Before spending any money I would try shortening the antennas you have. May be surprised. How hard would it be to redrill the booms you have if necessary to copy the LEO pack? Antennas have gotten silly expensive. On Friday, November 8, 2024 at 12:01:10 PM EST, DOUG WHITE via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
This is a timely thread. I have no choice but an attic antenna. I have acquired a GS5500 and 2 (big outdoor)cross polarized Yagis to match, but they definitely don’t fit the attic. I have looked and looked for smaller cross/circularly polarized antennas to use (including M2 Leo Pack) on the rotor in the attic and can’t find one. Now I’m planning to purchase an M2 Satpack eggbeater with pre-amp because it seems my only choice. One thing I don’t understand is how something that is NOT circularly or cross polarized will work on a rotor or fixed elevation setup. Using a handheld Arrow antenna which can also be twisted seems to often make all the difference in a viable signal. New to all this. _____________________________Doug - KC3VJS Odenton, MDdw_skyjockey@msn.comKC3VJS@arrl.net KC3VJS@winlink.orgHam shack Hotline: 6101851From: Frank Karnauskas (N1UW) via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Friday, November 8, 2024 11:18:44 AM To: Amsat BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [AMSAT-BB] Re: Attic antennas or other options What the world needs for this situation is a “LEO Pack Lite.” Use the back half of the LEO Pack beams and someone who knows what they are doing recalc the element lengths. This is a simplification, of course, but any compromise would be better than nothing. Would also be a great improvement to rovers instead of handheld antennas.
Having said that, I have used Egg Beaters and Lindenblads successfully but they do need preamps. Sure, preamps add noise but the bottom line is:
THE BEST ANTENNA IS THE ONE YOU CAN PUT UP!
Cheers,
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
3670 E. Kingler Spring Pl.
Tucson, AZ 85718
(612) 644-9174
f.karnauskas@amsat.org
From: Scott McDonald via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Friday, November 8, 2024 9:01 AM To: Richard Lawn rjlawn@gmail.com; Peter Goodhall peter@2m0sql.com; mikflathead@aol.com Cc: Amsat BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [AMSAT-BB] Re: Attic antennas or other options
Rick, I ran eggbeaters in my attic before installing an el-az system there.
I think the bottom line is the eggbeaters are doable, but they are pretty marginal receive performers below 30 degrees on a good day, and if you compound that by any significant attenuation from the roof or sidewalls it might be a pretty disappointing move.
The suggestion to go with something steerable I'd think is really the route to go if you have room. There's a pic of my homebrews on my QRZ page, but if you Google around a bit there are several examples of folks using smaller almost Arrow-sized antennas at a fixed elevation. That takes a lot less space, is simple, and will really outperform the eggbeaters on the passes nearer the horizon. OTOH if you have a lot of room, I think N0JY had a pretty impressive set up documented on the internet a while back that might be worth checking out.
In any event you might want to do an attenuation test in the attic on a few passes before making any decisions. I know I'm only losing a few dB when it's dry, but I have no foil-backed roofing materials to contend with, and I did find when I rotate past a large aluminized HVAC duct, I lose gain and directivity for 30 degrees or so.
But there is a huge amount of joy in having the system indoors out of the weather, and in my case, out of view of the zoning police :) In ten years - zero maintenance other than to tighten a connector.
Good luck.
73 Scott ka9p
On Friday, November 8, 2024 at 09:10:32 AM CST, mikflathead--- via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Another idea if you have enough room in the attic. Get the azimuth rotor repaired,move your outdoor antennas to the attic. May need to shorten antennas to clear the roof.
On Friday, November 8, 2024 at 09:41:35 AM EST, Peter Goodhall via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Rick,
I'm in a single-story house and have health issues, my solution was to
keep the antennas low my M2 LEO Yagis/Rotators are only 8ft off the
ground and easy to manage and maintain
Maybe worth considering before going the eggbeater route.
Peter, 2M0SQL
On Fri, 8 Nov 2024 at 14:34, Richard Lawn via AMSAT-BB
amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Now that I’ve diagnosed that my AZ rotor has failed I’m wondering, at age 75, if I shouldn’t begin to make life a little easier. We do have a one story house but getting up and down from the roof and managing large antennas is getting more challenging and probably dangerous for me.
I have an old pair of eggbeaters in the garage and I’m wondering if anyone has had any experience in using them, or something else, in an attic? This would make satellite operation more manageable for me, shorten my coax run and put me in a position of not having to find younger club members to help, and those are few and far between!
73
Rick, W2JAZ
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