I'll offer my small-station experience:
I was able to hear myself last night quite well on my small station, while at a severe disadvantage: *Uplink was anything more than 10 watts into my vertical GP, as well as my circular "halo" 0dB mounted just above my roof-line, to hear myself *downlink was 7 el yagi mounted Horizontal on a computer chair-base on the ground at THREE FEET elevation, with fixed elevation angle of 20 degrees, and manual rotor. Satellite maximum elevation for this pass was 14 degrees max, and peak RX was S4 with pre-amp(S-1 noise). RX fading was 90% down due to the satellite orientation/antenna orientation mispatch. I was no longer able to hear the downlink at about 5 degrees of elevation.
The disadvantage: the satellite was on the OTHER side of my bungalo-style house from where my downlink antenna resides, so the signals were travelling straight through my house to get to the receive antenna, for the whole pass!
'73 Auke VE6PWN
----- Original Message ----- From: "ANTHONY JAPHA" tjjapha@earthlink.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 1:02 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-16 with small stn.
Drew asked for reports from portable/small stations using AO-16, so I offer my experience. Just had Qs with VE2AHD and K8ALM on a 17 degree pass here in FN30, New York City. I was inside my apartment (brick building with metal windows) on the 17th floor, with many obstructions outside. Using 2 FT-817s, 5 watts up into 3 el; preamp and 7 el down.
This is my portable gear used inside (temp in the 20s today). Can't wait for spring! There may actually be very short windows--1 or 2 minutes--from here to G-land, etc. This looks like a great bird. I love the SSB downlink. Tnx to all who made it happen.
73, Tony, N2UN
ANTHONY JAPHA tjjapha@earthlink.net EarthLink Revolves Around You. _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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