At the time we had SO-67, AO-27, AO-51, and SO-50 available, I owned one of those antennas. I probably made somewhere in the vicinity of 250 contacts with it from my car.
For reception of all those birds, I would rate them as follows: AO-51 - Worked modestly without preamp, excellent with preamp, even in motion SO-67 - Almost as good as AO-51, even in motion AO-27 - Didn't work very well unless I was completely stationary, even with preamp SO-50 - Barely usable unless I was completely stationary and it was the *right* pass
I wasn't active on the linear birds at the time but I suspect it would work a lot better for FO-29 than any of the FM's. I sold it before I added full duplex SSB to my mobile station.
If you are looking for something mobile/portable, there are much more cost effective solutions with similar or better performance. I have experimented with a number of antenna combinations over the past three years.
If you're dead set on a fixed omni, it is hard to beat a 19" whip combined with a receive preamplifier. There are pro's/con's to it. Personally, I almost always use a vertical for mode J uplink mobile and a 3-element yagi w/preamp for downlink. For mode B, I transmit into a dual-band vertical on the trunk lid and listen on a 2m Arrow or simply use the whole Arrow out of the window. (it can be done, albeit peculiarly)
Please tell us the application for which you are looking into using the antenna...Mobile in motion? Fixed portable ops from car?
73 Clayton W5PFG
On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 1:50 PM, Alan wa4sca@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
I was looking for something on QFHs, and found an interesting set of antennas.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ougah8b
They donated an antenna to the AMSAT Symposium 2-3 years ago, but I have never heard one in use that I know of. Anybody use them, or know someone who has?
73s,
Alan WA4SCA
Keep Calm and Carry On
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