Welcome to the wonderful world of mast-mounted preamps! 90% of the people who get involved with satellites (INCLUDING myself) think they don't *need* a preamp. After doing all you can (better antenna, lower loss feedline, etc) to get your receive setup maxed out, you finally decide to "just try one; I can always sell it on eBay", and are usually amazed at the improvement it gives you. The _first_ thing I suggest to newcomers is to buy a good preamp. Sadly, most are like I was, and stumble around for weeks or months worrying about other things before finally buying one. Congrats, and enjoy your preamp! 73, Jim KQ6EA
--- Bob Stewart bob@evoria.net wrote:
My new 70cm preamp came in today! I got the ARR mast-mount version. I wasn't sure I'd hear any improvement, but it's very noticeable. I was able to hear QSOs on SO-50 down to about 15 degrees tonight, whereas before, 20 was really stretching. I am using a turnstile in the attic with reflector elements at about 9.25" below the radiators. I can see that I'm eventually going to have to build more robust versions of my turnstiles and put them on top of the roof.
My power supply is a bit odd, so maybe someone will get a kick out of it. I have an Atlas 210X left over from years ago, and the PSU will power either of my bricks. The 210X slides into the PSU which an SO-239 on the back of it. In order to get the power up to the preamp, I added a fused switchbox and sent the power through that SO-239. This allowed me to just screw on a Radio Shack 50 ft length of RG-58 without having to cobble up a connector on the rig end.
Bob - AE6RV _______________________________________________ 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