Well here is my 1st question.
In researching what is needed for working sat's , I have found that I am looking for an antenna that has RHCP, although selectable RHCP & LHCP is avail.. I just cannot justify the added expense for a 5% probability of an improved signal.
That being said.. Are 'Typical' terrestrial SSB Yagis RHCP? I am looking at the following antennas for known performance vs. price:
2m - DPM144-5LVA (http://www.directivesystems.com/lva.htm)
430-440 - DSFO432-15RS (http://www.directivesystems.com/DSFO432-15.htm)
You may wonder why I'm looking @ such small antennas and I will answer that My main coaxial run from rig to preamp may be at most 30'. I'm probabaly going to feed them both with an LMR-400 type cable, possibly LMR-600 on UHF but with such a short run and loss under 1.0db I don't know nor have decided if it would be worth it. Also I plan on mounting these ( or similar yagis ) @ a 30deg angle with a simple rotor as an AZ/EL rotor is not an option at this moment due to cost. So to sup up my initial statement I don't need another 3dB of gain to make up for line loss, So in theory I can keep the antennas smaller.
More to come in the future.
-Steve Raas
N2JDQ