At 07:38 PM 7/9/2010, Jeremy Cowgar wrote:
Hello,
I am curious if the M2 egg beaters w/mast mount preamps would allow me to use the current satellites, including AO-7?
Hi Jeremy,
You can work all of the current mode B or J satellites using omni antennas. A good mast-mount preamp is necessary to be able to receive on 435 MHz like FO-29 or AO-51 but on 2 meters it is generally not needed which would include AO-7.
This past field day, Joe, KM1P and I made contacts on AO-07, FO-29, SO-50, VO-52, SO-67, HO-68 in FM mode and HO-68 in linear mode operating only a few hours on Sunday morning using omni antennas. We used an EZ-Lindenblad on 2m mounted at 6 feet with no preamp and a Parasitic Lindenblad on 70cm mounted at 10 feet with an SP-7000 preamp. (for antenna info see QST Aug 2007 and Feb 2010.)
I have made contacts down to less than 1 degree of elevation when conditions are good with just omni antennas.
Give it a try!
73, Tony AA2TX