Re: [amsat-bb] Advise and/or Help

Also, as Bob Bruninga will tell you, set the EL at 15-20 degrees.

Following Bob's advice here for fixed elevation of 20 degrees works well. I've got my 6 element 145 MHz and 8 element 435 MHz cheap yagis on a TV rotor.

On 145 MHz I can copy and decode the AO-73 weekend mode beacon ~37 mW at 700 miles range with no preamp.

I've found that the tighter beamwidth of 8 elements on 435 MHz requires closer tracking (manually) and occasionally I need to wait for the satellite's elevation to get low enough to get back in the antenna pattern.

A basic setup like this will get you on the air. There is plenty of room for improvement but that is part of the fun too.

-- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm@amsat.org