they are omni, so no gain and the increased
path loss to a low-elevation bird makes that an issue.  That said I can
ALWAYS work several stations on any pass that is above 20 degrees, in what
is a 5-7 minute window (so I don't get the full 10-11 minutes).  In the
first 5 months of this year I've made over 300 contacts with them.

I will replace both egg beaters with new ones, along with new preamps (NF
is much improved in 20 years) and heliax feedline at some point in the
future.  Trying to maintain rotors and fragile CP beams isn't something
that I would attempt in icy New England.  I do use a pair of simple beams
when I am operating in the field and even though they are not CP, I really
like doing that (and can usually work horizon to horizon with S9 signals).

73, Bob, WB4SON

On Mon, May 27, 2019 at 3:50 AM SCOTT MCDONALD via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> What Jeff said.
>
> I did go down this path and still have a pair in the attic with my
> homebrew beams that are about equivalent to a LEO Pack.
>
> If you look on the M2 site at the gain plots for a 4 element CP yagi and
> compare it to the Eggbeater plot you’ll see why this provokes so many
> enthusiastic responses.  At 30 degrees you have about 15 dB less gain with
> the Eggbeater than the yagi.  And it deteriorates quickly from there as you
> go lower.
>
> The original poster noted a 40 degree pass, and they work ok there. You’re
> only about 4 dB down from the yagi.  But above 30 degrees is a much too
> small patch of sky to live with for a lot of people.  You’ll find people
> using them successfully lower than that, but with good preamps and higher
> power, which won’t help you make a lot of friends if you don’t crank the
> power down as the sats get closer.
>
> 73 Scott ka9p
>
> Make something good happen!
>
> > On May 27, 2019, at 2:11 AM, Jeff Johns via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > I never went down that route, even when I had a fixed base station. I
> chose to listen to those who had tried them then got rid of them. I’ve been
> on the BB off and on for about 20 years and the same topics always seem to
> rehash themselves with eggbeaters being one of the most popular.
> >
> > All I can say is that friends don’t let friends use eggbeaters for any
> serious satellite work. I’ll put my handheld Arrow controlled by my
> licensed 12 year-old daughter up against any set of eggbeaters any day of
> the week. Best of luck to all and 73!
> >
> > Jeff WE4B
> >
> >> On May 27, 2019, at 1:38 AM, AE5B via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> I had a pair of Eggbeaters almost 20 years ago.  Took me almost another
> 20 years to get over that "wonderful" experience.
> >>
> >> John
> >>
> >> AE5B
> >>
> >>> On 5/26/2019 3:38 PM, Doug Person via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> >>> I'm curious about how successful people have been with EggBeaters. I
> have the pair hooked to my new IC-9700. So far the few signals I hear are
> very weak. Both fed through separate 25' lines  of LMR400. Has anyone had
> to tune them? Mine have resonant frequencies that are far off (E-B144 =
> 155Mhz. EB-430 = 432Mhz). I bought these back in the 90's and was able to
> work many of the then current birds using an Icom IC-820H.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for any insights.
> >>>
> >>> Doug -- KJ0F -- DN60ms
> >>>
> >>>> On 5/25/2019 5:08 PM, William Herzberg via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> >>>> Hey all...I noticed on my tracking app this morning that AO-7 was
> making a 40° pass, so I figured I'd give it a try...I set up my radio with
> the frequencies...And, lo-and-behold, I was hearing my downlinked
> signals...Right where it was supposed to be...I first sent some CW...Then
> went to voice...I did hear a station call, but it was near los..So I don't
> copy them...Last time I sent any signals through ao-7 was over 40 years
> ago...I made over 600 contacts through AO-7 & AO-8...I had an old KLM
> MULTI-2000, put out about 10 watts...I used home-made 10m, 2m, & 70 cm
> turnstiles...I had a 70cm down converter, with preamps for all three...I
> currently have a TS-2000x...My antenna is a 2m eggbeater....I'm using an
> mfj duplexer, for both uplink & downlink...It works well on both the analog
> and fm birds...I plan on getting a 70cm eggbeater soon...But it seems to be
> working fine with the single antenna...
> >>>>
> >>>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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> >> --
> >> West Texas Affiliated Club Coordinator
> >> West Gulf Assistant Director
> >> West Texas Section Manager, retired
> >> ARRL WAS/VUCC Card Checker
> >> ARRL Life Member
> >>
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